President Donald Trump is drawing heavy online criticism after sharing a Truth Social video that includes a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes.
The brief image appears near the end of a 62-second clip focused on voting machines in the 2020 presidential election. For roughly one second, the Obamas’ faces are shown on the bodies of apes as the Tokens’ “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” plays. That portion of the video carries a watermark from X user @XERIAS_X, a pro-Trump account with 45,900 followers.
On X, multiple public figures condemned the post. Liberal social media influencer Harry Sisson, who has more than 374,000 followers, described the video as “incredibly racist and disgusting.”
Why It Matters
Political polarization has intensified in recent years, especially online, renewing debates over where the line should be drawn between free expression and offensive or dehumanizing content. Trump’s social media use has repeatedly drawn scrutiny. He was barred from Facebook and Twitter (now X) in 2021 following the U.S. Capitol attack; he later launched Truth Social, where he posts frequently. His Facebook and Twitter accounts were eventually reinstated.
Since taking office in January 2025, Trump and his administration have faced accusations of racism and bigotry amid rollbacks of diversity, equity and inclusion programs and efforts to carry out a large-scale deportation initiative. Critics say the video’s timing—during Black History Month—and its depiction of the nation’s first Black president adds fuel to those allegations.
What To Know
Condemnation spread quickly across social media.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, wrote on X: “Disgusting behavior by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.”
The Republicans Against Trump X account posted: “Trump just posted a video on Truth Social that includes a racist image of Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys. There’s no bottom.”
The controversy follows earlier clashes between Trump and Obama. In July, Trump accused Obama of treason after Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, released a report alleging that Obama and members of his administration manufactured intelligence about Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump also reposted an AI-generated video on Truth Social that showed Obama being arrested and jailed.
At the time, Obama’s office dismissed the claims as bizarre, calling them “ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.”
A report by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism found that Obama received a surge in online death threats after those accusations. White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Newsweek then that Trump and his administration “strongly condemn all forms of violence.”
Trump has also criticized Obama’s 2009 Nobel Peace Prize award while discussing his own unsuccessful efforts to obtain the honor. In October, he said: “He got elected, and they gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country.”
What People Are Saying
Former professional tennis player Martina Navratilova wrote on X: “Both Michelle and Barack have the IQ twice as high as trump if not more and he posts this racist s***????”
Ben Rhodes, an Obama administration staffer and co-host of the foreign policy podcast Pod Save the World, wrote on X: “Let it haunt Trump and his racist followers that future Americans will embrace the Obamas as beloved figures while studying him as a stain on our history.”
What Happens Next
As of writing, Trump had not publicly responded to the criticism over the video, and Obama had not commented on the post.
