Trump shares racist video depicting Obamas as apes, deletes after bipartisan condemnation

President Trump shared a video on Truth Social depicting former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes in a jungle scene. The post, which invoked racist imagery historically used to dehumanize Black people, was initially defended by the White House as "an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King." Following widespread bipartisan condemnation, including from Republican Senator Tim Scott who called it "the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House" and GOP Rep. Burgess Owens who termed it "wildly offensive and inappropriate," the post was deleted and blamed on a staffer error. The incident marked a new low even by Trump's standards, breaking through what observers described as a "numbness barrier" to previous offensive conduct.

"This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King." — White House initial defense of the racist video before deletion