Donald Trump's Truth Social account sparked outrage on Friday with a racist video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. The 79-year-old former president's post, shared during his frequent late-night posting sprees, included a minute-long video by a third party amplifying Trump's false claim of winning the 2020 election. The video, reposted from Patriot News Outlet, a Trump-supporting website, featured the Obamas' laughing faces superimposed on the bodies of primates in a jungle setting, bobbing to the song 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'.
The post attracted 4,000 likes by 8:30 am ET, but it also garnered condemnation from both sides of the political spectrum. The Democratic California governor, Gavin Newsom's press office, and podcaster Ben Rhodes, a former Obama administration deputy national security adviser, accused Trump of racism. Rhodes highlighted the contrast between how future Americans will embrace the Obamas and how they will view Trump's racist actions.
The controversy echoes a 2024 allegation that Trump used a racial slur while hosting 'The Apprentice'. Democratic political strategist Adam Parkhomenko called it 'overt racism' and emphasized the reason behind the non-release of 'The Apprentice' tapes. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, however, dismissed the outrage, linking to a right-wing account's 55-second video that includes the Obama clip, depicting Biden and other Democrats as animals while Trump is shown as a male lion. Leavitt argued that the video is an internet meme, but the post's focus on false claims about the 2020 election and the defamation lawsuit against Fox News adds to the controversy.
