{"id":465145,"date":"2026-02-07T21:47:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T21:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/465145\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T21:47:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T21:47:20","slug":"trump-deletes-post-depicting-obamas-as-apes-after-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/465145\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump deletes post depicting Obamas as apes after backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Updated February 7, 2026 \u2014 9:24am,first published February 7, 2026 \u2014 1:46am<\/p>\n

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Washington: US President Donald Trump has deleted a social media post that included a depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama as apes after a furious backlash, including from Republicans, one of whom branded it \u201cthe most racist thing I\u2019ve seen out of this White House\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, Trump later declined to apologise for the post and said: \u201cI didn\u2019t make a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Trump\u2019sTrump\u2019s Truth Social account regularly re-posts memes, videos and other content from an ecosystem of conservative and conspiratorial fringe US media outlets.AP<\/p>\n

In a late-night barrage of activity on Truth Social, the president\u2019s account re-posted a conspiratorial video from the \u201cPatriot News Outlet\u201d about voting machines used in the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

At the end of the clip, a cartoon video flashed up for about one second. It depicted Obama \u2013 the country\u2019s first Black president \u2013 and his wife Michelle as apes, with audio of The Lion Sleeps Tonight from The Lion King.<\/p>\n

The White House initially defended the post, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt telling media outlets: \u201cThis is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"President<\/a><\/p>\n

But in a later statement to this masthead, a White House official said: \u201cA White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, when asked by reporters later in the day if he condemned it, replied, \u201cOf course I do\u201d.<\/p>\n

But late on Friday night (Washington time), he said he only saw the start of the video<\/a> on alleged voter fraud and then gave it to unnamed staffers to post.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody knew that was in the end, if they would have looked, they would have seen it, and probably they would have the sense to take it down,\u201d he told reporters aboard Air Force One.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t see the whole thing. I looked at the first part, and it was really about voter fraud in the machines, how crooked it is, how disgusting it is. Then I gave it to the people. Generally, they look at the whole thing. But I guess somebody didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BarackBarack and Michelle Obama in 2024.AP<\/p>\n

An Obama spokeswoman said the former president had no response when asked about the video.<\/p>\n

The rare backdown followed a storm of criticism from Trump allies, including Republican senator from South Carolina Tim Scott \u2013 the only black Republican senator.<\/p>\n

\u201cPraying it was fake because it\u2019s the most racist thing I\u2019ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it,\u201d Scott said on X.<\/p>\n

\"RepublicanRepublican Senator Tim Scott said the post was \u201cthe most racist thing I\u2019ve seen out of this White House\u201d.Bloomberg<\/p>\n

Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, called on Trump to apologise. \u201cThis is totally unacceptable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, and the first black person to lead a major party in Congress, said Trump was \u201csick\u201d and Republicans needed to call him out.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Obama and Michelle Obama are brilliant, compassionate and patriotic Americans,\u201d he said. \u201cThey represent the best of this country. Donald Trump is a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are GOP leaders like [Senate leader] John Thune continuing to stand by this sick individual? Every single Republican must immediately denounce Donald Trump\u2019s disgusting bigotry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HakeemHakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, said Trump was \u201csick\u201d.AP<\/p>\n

Confirmation from the White House that staffers routinely control Trump\u2019s Truth Social account has also led critics to question the president\u2019s hypocrisy over his attacks on his predecessor, Joe Biden, for signing documents with an automatic pen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time people understand that this is Trump\u2019s auto-pen, and it is out of control,\u201d said Bruce Wolpe, a senior fellow at the United States Studies Centre, who worked for Democrats in Congress during Obama\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s Truth Social account regularly re-posts memes, videos and other content from the US\u2019s large ecosystem of conservative and conspiratorial fringe media outlets.<\/p>\n

The video in question was reiterating false claims about election fraud in 2020, asserting that voting machines mysteriously added votes for Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"US<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the companies mentioned, Dominion, received a settlement from Fox News for nearly $800 million when it sued for defamation over false claims about voting machines aired on the network.<\/p>\n

Trump has recently reiterated conspiracy theories about voter fraud ahead of November\u2019s midterm elections and suggested Republicans should \u201ctake over\u201d and \u201cnationalise\u201d the counting of votes<\/a> in upwards of 15 states.<\/p>\n

The US Constitution stipulates that states are responsible for administering national elections in their territory.<\/p>\n

Trump takes a relaxed approach to posting all content on social media. In January, when his account broke an embargo on national jobs data, the president shrugged it off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said post them whenever you get a chance,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cThey gave me some numbers – when people give me things, I post them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what\u2019s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"MichaelMichael Koziol<\/a> is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated February 7, 2026 \u2014 9:24am,first published February 7, 2026 \u2014 1:46am Save You have reached your maximum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-465145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}