With Black History Month underway, Donald Trump is facing a wave of backlash for sharing a video on Truth Social that uses AI to depict former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys.
The racist imagery appears at the end of a one-minute clip that pushes disproven claims that Dominion Voting Systems helped steal the 2020 election. This is the same company that settled a massive defamation lawsuit with Fox News for $787.5 million in 2023. At the end of the footage, the Obamas’ faces are superimposed onto monkeys that are shown bobbing to the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
The video was posted during an overnight social media rant where Trump shared more than 60 posts in just three hours, ranging from Super Bowl ads to calls for his face to be on Mount Rushmore. By Friday morning, the post had already gained over 2,500 likes and 1,100 reposts, sparking immediate backlash from political figures.
“Disgusting behavior by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now,” said the press office for California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Critics argue that the use of such dehumanizing caricatures is a blatant display of racism, especially given the historical context of these tropes. Political strategist Adam Parkhomenko shared his thoughts on Twitter, stating, “This is overt racism. Full stop. There’s no ‘misinterpretation’ and no excuse. This is who he is, who he’s always been, and why he should never be anywhere near power again.”
Ben Rhodes, a former top advisor to Obama, also weighed in on the controversy, saying, “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.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt attempted to clean up the outrage. She claimed the clip was “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,” Leavitt said in a statement.
While Trump has a long history of using racially charged rhetoric, the use of AI to create such specific, dehumanizing images has raised new concerns about how digital tools are being used to spread prejudice. As the country takes time this month to reflect on the history and dignity of Black Americans, this situation serves as a reminder of the ongoing struggle against these types of attacks.
Trump needs help and those racist white weirdo ladies need to be impeached too that was too racist what he did and no one thinks that is cool or appropriate Trump really needs to be impeached too
The question is, if you shave the hair off a monkey what color is it then? 🧐 Just saying…
The fact remains, that black is not a color it’s the essence from which all color stems. 😊✊🏾
I don’t understand how he got ona balllot being a convicted felon on 85 counts if it was any other person as president would be in jail now and for him to put this out there it’s a shame to any race because it’s black history month something needs to be done president or not but there is a God 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾