US President Donald Trump has removed a social media video that included a racist clip depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. The clip, set to the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", was part of a 62-second video posted by Trump on his Truth Social account that contained claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
When questioned about the post, Trump said he didn't make a mistake and had only seen the beginning of the video before it was posted. He stated that if his staff had looked at the whole thing, they would have taken it down.
The clip has been described as "the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House" by Republican Senator Tim Scott, who called for Trump to remove the post. Another Republican senator, Mike Lawler, said it was "wrong and incredibly offensive" and should be deleted immediately with an apology offered.
Criticism of the video has come from both within Trump's own party and across the aisle. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) described the clip as "disgusting and utterly despicable", while former deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes called it a "vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder".
Trump has a long history of criticizing and attacking Obama, including making false claims that he was born in Kenya. The removal of the video comes after fierce backlash, with several high-profile Republicans condemning the clip as racist.
The incident highlights the ongoing struggle for America to address its deeply ingrained racial tensions and biases.
When questioned about the post, Trump said he didn't make a mistake and had only seen the beginning of the video before it was posted. He stated that if his staff had looked at the whole thing, they would have taken it down.
The clip has been described as "the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House" by Republican Senator Tim Scott, who called for Trump to remove the post. Another Republican senator, Mike Lawler, said it was "wrong and incredibly offensive" and should be deleted immediately with an apology offered.
Criticism of the video has come from both within Trump's own party and across the aisle. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) described the clip as "disgusting and utterly despicable", while former deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes called it a "vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder".
Trump has a long history of criticizing and attacking Obama, including making false claims that he was born in Kenya. The removal of the video comes after fierce backlash, with several high-profile Republicans condemning the clip as racist.
The incident highlights the ongoing struggle for America to address its deeply ingrained racial tensions and biases.
like can't he just keep his mouth shut for once? he's always stirring up drama and now this video is just ridiculous. i mean, come on, who makes a clip with barack and michelle being called apes and expects it to fly? 
it's like he wants to be the laughing stock of the world or something. 
we need ppl in power who are gonna uplift and uplift our communities, not tear them down with hate speech.
though it's about time, his team has been dodgy on this one for ages... still sad that it had to come to this tho, the 2020 election drama is still lingering in people's minds and now this clip brings it all back 
but like, at least we're having a conversation about racism and stuff... gotta keep pushing for progress 
i mean i knew trump was gonna do something stupid but this takes the cake...or rather the cake should be made from the ashes of his integrity 
anyway i feel bad for the obamas they deserve better than that kind of hate and racism from anyone let alone a former president 
what's wrong with people these days?! Trump just can't seem to stop himself from spewing hate speech can he? and now he's trying to play dumb about it too 
it's not like we haven't seen this before with Obama, the constant birther nonsense... and now this? it just shows how far we still have to go as a country in terms of addressing our racial issues 
I'm not surprised to see Trump still playing with fire on social media. Like, what's his strategy here? Try to stir up controversy and watch the dust settle? It's not gonna work, though. The public is way ahead of him on this one. 
we still gotta address these underlying biases & systemic issues in this country 
... so Trump's trying to play dumb about that super-racist video he posted, saying his staff would've caught it if they looked at the whole thing... like, what's next? He's gonna say he didn't know it was a monkey video of Obama and Michelle 
... meanwhile, this is just more proof that Trump's got no clue how to run a campaign or even use social media properly. And good luck getting his party on board with him after this, they're already turning on him like a bunch of snakes 
. This whole thing's gonna be super awkward at the next Republican meeting...