U.S. President Donald Trump has ignited a firestorm of criticism after posting a video on his Truth Social platform that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. The one-minute video, which repeated false claims that Dominion Voting Systems helped steal the 2020 presidential election, featured a brief, two-second segment showing the Obamas' faces superimposed on dancing monkeys as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" played in the background. The video, which included a watermark from the X user @XERIAS_X—an account with a profile photo of Pepe the Frog dressed as Trump—was originally posted in October 2025, according to Deadline, and reposted by Trump yesterday, Thursday, February 5, 2026.

The video did not stop at the Obamas. Throughout, Trump was portrayed as a lion, while other prominent Democrats, including Hillary Clinton and Zohran Mamdani, were depicted as a warthog and a hyena, respectively. The clip's meme-like quality and its use of AI-generated imagery quickly drew attention, but it was the portrayal of the Obamas as apes that sparked immediate and widespread condemnation across the political spectrum.

By the early morning of February 6, the post had garnered more than 1,000 likes on Truth Social, reflecting the platform's significant reach among Trump's supporters, as reported by AFP and The Straits Times. But the backlash was swift and fierce. California Governor Gavin Newsom, a prominent critic of Trump and a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, denounced the post on X, formerly Twitter: "Disgusting behavior by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now." His office's statement was echoed by a chorus of Democratic leaders, former officials, and social media influencers.

Ben Rhodes, a former national security advisor and close confidant to Barack Obama, also weighed in on X. "Let it haunt Trump and his racist followers that future Americans will embrace the Obamas as beloved figures while studying him as a stain on our history," Rhodes wrote, as cited by AFP and Newsweek. Martina Navratilova, the former tennis champion, expressed her outrage: "Both Michelle and Barack have the IQ twice as high as Trump if not more and he posts this racist s***????" as reported by Newsweek.

Public reaction was not limited to prominent Democrats. Social media users across platforms called out the video as overtly racist, with some stating, "This is beyond politics, it’s straight-up racism," and others highlighting the dangers of normalizing dehumanizing imagery in political discourse. One user commented, "There’s absolutely no way that any black Trump supporters can defend this. How do you defend a white man posting images of black people as monkeys?" according to LADbible.

The White House, through Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, responded to the mounting criticism by downplaying the controversy. In statements to Deadline and LADbible, Leavitt said, "This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public." The administration did not clarify whether Trump personally selected the video or was aware of its content, as noted by Deadline.

This incident is not an isolated one. Since beginning his second term in January 2025, Trump has ramped up his use of hyper-realistic, AI-generated videos and memes on Truth Social and other platforms. Previous posts have included a digitally altered video showing Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office and later depicted behind bars in an orange jumpsuit, as reported by AFP and LADbible. Another AI-generated clip showed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is Black, wearing a fake mustache and sombrero—imagery widely condemned as racist, including by Jeffries himself.

Trump's use of such provocative content is part of a broader pattern since his return to the White House. As The Straits Times and Newsweek detailed, one of Trump’s first actions in his second term was to terminate all federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, including those in the military. The administration has also overseen the removal of books addressing America’s history of discrimination from some military academies. These moves, alongside the mass deportation program and repeated attacks on "woke" initiatives, have fueled accusations of racism and bigotry from critics.

The timing of the video—posted during Black History Month—added to the outrage. Many saw it as especially egregious to target the nation’s first Black president and his wife with such imagery at a moment meant to honor Black achievement and reflect on the legacy of racism in the United States. As Newsweek noted, the incident has "fanned those accusations" of racism against Trump and his administration.

Trump’s critics argue that these posts are not simply provocative or humorous, but dangerous. As one social media user put it, "Posting imagery that dehumanizes Donald Trump’s opponents isn’t 'provocative', it’s vile, dangerous, and corrosive. Targeting Barack Obama and Michelle Obama this way drags public discourse to the gutter and normalizes hate." The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism previously reported a surge in online death threats against Obama after Trump’s public accusations of treason, further highlighting the real-world consequences of such rhetoric.

The president’s defenders, meanwhile, have dismissed the outrage as manufactured. The White House’s call to "report on something today that actually matters to the American public" reflects a strategy of minimizing controversies over offensive or divisive content, framing them as distractions from more substantive issues. For many Republicans, the incident is either ignored or rationalized as part of Trump’s combative, anti-establishment style—a style that has long resonated with his base, even as it shocks and angers his opponents.

As of the evening of February 6, neither Trump nor Obama had issued further public statements on the controversy. The video remains on Truth Social, where it continues to accumulate likes and comments. The incident has reignited debates over the boundaries of political speech, the responsibilities of public figures on social media, and the role of race in American politics. With Trump’s history of sharing racially charged content and his administration’s rollback of DEI initiatives, critics warn that such episodes are likely to continue—and to further polarize an already divided nation.

For now, the video stands as the latest flashpoint in a presidency marked by controversy, culture wars, and an unyielding presence on social media. Whether this incident will have lasting political repercussions or simply fade into the ever-churning news cycle remains to be seen. (Courtesy of Grand Pinnacle Tribune, but with some amendments)

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