Trump posts racist video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys
The US president posted the one-minute long video, showing the Obamas with their faces superimposed onto the bodies of monkeys, on his Truth Social platform
Donald Trump has shared a racist video on social media in which Barack and Michelle Obama are depicted as monkeys.
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The US president posted the one-minute long video, showing the Obamas' with their faces superimposed onto the bodies of monkeys, on his Truth Social platform.
The racist imagery appears for about one second at the end of the clip, while the song The Lions Sleeps Tonight plays in the background.
It comes as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the video “is from an internet meme depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the ‘Lion King,’” - despite no gorillas appearing in prominent roles in the Disney film.
Leavitt advised the media to “please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public".
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Elsewhere in the video, which has been liked several thousand times, false allegations are repeated that the ballot-counting company Dominion Voting Systems helped “steal” the 2020 election from Trump
Trump's decision to share the video has been slammed by prominent Democrats, who have branded the move "disgusting".
Gavin Newsom, the California governor and a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, said on X: "Disgusting behavior by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now."
Ben Rhodes, a former deputy national security adviser and close confidant of President Obama, added: "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."
It is not the first time Trump has used fabricated visuals on his Truth Social to attack Barack Obama.
Last year, the American leader posted an AI-generated video showing Obama being arrested in the Oval Office and appearing behind bars in an orange jumpsuit.
He also posted a clip of the House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a fake moustache and a sombrero.
Jeffries called the image racist.