Trump deletes Truth Social clip depicting Obamas as apes after bipartisan outrage

President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account posted a short video late Thursday night that ended with images of former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama edited onto primate bodies. The post, which surfaced in the first week of Black History Month, provoked rapid condemnation across the political spectrum and was removed roughly 12 hours later as the White House sought to contain the fallout.

The clip appeared at the end of a roughly one-minute video that also pushed false claims about the 2020 election. The image of the Obamas on ape bodies recalled a long-standing and virulent racist trope that has been used historically to dehumanize Black people. Its placement and timing amplified outrage among lawmakers, civil rights advocates and international observers who said the depiction was especially inflammatory.

The White House initially defended the content. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt urged critics to, in her words, "please stop the fake outrage," and described the material as coming from an "internet meme" that depicted "President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King." That defense drew immediate pushback from members of Mr. Trump's own party, signaling the depth of the political damage.

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, one of the president's more prominent Republican allies, said he was "Praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The President should remove it." Representative Mike Lawler of New York called the post "wrong and incredibly offensive" and urged it be deleted immediately with an apology offered. Other Republicans, including Representative Nick LaLota, publicly urged its removal, underscoring unease among lawmakers who have cultivated close ties to the administration.

Hours after the initial defense, the White House shifted course and issued a terse explanation attributed to an official: "A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down." At the time of television interviews on Friday morning, reporters probing whether an apology would follow were told "Not yet."

There was no immediate comment from Barack or Michelle Obama. The episode drew attention beyond domestic politics because it fused online disinformation techniques with hyperreal visual manipulation. Administration use of AI-generated imagery and provocative digital montages has increased since the president's return to public political activity, creating new dilemmas about the origin and intent of viral content distributed from official accounts.

For many observers the incident signaled more than a misstep in social media management. The picture of the nation's first Black president and first lady rendered as animals is not only a personal affront; it carries historical weight that resonates across societies reckoning with racial hierarchies and colonial-era imagery. International partners and rights groups watch such moments closely, aware that high-level normalization of demeaning representations can erode democratic norms and inflame social tensions.

The immediate political consequence may be a further strain on Republican unity as lawmakers weigh public rebuke against private alliances. Longer term, the episode raises questions about oversight of presidential communications and the role of synthetic media in eroding shared facts. Officials said the post was removed and blamed on a staff error; investigators and congressional critics will likely press for clarity about how the image was approved and who is accountable.