A political firestorm has erupted after former President Donald Trump circulated a racially inflammatory video on his Truth Social platform that depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. The 62-second clip, set to the soundtrack of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” concluded with this dehumanizing imagery following unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in Michigan during the 2020 presidential election.
The controversial content appears to originate from an October social media post by conservative meme creator Xerias, whose video series portrays multiple prominent Democrats as various animals. Beyond the Obamas, the collection includes caricatures of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and President Joe Biden shown consuming a banana.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the shared content as merely “an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King,” urging critics to “stop the fake outrage.”
However, the video prompted immediate condemnation across party lines. Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, one of Trump’s traditional allies, described it as “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House” and called for its removal. Representative Mike Lawler, another Republican, denounced the post as “wrong and incredibly offensive” and demanded immediate deletion with an apology.
Democratic officials responded with intensified criticism. California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office characterized it as “disgusting behaviour by the president,” while Illinois Governor JB Pritzker directly stated that “Donald Trump is a racist.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who previously accused Trump of racism after similar AI-generated imagery targeted him, labeled Trump a “vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder.”
The NAACP’s president Derrick Johnson condemned the video as “disgusting and utterly despicable,” suggesting it represented a diversionary tactic from ongoing controversies surrounding the Epstein case and economic concerns. This incident marks another chapter in Trump’s extensive history of racially charged rhetoric targeting Obama, including his prominent promotion of the false “birther” conspiracy theory questioning Obama’s citizenship.