Did Trump post image of barrack Obama as a monkey
Executive summary
Yes — President Donald Trump shared a social‑media post that included a brief, AI‑style clip superimposing former president Barack Obama (and Michelle Obama) onto ape bodies, a depiction widely condemned as invoking longstanding racist tropes; the post was deleted after bipartisan outrage and Trump later said he had directed aides to repost the video but claimed he had not seen the objectionable portion [1] [2] [3].
1. What happened: the post, the clip and the takedown
Late on Feb. 5–6, 2026, Trump’s Truth Social account reposted a roughly one‑minute video that near its end shows an apparent AI‑generated clip of the Obamas’ faces placed on apes dancing to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”; the Republication was removed by the White House after widespread condemnation across the political spectrum [4] [5] [6].
2. Confirmation and sourcing: where the image came from
News organizations trace the brief Obama‑as‑ape segment to an earlier October post on X by a conservative meme account; the White House initially linked to or cited that longer meme video as the source when defending the repost before deleting the Truth Social post [1] [7] [3].
3. Trump’s explanation and refusal to apologize
Trump told reporters he had instructed aides to post the clip but insisted he had not watched the portion “that people don’t like,” and he refused to apologize even after the deletion — an account reported consistently by multiple outlets covering his public remarks that night [1] [8] [3].
4. Political reaction: bipartisan outrage and rare Republican rebukes
The image prompted rapid condemnation not only from Democrats but also from prominent Republicans and allies; for example, Republican Sen. Tim Scott described it as among the most racist things he had seen, while other GOP figures urged removal — demonstrating an unusually broad repudiation of the content [9] [5] [10].
5. Context and historical resonance of the imagery
News organizations and civil‑rights leaders contextualized the clip as echoing a long and painful U.S. history of dehumanizing Black people by equating them with apes and animals; coverage noted past incidents in which public figures have targeted Barack Obama with similar imagery, making the post not merely a political attack but one that resonates with established racist tropes [2] [6] [10].
6. White House defense and competing framings
The White House initially defended the post as part of a broader meme portraying Trump as a "lion" and Democrats as characters from a "Lion King"‑style video, with spokespeople calling criticism “fake outrage” and pointing to the prior X source — a framing that several outlets reported as the administration’s immediate response before the post was taken down [7] [11] [4].
7. Broader pattern and media reporting
Briefs from major outlets noted that this episode fits a pattern of the administration reposting memes and AI‑generated content targeting political opponents, and they pointed to earlier instances where Trump’s accounts circulated manipulated images or videos of public figures, which has fueled concern about normalization of dehumanizing digital content by official channels [12] [9] [6].
8. Bottom line and limits of available reporting
The factual record in major news reporting is clear that the Truth Social post included an image of Barack and Michelle Obama depicted as apes, that it was deleted after bipartisan backlash, and that Trump acknowledged directing the repost while denying personal responsibility for seeing that segment; reporting does not establish additional private intent beyond his public statements and the provenance noted by outlets [1] [2] [3].