Donald trump posting the obamas as monkeys
Executive summary
Donald Trump posted a one‑minute video on his Truth Social account that, near the end, briefly superimposed Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces onto monkey bodies while “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” played, prompting widespread condemnation as racist [1] [2] [3]. The clip repeats debunked 2020 election allegations and appears to include AI‑generated imagery and a watermark tying the image to a pro‑Trump X account, though authorship and motive are not definitively established in available reporting [3] [4] [5].
1. What happened: the post, the image and the platform
Late Thursday night, President Trump shared a roughly one‑minute video on his Truth Social account that advances false claims about the 2020 election and—which for about one second—shows the Obamas with their faces superimposed on monkeys while “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” plays, an image that multiple outlets describe as AI‑generated [6] [2] [7] [4].
2. Immediate reactions: condemnation from Democrats and public figures
The post drew swift denunciations from prominent Democrats and political allies of the Obamas, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office calling it “disgusting,” and former Obama aides and other critics labeling the imagery racist and dehumanizing [2] [1] [3].
3. Why the image is widely called racist: historical context cited by reporters
News outlets point out that depicting Black public figures as apes recalls a long history of racist dehumanization used by slave traders and segregationists, a context reporters say makes the imagery especially inflammatory given Barack Obama’s status as the first Black U.S. president [1] [8].
4. The technical trail: AI, a watermark and disputed provenance
Reporting identifies the clip’s ape images as AI‑generated and notes a visible watermark — @XERIAS_X — that corresponds to a Trump‑supporting X account, suggesting the material circulated in pro‑Trump social media circles before being reshared on Truth Social; the reporting does not, however, prove who created the edit or why Trump reposted it [5] [4] [7].
5. The broader content of the video: election claims and prior patterns
The video’s main thrust recycles thoroughly debunked claims that voting machines or companies like Dominion altered the 2020 outcome — a narrative repeatedly rejected by courts and election officials — and outlets tie this post to a pattern of Trump amplifying manipulated or AI content targeting political opponents [3] [8] [1].
6. Political and media implications: polarized readings and unanswered questions
Coverage frames the share as part political provocation and part disinformation amplification; critics say it lowers norms and weaponizes racist tropes during Black History Month, while available reporting does not include substantive defenses from Trump allies beyond reposting the clip, nor does it establish the president’s intent beyond the act of resharing [9] [2] [1].
7. Limits of the record: what reporting does and does not prove
The assembled sources establish that Trump posted the video, that the ape imagery appeared and was widely condemned, and that the clip advances false election claims and bears an identifiable watermark and AI characteristics [1] [5] [4]; the sources do not provide forensic attribution proving who produced the edit, nor do they supply a statement from the Trump camp justifying the post in the sources provided, so motive and original authorship remain unresolved in this reporting [5] [3].
8. Why this matters going forward
Beyond immediate outrage, the episode illustrates how AI‑manipulated visuals can be rapidly amplified by high‑profile accounts and used to resurrect racist tropes or false narratives, raising questions about platform responsibility, political accountability and how voters should assess content that mixes satire, conspiracy and targeted dehumanization — issues covered in the reporting but not fully answered by it [3] [8] [1].