Did Trump post obama's face on an ape
Executive summary
Yes — President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account shared a roughly one-minute video that, for about one to two seconds near the end, includes an AI-generated clip showing the faces of Barack and Michelle Obama superimposed on the bodies of apes while “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” plays, provoking immediate condemnation as racist [1] [2] [3].
1. The post and what it actually showed
The clip was posted on Trump’s Truth Social account as part of a 62-second video focused on alleged voting-machine anomalies; at roughly the 59–60 second mark an AI-generated animated segment flashes the Obamas’ faces on apes bobbing in a jungle setting for approximately one to two seconds accompanied by The Tokens’ “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” [1] [4] [3].
2. Attribution, provenance and technical clues
The toxic segment carries a visible watermark linking it to an X (Twitter) account, @XERIAS_X, a pro‑Trump account with tens of thousands of followers that appears to have originally posted the clip in October, suggesting the clip was produced and circulated online before being embedded in the video Trump shared [1] [3] [5].
3. Reactions, context and the charge of racism
The insertion drew rapid, bipartisan public outcry: Democratic officials and commentators called the imagery “disgusting” and “incredibly racist,” noting the historical dehumanizing trope of comparing Black people to apes; critics highlighted the timing during Black History Month as aggravating, while some outlets documented the broad backlash on social platforms [2] [4] [6].
4. The White House response and remaining questions of intent
The White House press office defended the post as part of an internet meme video portraying Trump as a “King of the Jungle” and urged critics to “stop the fake outrage,” while also declining to say whether the president knew the Obama clip had been inserted into the voting-machine video — leaving the question of Trump’s intent publicly unresolved [3].
5. Pattern, precedent and why this matters
Observers placed the incident in a broader pattern of the administration’s use of hyperreal AI imagery and provocative posts: reporting notes prior instances where fabricated or AI-generated content targeting political figures circulated from pro‑Trump sources, and commentators argued that superimposing the Obamas’ faces on apes revives an explicitly racist historical trope used to dehumanize Black people [7] [6] [4].
Conclusion — direct answer
Did Trump post Obama’s face on an ape? Yes — the president’s Truth Social account shared a video that includes a brief AI-generated segment superimposing Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces on apes for about one to two seconds; the clip carried a pro‑Trump watermark and triggered widespread condemnation, though the White House has characterized the material as an internet meme and has not confirmed whether the president knew the offensive imagery was included [1] [3] [2].