Trump call Obamas apes
Executive summary
President Donald Trump reposted a late-night video on Truth Social that briefly depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama with their faces superimposed on ape bodies, a clip many outlets called racist; the post remained live for roughly 12 hours before being removed amid bipartisan condemnation [1] [2] [3].
1. What happened — the post, the clip and its origin
The Truth Social post was a 62‑second video pushing false claims about 2020 voting machines that, in its final seconds, showed the Obamas’ faces on animated apes set to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” with a watermark pointing to an X account called @XERIAS_X — an account previously tied to pro‑Trump AI memes — and news organizations reporting the clip appears to be AI‑generated [1] [4] [5] [6].
2. Why critics called it racist — historical context and the trope invoked
Multiple outlets and civil‑rights groups framed the imagery as invoking a centuries‑old racist trope that compared Black people to apes and was used to dehumanize and justify violence and segregation, a context underscored by historians and cited repeatedly in contemporary coverage of the post [7] [2] [8].
3. Rapid political backlash — Republicans and Democrats respond
Condemnation was both swift and cross‑partisan: senior Democrats denounced the post as “vile” and “despicable,” civil‑rights groups like the NAACP called it “blatantly racist,” and even prominent Republicans, including Sen. Tim Scott and Rep. Mike Lawler, urged the president to remove the clip and apologize, with Scott calling it “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House” [9] [8] [10].
4. White House defense, backtrack and removal
The White House initially defended the material as part of an “internet meme” in which Trump was depicted as the “King of the Jungle” and Democrats as animals, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissing the outrage as “fake,” but the post was taken down after mounting blowback and, according to some reports, the White House later suggested a staffer had erroneously made the post [6] [1] [11] [2].
5. Pattern and context — not an isolated episode in public record
Coverage put the episode in a pattern: reporters noted previous instances where Trump promoted AI‑generated or inflammatory imagery about political opponents — including earlier AI clips involving Obama — and connected the post to longer running attacks like the “birther” conspiracy and prior controversies over racist imagery circulated from official feeds during the administration [5] [7] [4].
6. Stakes and implications — politics, timing and motives
Observers and some sources suggested the timing — during Black History Month and amid other political controversies such as reporting around Epstein files and economic concerns — made the post particularly inflammatory and, critics argue, potentially intended to energize a base or distract from other news, while defenders framed it as meme culture or an accident, leaving intent contested and politically freighted [12] [6] [9].
7. What is and isn’t confirmed by reporting
Reporting consistently confirms that Trump shared and later removed a video containing a brief clip depicting the Obamas as apes, that the clip carried a @XERIAS_X watermark and appears AI‑generated, and that it drew bipartisan condemnation including from civil‑rights groups and some Republicans; outlets also report the White House initially defended the post and later said it was posted in error, while the Obamas themselves had not publicly commented in the immediate coverage cited here [1] [4] [11] [3].