Trump deletes racist meme of the Obamas : NPR

President Trump takes the stage.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

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Brandon Bell/Getty Images

President Trump takes the stage.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

During the first week of Black History Month, President Trump posted on social media a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama – a video clip showing the Obamas’ faces on monkeys. The post was later deleted and the White House accused a staffer of posting it “in error.”

It was one of dozens of messages Trump shared in the middle of the night on his Truth Social platform and came at the end of a minute-long video promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the clip before it was removed, saying “please stop this fake scandal.”

Leavitt said it was an “Internet meme” that portrayed Trump as the king of the jungle while Democrats were portrayed as characters of The Lion King. Trump’s clip did not include any of the longer videos mentioned by Leavitt, which also includes other Democrats, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, depicted as animals.

The racist cliché describing black people as apes or animals has always been used to dehumanize black people and justify slavery.

Criticism of Trump and his position has been swift, including from some Trump allies.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott said he was “praying it was fake.”

“This is the most racist thing I’ve seen in the White House. The president should remove it,” said Scott, who is black.

Trump has a history of making racist remarks toward black people and other people of color.

For years he has supported the false narrative that Obama was not born in the United States, and he has previously used derogatory language to describe African countries.

He also falsely claimed that former Vice President Kamala Harris “went black” during the presidential campaign. Harris identifies as black and Native American.