A video posted to Truth Social from Donald Trump’s official account was deleted Friday morning after drawing swift backlash over racist imagery targeting Barack Obama and Michelle Obama.
The clip, shared late Thursday and left up for about 12 hours, showed the former president and first lady portrayed as apes inside a longer meme-style video pushing a conspiracy theory about voting machines in the 2020 election. The imagery triggered condemnation from Democrats and Republicans alike, with calls for immediate removal.
The White House initially defended the post. “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an emailed statement Friday morning. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public,” she added.
Hours later, the video disappeared from Trump’s account. A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a staffer had posted the clip in error and confirmed it had been taken down.
The original video, traced to a pro-Trump meme account, also depicted other Democrats as animals, including Hillary Clinton, Hakeem Jeffries, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, while Trump appeared as a lion to the soundtrack “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
Republican Sen. Tim Scott wrote, “Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.” He added, “The President should remove it.” Rep. Mike Lawler also called the post “wrong and incredibly offensive.”
The NAACP said the video was “a stark reminder of how Trump and his followers truly view people,” signaling the controversy is unlikely to fade quickly as the midterm elections approach.
us real Americans are ready for anything trying to harm our families and country…. let’s go