From the Liveblog of
Friday, February 6, 2026
Trump posts video that includes racist depiction of Obamas as apes, sparking outcry
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
US President Donald Trump used his social media account to share a video about election conspiracy theories that includes a racist depiction of former president Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as apes in a jungle.
The Republican president’s Thursday night post immediately drew backlash for its treatment of the nation’s first Black president and first lady. It was part of a flurry of social media activity that amplified Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, despite courts around the country and a Trump attorney general from his first term finding no evidence of fraud that could have affected the outcome.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected criticism of the post that depicted the Obamas, who are Democrats. An Obama spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Nearly all of the 62-second clip, which was among dozens of Truth Social posts from Trump overnight, appears to be from a conservative video alleging deliberate tampering with voting machines in battleground states as the 2020 presidential votes were tallied. At the 60-second mark is a quick scene of two primates, with the Obamas’ smiling faces imposed on them.
It is absolutely positively real. Donald Trump posted this video that depicts the Obamas as apes. It’s 59 seconds into the video.
I just screen grabbed it for the people who are saying it isn’t true.
Was it snuck in there? If so it needs the apology of all time. pic.twitter.com/0ALSFH1Il0
— Jennifer ????????????♀️????????⬛ ???? (@babybeginner) February 6, 2026
Those frames were taken from a longer video, previously circulated by an influential conservative meme maker. It shows Trump as “King of the Jungle” and depicts a range of Democratic leaders as animals, including Joe Biden, who is white, as a primate eating a banana.
“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 says by text, referring to Disney’s 1994 feature film. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
Trump does not comment on the video in his post.
Republican Sen. Tim Scott, who is Black, is among those who criticized the 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,” Scott, who chairs Senate Republicans’ midterm campaign arm, says on social media.
The Times of Israel Community.