In a rare and abrupt backtrack for an administration that prides itself on never apologizing, the White House deleted a video from President Trump’s Truth Social account on Friday that depicted former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
The removal came exactly 12 hours after the video was posted at 11:44 p.m. Thursday, and only after the President’s most loyal legislative allies broke ranks to condemn the imagery as “blatantly racist.” By noon, the White House shifted from a defiant defense of the “internet meme” to blaming an unnamed subordinate for an “erroneous” post.
“A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down,” an official told reporters, an admission of error almost unprecedented in the Trump era.
The ‘King of the Jungle’ Defense Fails
The minute-long video, which largely peddled debunked conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 election, concluded with a two-second clip featuring the Obamas’ faces superimposed onto the bodies of primates bobbing to the tune of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
Before the deletion, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt attempted to brush off the brewing storm, characterizing the clip as a harmless homage to a 1994 Disney classic.
“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King,” Leavitt said in an initial statement. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters.”
Critics were quick to point out that The Lion King does not feature the gorillas or apes shown in the video, and that the “Negro-ape” metaphor is one of the oldest and most dehumanizing slanders in American history—historically used to justify violence and systemic oppression against Black Americans.
A Rare Republican Mutiny
The pivot from the White House was likely triggered not by Democratic outcry, but by a sharp rebuke from Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), the Senate’s only Black Republican and a key Trump surrogate.
“Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” Scott wrote on X. “The President should remove it.”
Scott’s condemnation opened the floodgates for other Republicans:
- Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS): Called the post “totally unacceptable” and urged an apology.
- Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE): Stated that any “reasonable person sees the racist context” and urged the White House to admit the mistake.
- Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY): Described the post as “wrong and incredibly offensive” regardless of whether it was intentional.
Black History Month Backlash
The timing of the post—falling in the first week of Black History Month—added a layer of vitriol to the response. NAACP President Derrick Johnson slammed the video as “despicable,” suggesting it was a calculated distraction from the President’s recent legal headlines.
While the White House maintains the President “had not seen the video” before it was posted, the incident underscores a recurring pattern in the “Trump 2.0” digital strategy: the use of AI-generated or hyper-edited “memes” to lampoon enemies. Last year, the account shared a similar AI video showing Barack Obama behind bars in an orange jumpsuit.
As of Friday evening, the President has not personally commented on the video or the “staffer error.” For the Obamas, who have famously maintained a policy of “when they go low, we go high,” the response was a pointed silence. Their spokesperson declined to comment, leaving the deleted Truth Social post to speak for itself.