• Trump's Truth Social account shared an AI-generated video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes late Thursday — the post stayed up for nearly 12 hours
• The White House initially dismissed criticism as "fake outrage" before reversing course and blaming an unnamed staffer for "erroneously" posting the video
• Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, called it "the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House" and tried to reach the president privately before going public

WASHINGTON, DC (TDR) — President Donald Trump removed a video from his Truth Social account Friday that depicted former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes — but only after bipartisan condemnation that included rare public rebukes from four Republican senators and two House members. The White House attributed the post to a staff error after initially defending it, and neither Trump nor his administration has apologized.

The roughly 60-second video, posted at 11:44 p.m. Thursday, primarily promoted false claims about 2020 election voting machines. At the 58-second mark, it cuts abruptly to the Obamas' faces superimposed on the bodies of cartoon apes as the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" plays. The imagery — shared during the first week of Black History Month — invokes what historians describe as a centuries-old racist trope used to dehumanize Black Americans and justify slavery, lynching and Jim Crow laws.

The video originated from an AI-generated meme created by a pro-Trump X account in October 2025. The longer version depicts Trump as a lion and various Democratic leaders as animals — including former President Joe Biden as a primate eating a banana, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a warthog and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker as an elephant. Only the clip containing the Obamas appeared in Trump's Thursday post.

The White House Response: Defend, Then Reverse

The administration's handling of the fallout followed a pattern that played out over 12 hours.

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When reporters first asked about the video Friday morning, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended it.

"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."

Behind the scenes, the situation was more complicated. According to Axios, the post "roiled" the White House as staffers reflexively defended it even as they fielded calls from fellow Republicans begging Trump to take it down. An outside Trump adviser described the internal dynamic bluntly: "In cases like these, you don't want to ask and you don't want to know."

Shortly before noon Friday, the White House reversed course. A senior White House official told reporters: "A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down." The staffer was not identified.

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The shift from "fake outrage" to "staff error" drew its own scrutiny. As of Friday afternoon, neither Trump nor the White House had issued an apology to the Obamas. The Obama Foundation did not respond to multiple news outlets' requests for comment.

Republicans Break With the President

The most politically significant dimension of the episode was the speed and force with which Republican lawmakers — many of whom rarely criticize Trump publicly — condemned the post.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the only Black Republican in the Senate and chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, posted the sharpest rebuke:

"Praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The President should remove it."

Scott's public statement came after he tried to reach Trump privately but was unable to get through, according to a source familiar with the discussions. That detail is notable — Scott chose to go public only after private channels failed, suggesting his objection was substantive rather than performative.

Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) rejected the White House's Lion King framing directly:

"Even if this was a 'Lion King' meme, a reasonable person sees the racist context to this. The White House should do what anyone does when they make a mistake: remove this and apologize."

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was equally direct:

"This is totally unacceptable. The president should take it down and apologize." Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), considered one of the most vulnerable House Republicans heading into the 2026 midterms, called the post "wrong and incredibly offensive — whether intentional or a mistake." Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY), another vulnerable incumbent, also urged deletion.

The criticism was not limited to lawmakers facing competitive races. Wicker represents deep-red Mississippi. Ricketts holds a safe Nebraska seat. Their willingness to publicly call for an apology — something the White House has not delivered — signaled a broader concern within the party about the post's potential political cost heading into November's midterm elections.

Democrats and Civil Rights Organizations Respond

Democratic leaders used the moment to demand that Republicans go further than individual statements.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called the post "Racist. Vile. Abhorrent" and asked: "Where are Senate Republicans?" House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called Trump "a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder" and questioned why GOP leaders like Senate Majority Leader John Thune continued to "stand by this sick individual."

NAACP national president Derrick Johnson issued a statement calling the video "blatantly racist, disgusting, and utterly despicable" and connected it to broader political dynamics:

"You know who isn't in the Epstein files? Barack Obama. You know who actually improved the economy as president? Barack Obama."

The NAACP's official account added: "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."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office responded: "Disgusting behavior by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now."

A Pattern and a Precedent

This is not the first time racially charged content has appeared on Trump's social media accounts. Last year, the president posted an apparent AI video depicting Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office. During last fall's government shutdown, Trump and members of his administration shared digitally altered images of Jeffries wearing a cartoon sombrero and mustache — imagery Jeffries publicly described as racist.

The broader meme video from which Thursday's clip was drawn also showed Biden as a primate eating a banana — a detail the White House pointed to in arguing the imagery was not specifically racial. But as Ricketts noted, "a reasonable person" can see the distinction: depicting Black Americans as apes carries a specific historical weight that the same imagery applied to white political figures does not.

There is also a precedent that cuts against the White House's own posture. In 2018, when actress Roseanne Barr compared Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to the offspring of "Planet of the Apes," ABC canceled her show and Disney fired her. At the time, Trump's own press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that "no one is defending" Barr's comments, even as the White House pivoted to complaints about media double standards.

Friday's initial response from Leavitt — defending the video and dismissing criticism as manufactured — represented a markedly different posture from the same White House's handling of a comparable incident eight years ago.

The Political Math

The episode lands nine months before midterm elections in which Republicans are already defending slim majorities in both chambers. The January Harvard CAPS-Harris poll found Democrats holding an eight-point lead in the generic congressional ballot among registered voters, narrowing to four points among likely voters.

Scott's role is particularly significant. As NRSCC chair, his job is to protect and expand the Republican Senate majority. His willingness to publicly call a post from his own party's president "the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House" reflects a calculated political judgment about the potential cost of staying silent — not just for himself, but for every Republican candidate whose name will appear on a ballot in November.

Whether the "staffer" explanation holds or the episode fades from the news cycle will depend largely on whether Democrats can sustain attention on it and whether more Republicans feel pressure to address the question the post raised: if this was an error, who approved it — and if no one approved it, who has access to the president's account?

When the White House shifts from "fake outrage" to "staff error" in under 12 hours, what changed — the assessment of the content, or the assessment of the political cost?

Sources

This report was compiled using information from Axios' reporting on the video removal and White House dynamics, Axios' coverage of Tim Scott's response, NBC News' reporting on the timeline and Republican reactions, CNN's account of the bipartisan backlash, CNBC's coverage of the post's removal, CBS News reporting on the video's origins, PBS/AP reporting on the NAACP response, The Hill's coverage of Scott's rebuke, Deadline's reporting on the Roseanne Barr precedent, CP24/AFP reporting on the White House statement, the January 2026 Harvard CAPS-Harris poll results, and NBC News archival reporting on the 2018 Roseanne Barr incident.

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