Controversial Trump Video Featuring Obamas as Monkeys Pulled from Online Platforms
A highly controversial video posted by U.S. President Donald Trump that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys has been removed from online platforms. The one-minute clip, which was originally shared on Truth Social on Thursday, became unavailable by noon on Friday following significant backlash from political figures and the public.
Content and Context of the Removed Video
The video promoted Trump's persistent but false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. In the final segment of the clip, the Obamas were shown as monkeys with the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight playing in the background. This imagery represents a deeply offensive racial trope with a long and painful history in the United States, where Black people have been dehumanized through comparisons to primates.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt attempted to contextualize the video in a statement to the Associated Press, describing it as part of "an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King." She urged media outlets to "stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public."
Political Reactions and Condemnation
The response to the video was swift and crossed political lines. Democratic politicians immediately condemned the content, but perhaps more notably, criticism also came from within Trump's own political circle. U.S. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican senator and a Trump ally, expressed strong disapproval.
"I was praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House," Scott stated on social media platform X. He explicitly called for Trump to take down the video, highlighting the severity of the imagery even among those who typically support the president.
California Governor Gavin Newsom's office called on Republicans to "denounce this now" in a post on X, describing the president's behavior as "disgusting." Ben Rhodes, former deputy national security advisor under President Obama, added historical perspective, writing: "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."
Origin and Removal of the Content
The controversial video originated from a pro-Trump social media account called @xerias_x, which has approximately 46,000 followers on X. The account originally shared the meme on October 24, 2025, with the caption "President Trump: King of the Jungle." The full video featured various politicians portrayed as jungle animals, including Trump as a lion, Hillary Clinton as a warthog, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a donkey, and Joe Biden as a baboon.
According to NBC News, a White House official stated that "a White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down." The National Post confirmed that the video was no longer accessible online as of Friday noon and had reached out to the White House for additional comment.
Broader Implications and Election Denial Context
This incident occurs against the backdrop of Trump's continued efforts to challenge the legitimacy of the 2020 election results. Since regaining office for a second term, the president has maintained his false claims about election fraud, despite numerous lawsuits seeking to overturn the results being dismissed in 2020 and 2021, as reported by The New York Times.
The removal of the video represents another chapter in the ongoing tensions surrounding racial imagery in political discourse and the persistence of election denial narratives in American politics. The episode underscores how digital media platforms have become battlegrounds for political messaging and the challenges of moderating content that sits at the intersection of political speech and racial insensitivity.
