Washington: US President Donald Trump faced widespread criticism after sharing a social media video depicting Democratic former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes invoking racist imagery historically used to dehumanize people of African descent.
The video approximately one minute long, was spliced with AI generated clips of dancing primates superimposed with the Obamas heads. Trump shared the post while amplifying his unproven claims that his 2020 election loss was due to fraud. By early Friday the post had garnered thousands of likes on his platform.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described the clip as an internet meme portraying Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King urging critics to stop the fake outrage.
However Democrats and prominent Republicans including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Tim Scott, condemned the video as racist. Jeffries called Trump vile unhinged and malignant while Scott said it was the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House and urged its removal.
Trump has a history of sharing racially charged content including AI generated visuals targeting Obama, other politicians and minority communities. Critics say such posts exploit racial tensions and glorify Trump while demeaning his opponents drawing condemnation from civil rights advocates and public figures.
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