Everything we find out about ‘racist’ Obama video shared by Donald Trump
Democrats including Gavin Newsom and JB Pritzker have condemned Donald Trump after he shared the controversial video on social media, with many demanding Republicans denounce the president’s actions
Trump has rightly been slammed for sharing the video(Image: Getty Images)
Donald Trump’s social media output has once again been criticised after the president shared a racist clip which portrayed Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys.
The clip was taken from an X post shared by right-wing meme creator Xerias in October last year. It’s reminiscent of hideously xenophobic caricatures comparing black people to monkeys and has been slammed as “the most racist thing to come out of the White House”.
The post shared from Trump’s Truth Social account, which was devoid of any commentary, shared a video concerning baseless allegations of 2020 election fraud in Pennsylvania. However, at approximately the 59-second mark, an AI-generated clip appears to superimpose the Obamas’ faces onto the bodies of apes. This image is accompanied by the 1961 hit song by the Tokens, The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
The clip featuring the Obamas carries an “@XERIAS_X” watermark. This account also claims credit for the “fighter jet poop” AI video, which Trump posted during last year’s “No Kings” protests.
The original clip from Xerias also depicts several other high-profile Democrats as animals, including New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Trump’s predecessor in the White House, Joe Biden, also is depicted as an ape eating a banana. The Obamas have yet to comment on the video.
Backlash
Despite the president not commenting on his post, his sharing of the video – one of many uploaded to his Truth Social account overnight – ignited a strong backlash.
“Disgusting behaviour by the president,” was the response from the office of California Governor Gavin Newsom on X. “Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.”
In a brief post of his own, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker labelled “Donald Trump as a racist”.
Ben Rhodes, who served as a former deputy national security adviser for strategic communications in the Obama administration, stated: “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 country.”
Derrick Johnson, the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, branded the video as “disgusting and utterly despicable”, accusing Trump of trying to divert public attention from the Epstein case and a “rapidly failing economy.
“You know who isn’t in the Epstein files? Barack Obama. You know who actually improved the economy as president? Barack Obama,” he added.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries – who himself accused Trump of racism last year after he shared an AI-image depicting Jeffries with a moustache and sombrero – reacted to the recent video by labelling Trump as a “vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder.
“Every single Republican must immediately denounce Donald Trump’s disgusting bigotry,” he added.
White House response
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Daily Star: “This is 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.”
But the White House later u-turned and deleted the video, saying a staffer “erroneously made the post”.
Voting fraud
The footage of the Obamas was tacked onto the conclusion of a minute-long clip that featured allegations about electoral fraud in Michigan during the 2020 presidential race. These accusations were thoroughly discredited as part of Dominion Voting System’s victorious civil court battles against certain media outlets.
Trump also boasts an extensive track record of lambasting and targeting Obama.
Prior to securing his first presidential tenure, Trump routinely peddled baseless assertions that the Hawaii-born Obama was actually born in Kenya and was consequently unfit to serve as president.
He subsequently conceded that Obama was indeed born in the US.
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