Did Donald trump share a racist video on his truth social depicting the Obamas as monkeys and gorillas?
Executive summary
Donald Trump reposted a one-minute video on Truth Social that included a digitally manipulated clip showing Barack and Michelle Obama with their faces superimposed on the bodies of monkeys — a brief segment that multiple news organizations described and condemned as racist [1][2]. The White House defended the post as coming from an “internet meme” while critics across the political spectrum condemned it as overtly dehumanizing and racist [1][3].
1. A late‑night repost that ended with the Obamas as apes
Late on a Thursday night the president shared a video on his Truth Social account that, near its end, shows Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces on dancing primate bodies for roughly a second or two; outlets including NBC, The Guardian, France 24 and others reported the clip and described the Obamas’ image appearing at the tail end of the one‑minute video [1][4][2]. Multiple pieces noted the segment was brief but unmistakable and was appended to a longer piece that promoted false claims about the 2020 election [4][5].
2. How news organizations and advocacy groups described the imagery
Mainstream outlets uniformly characterized the imagery as racist, using terms such as “depicting the Obamas as apes” and “overtly racist,” and reported swift condemnations from Democrats, civil‑rights organizations and some Republicans [6][1][3]. The NAACP and prominent Democratic leaders publicly denounced the post, and commentators highlighted that portrayals of Black people as apes are historically violent dehumanizing tropes used to justify oppression — a context repeatedly cited in reporting [6][7].
3. White House response and provenance claims
The White House pushed back on the outrage by framing the clip as part of an “internet meme” that also depicted Mr. Trump as a lion and other Democrats as animals, and pointed reporters to an earlier X post from October that contained the same meme‑style video [1][8]. News organizations reported that the clip appears to be digitally manipulated or AI‑generated and that Trump has previously reposted such doctored videos on his platforms [1][2].
4. Political fallout and cross‑party reactions
Reaction was immediate and bipartisan in tone if not in consequence: Democratic leaders called for removal and apology, civil‑rights groups condemned the dehumanizing imagery, and some Republicans publicly denounced the post while others defended framing it as meme humor or urged moving on — coverage highlighted Sen. Tim Scott’s particularly sharp rebuke even as other GOP voices were more muted [1][6]. Media accounts emphasized the timing — during Black History Month and amid a late‑night posting spree — intensifying criticism [2][8].
5. Broader pattern and implicit agenda raised by reporters
Multiple outlets situated the incident within a pattern of the president’s use of hyper‑realistic fabricated visuals to lampoon opponents and amplify conspiracies, noting his prior history of racially tinged attacks such as the “birther” campaign and recent escalations in AI‑manipulated content on Truth Social [7][2]. Reporters flagged the political utility of such imagery for mobilizing a core audience and the potential deliberate normalization of dehumanizing portrayals, while also noting the administration’s attempt to reframe the clip as mere meme‑culture [8][1].
6. Assessment and limits of reporting
On the central question — whether Donald Trump shared a racist video depicting the Obamas as monkeys — the contemporaneous reporting is clear that he reposted a video containing exactly that imagery and that the post drew wide condemnation as racist [1][4][2]. Available sources document the post, its provenance in an earlier internet meme, the White House defense, and the political backlash; reporting does not provide the president’s private intent beyond those public statements, and this analysis is limited to the documented public record cited above [1][8].