Washington (The Palestine Telegraph Newspaper) February 06, 2026 - President Donald Trump has deleted a video from his Truth Social account that portrayed former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, following sharp criticism from Republicans, Democrats, civil rights organisations, and public figures across the political spectrum. The White House first defended the post as an innocent internet meme before attributing it to a staff error and confirming its removal several hours later. Occurring in the opening days of Black History Month, the incident has drawn attention to longstanding issues surrounding racist imagery in American political discourse and the oversight of content on high-profile social media accounts.
The video surfaced on President Trump's personal Truth Social account late Thursday evening. It consisted of a one-minute clip that merged repeated assertions of fraud in the 2020 presidential election with an animated sequence featuring the faces of Barack and Michelle Obama superimposed onto dancing ape-like figures in a jungle setting. The animation played over the soundtrack of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," evoking imagery from Disney's The Lion King. This particular segment appeared toward the end of the shortened version shared from the president's platform, forming the controversial centrepiece amid a broader montage that depicted other Democratic figures as various jungle animals ultimately deferring to Trump portrayed as a majestic lion.
Initial White House Defence Characterised Post as Harmless Meme
The White House response unfolded in distinct phases throughout Friday. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the emerging controversy during morning briefings, framing the video as a lighthearted internet meme that positioned President Trump as the
"King of the Jungle"
surrounded by animal representations of his political opponents. Ms Leavitt dismissed early objections from critics as manufactured "fake outrage," emphasising that such memes commonly circulate online without deeper intent. At that point, administration officials gave no indication of plans to remove the content or issue any formal statement from the president himself.
Multiple news outlets reported that the video remained accessible on Truth Social for approximately eight to ten hours following its posting, accumulating thousands of views, shares, and comments before any action was taken. During this window, screenshots and recordings of the post spread rapidly across other platforms including X, amplifying public awareness and reactions. A spokesperson for the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama declined to provide any public comment on the matter when approached by reporters.
Shift to Staff Error Attribution and Prompt Deletion
By midday Friday, the White House altered its messaging significantly. An official spokesperson announced that the video had been posted "erroneously" by an unidentified staff member acting without proper authorisation, and confirmed that the content had been promptly removed from the president's Truth Social account. The statement offered no specifics regarding the identity of the individual responsible, the circumstances under which the post cleared any internal review processes, or potential disciplinary measures within the administration.
Verification from independent observers and media monitoring confirmed the post's disappearance from Truth Social by late Friday morning Washington time. The episode marked another instance where content on the president's social media channels drew swift public scrutiny, prompting a defensive-to-retreat sequence familiar from prior controversies. Coverage noted that the delay between posting and deletion allowed the video to gain substantial visibility before corrective action.
Detailed Breakdown of Video Content and Technical Elements
Examination of the clip by technology reporters and fact-checkers revealed it as an edited excerpt from a longer meme that first appeared on X in October of the previous year. The original iteration bore a visible watermark linking it to pro-Trump online communities and featured a narrative arc where assorted Democrats—represented as zebras, giraffes, hyenas, and other fauna—gathered in submission before Trump symbolised as a dominant lion. The version posted to Truth Social trimmed this to roughly 62 seconds, retaining the election fraud voiceover alongside the objectionable ape sequence at the 59-second mark.
The voiceover narration reiterated specific, debunked allegations of irregularities in Michigan's 2020 vote tally, claims that underwent extensive court scrutiny and were ultimately dismissed in proceedings involving Dominion Voting Systems and other election vendors. Visual analysis identified the ape depictions as products of artificial intelligence generation tools, with the Obamas' facial features digitally grafted onto animated primate bodies amid a colourful jungle backdrop. The accompanying music and character styling directly referenced The Lion King franchise, lending the clip a deceptively playful veneer that masked its inflammatory core.
Historical Context of Ape Imagery in Racial Stereotyping
Civil rights historians and advocacy experts immediately contextualised the imagery within a painful American legacy. Depictions of Black individuals as monkeys or apes have persisted as dehumanising stereotypes dating back to the era of transatlantic slavery, serving to rationalise enslavement, Jim Crow segregation laws, and extrajudicial violence including lynchings. This trope extended into 20th-century propaganda and persists in modern online harassment, carrying acute resonance when applied to prominent Black figures such as the nation's first African-American president and first lady.
The posting's alignment with the inaugural week of Black History Month—designated annually in February to honour African American achievements and resilience—intensified reactions from advocacy communities. Observers across media platforms underscored how such content undermines efforts to combat systemic racism during a month dedicated to reflection and progress.
Prominent Republican Reactions Signal Bipartisan Discomfort
Condemnation transcended party lines, with several high-profile Republicans voicing unease despite their general alignment with President Trump. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the United States Senate's only Black Republican member and a known Trump ally, emerged as one of the earliest and most vocal critics from within the party.
Senator Tim Scott said in X post,
"Praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The President should remove it."
Mr Scott's remarks, posted shortly after the video's visibility peaked, expressed initial disbelief while delivering a direct call for its removal and accountability. Representative Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York's 17th district, echoed this sentiment, describing the content as
"wrong and incredibly offensive—whether intentional or a mistake"
and insisting on immediate deletion coupled with an apology.
Additional Republican figures, including those cited in Al Jazeera reporting, joined the chorus against the post, marking a rare intra-party fracture on a social media matter. These responses highlighted tensions between loyalty to the president and rejection of overtly racist material.
Civil Rights Organisations Issue Forceful Statements
Prominent civil rights entities amplified the backlash with pointed public statements. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) connected the incident explicitly to broader perceptions of racial attitudes within Trump-aligned circles, particularly given the calendar timing.
NAACP said in X post,
"Trump posting this video — especially during Black History Month— is a stark reminder of how Trump and his followers truly view people. And we'll remember that in November."
NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson elaborated in a formal release, labelling the video
"blatantly racist"
and
"utterly despicable,"
while drawing attention to the unchecked spread of such memes across digital platforms. Johnson's comments underscored the organisation's vigilance against online amplification of prejudice, positioning the episode as emblematic of recurring challenges.
Former Obama national security adviser Ben Rhodes contributed to the discourse via X, projecting a historical contrast between the Obamas' enduring legacy and Trump's transient influence—a perspective widely referenced in ensuing coverage. These reactions from established advocacy voices lent institutional weight to the mounting pressure on the White House.
Trump's Established Social Media Patterns and Obama Feud
This episode integrates into President Trump's well-documented social media practices and his protracted antagonism toward the Obamas. Trump established Truth Social in 2022 following suspensions from mainstream platforms like Twitter (now X) and Facebook after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The platform has since served as his primary outlet for disseminating memes, AI-altered visuals, video montages, and textual assertions—frequently centred on his insistence that the 2020 election suffered from pervasive fraud, despite exhaustive judicial rebuttals.
Interactions with the Obamas trace back over a decade, originating with Trump's prominent role in advancing the debunked "birther" conspiracy questioning Barack Obama's US citizenship eligibility before the 2012 reelection. Subsequent years saw continued public critiques of Obama-era policies on trade, foreign affairs, and domestic security, often aired via rallies, interviews, and online posts. The ape video represents an escalation in visual rhetoric within this rivalry, merging election grievances with racial caricature.
Implications for Political Content Moderation Protocols
Advocacy groups and lawmakers have leveraged the incident to advocate for enhanced protocols governing content from official and quasi-official accounts. Concerns centre on the velocity with which inflammatory material can propagate from niche origins to millions of followers, evading traditional editorial gatekeeping. Senator Scott's invocation of accountability mechanisms and the NAACP's midterm voting reference signal potential electoral ramifications.
The White House's progression from justification to disavowal—without identifying the errant staffer or detailing preventive reforms—has sustained scrutiny into Friday evening. Press Secretary Leavitt's initial meme characterisation persists as a flashpoint, critiqued for minimising the imagery's loaded connotations. No reports indicated a presidential apology or internal investigation announcement by major outlets as of late Friday.
The event has catalysed renewed examination of how political figures navigate digital expression, balancing unfiltered communication with sensitivity to historical inequities. Coverage across outlets continues to chronicle the posting, responses, retraction sequence, and its placement within enduring narratives of race, power, and partisanship in Washington.