U.S. President Donald Trump ignited fierce criticism on Friday after sharing a short video on his social media platform that briefly depicted former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as monkeys, a gesture widely condemned as racist and offensive.
The video, posted late Thursday on Trump’s Truth Social account, was part of a longer conspiracy-laden clip repeating unsubstantiated claims that ballot-counting company Dominion Voting Systems helped steal the 2020 presidential election from him. Near the end of the roughly one-minute reel, the Obamas’ faces were superimposed on the bodies of monkeys for about one second, accompanied by the tune “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
The imagery drew swift outrage from political leaders across the spectrum. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries denounced the post on X, writing that Obama and Michelle Obama are “brilliant, compassionate and patriotic Americans” and called Trump’s action “vile, unhinged and malignant.”
Even within Trump’s own party, criticism emerged. Republican Senator Tim Scott, the only Black member of the Senate GOP, urged the video’s removal, saying “Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.”
At the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the post, describing the uproar as “fake outrage” and calling the footage “an internet meme depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King.” She urged critics to “report on something that actually matters to the American public.”
The backlash extended beyond politicians. California Governor Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, labelled Trump’s behaviour “disgusting” and urged members of his own party to condemn the post. Former Obama national security adviser Ben Rhodes said the imagery would “haunt Trump and his racist followers.”
The video was later removed from Trump’s platform amid mounting bipartisan criticism, but the episode has deepened concerns about the use of racially charged imagery in political discourse as the former president leads a second term marked by provocative social media activity.
No immediate comment was available from the Obamas’ representatives.
