In a late-night posting spree on Truth Social, Donald Trump shared a video with racist imagery of Barack and Michelle Obama, depicting them as apes. This sparked outrage from both sides of the aisle, with many condemning the blatant racist trope used about the US's first Black president and his wife, both Democrats. The video, a repost of content from the website Patriot News Outlet, amplifies Trump's false claim that he won the 2020 election. By 8.30am ET Friday, the post had attracted about 4,000 likes, but also garnered outrage for its inclusion of such a blatant racist trope. The Democratic California governor, Gavin Newsom, was among the first to condemn the post, with the press office stating, 'Disgusting behavior by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.' Podcaster Ben Rhodes, the former deputy national security adviser during the Obama administration, also accused Trump of racism, stating, '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.' Republicans Against Trump, an alliance of party members disillusioned with the Trump administration, also posted about the incident, alluding to a 2024 allegation that Trump used a racial slur while he was host of the TV show The Apprentice. The veteran Democratic political strategist Adam Parkhomenko alluded to this, stating, 'This is overt racism. Full stop.' In a statement to the Guardian, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, attempted to brush off the outrage, linking to a post on X last October by a separate rightwing account, which features a 55-second video from which the Obama clip appears to have been taken. However, the video's focus is on the false and disproven claims that ballot-counting company Dominion Voting Systems helped steal the 2020 presidential election from Trump with doctored vote-counting machines.
