© screenshot This openly racist meme proved excessively poisonous, even for Trump.
The US President, Donald Trump, shared a blatantly bigoted video portraying former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, subsequently removing it following substantial backlash – even from figures within his own political affiliation, according to The New York Times.
The excerpt, featuring the tune “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” was appended to the conclusion of a 62-second clip filled with conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 election and made its appearance on Trump’s social media platforms late Thursday.
It’s not unprecedented for Trump to disseminate unsavory visuals and declarations concerning African Americans and other diverse populations.
Erasing the video from his digital space represented an uncommon retreat for the former president – particularly given that merely hours prior, his press liaison dismissed the disapproval as “manufactured anger,” refraining from any effort to distance the president from the video’s essence.
“This serves as an internet meme depicting President Trump as the regal sovereign of the jungle, while casting Democrats as characters reminiscent of The Lion King,” uttered White House press secretary Carolyn Levitt prior to the video’s takedown. “Kindly cease this counterfeit indignation and report on matters genuinely significant to the American people.”
Within the same video, several high-profile Democrats – including Hillary Clinton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City Mayor Zohrab Mamdani, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris – are showcased as various creatures. The video culminates in a sequence where all the “animals” genuflect before Trump.
Trump has not openly elucidated the motives behind his removal of the video. However, a source familiar with the resolution suggested the clip was allegedly uploaded by an “associate” absent the president’s consent. The informant remained anonymous.
The video is part of a protracted narrative of Trump's disparaging commentary aimed at individuals of color, women, and immigrants. He has particularly singled out the Obamas. Throughout Trump’s presidential tenure, prejudiced visuals and mottos have increasingly populated official government sites and digital media, including those linked to the White House, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Homeland Security, where posts have echoed white supremacist sentiment.
Traditionally, the White House countered such critique with mockery.
In the preceding month, upon the administration acknowledging the alteration of a photograph depicting Minnesota demonstrator Nekima Levi Armstrong to convey a disheveled and perplexed demeanor, a representative claimed it was “merely a meme” and “memes shall persist.”
In October, following Trump’s sharing of an AI-produced video showcasing House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries donning a fabricated mustache and sombrero, Vice President J.D. Vance stated he perceived it as “absurd” and that the administration was “simply jesting.”
Nevertheless, this instance witnessed the video overstepping a boundary unanticipated by the White House. The portrayal of Barack and Michelle Obama as primates recreates one of the most longstanding racist archetypes, employed historically by slave merchants and segregationists to strip black individuals of their humanity and validate lynchings.
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina – the singular Black Republican within the Senate and a staunch Trump supporter – expressed via social media his desire that the post was fabricated, “given its status as the most racist exhibit originating from this White House. The president ought to retract it.”
Scott presides over the National Republican Senate Committee, the foremost entity tasked with ensuring Senate retention ahead of the impending November midterm elections.
Congressman Mike Lawler of New York characterized the president’s post as “inaccurate and deeply offensive.” Congressman Michael Turner of Ohio stated the racist depictions of Obama were “offensive, distressing, and unacceptable.” Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi suggested the president “ought to eliminate it and tender an apology.”
Trump’s animosity toward Barack Obama spans years. As early as 2011, he vigorously promoted a deceitful conspiracy asserting Obama’s birth in Kenya rather than the United States, thereby questioning his presidential legitimacy. In the previous year, Trump also disseminated an AI-generated video depicting Obama’s arrest within the Oval Office.
The Obamas rarely acknowledged Trump’s onslaught, but Michelle Obama openly addressed his prejudice during a discourse at the 2024 Democratic Party convention.
“For an extended period, Donald Trump has exerted every effort to incite fear of us,” she conveyed. “His constrained and limited worldview rendered him apprehensive of the existence of two diligent, educated, accomplished individuals who merely happen to be Black.”
“This constitutes his enduring tactic,” she appended, “to amplify repugnant, misogynistic, and bigoted falsehoods as opposed to substantive concepts and remedies capable of genuinely enhancing people’s lives.”
Trump and his cohort have habitually employed fabricated and AI-generated content to satirize political rivals, yet during his second tenure, the racist implications have manifested with greater explicitness.
Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley denounced the video as “blatant, unrefined racism, exploiting the most timeworn stereotypes concerning Black individuals.”
Trump’s extensive assimilation of AI content has introduced previously marginalized material into mainstream consciousness. A multitude of anonymous users consistently generate myriads of AI-crafted videos and images that extol the Trump administration while deriding its adversaries. The content is frequently crude and, at times, prejudiced.
Trump has evolved into one of the most prolific purveyors of such content.
The president, along with a select inner circle, possess access to his Truth Social account. He frequently contributes personally, occasionally dictating posts or delegating their publication to staff members. Consequently, the president’s page has metamorphosed into a mosaic of official policies, political swagger, and – increasingly – AI-generated memes and deepfakes.