Donald Trump's Truth Social account erupted with racist imagery of Barack and Michelle Obama in a late-night posting spree, sparking widespread outrage. The video, posted by the 79-year-old former US president, features the laughing faces of the Obamas superimposed on the bodies of primates in a jungle setting, bobbing to the song 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'. This clip is part of a minute-long video amplifying Trump's false claim that he won the 2020 election, despite losing to Joe Biden. The video is a repost of content from Patriot News Outlet, a website supportive of Trump. By 8.30 am ET, the post had garnered 4,000 likes, but also faced condemnation from both sides of the political spectrum for its blatant racist trope about the US's first Black president and his wife, both Democrats. The Democratic California governor, Gavin Newsom, and podcaster Ben Rhodes, a former Obama administration official, accused Trump of racism. Rhodes highlighted the contrast between how future Americans will embrace the Obamas and how Trump will be studied as a stain on history. The incident also drew parallels to a 2024 allegation that Trump used a racial slur while hosting 'The Apprentice'. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, attempted to downplay the outrage by linking to a right-wing account's post from last October, which features a similar video depicting Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from 'The Lion King'. However, the post's focus remains on Trump's false claims about the 2020 election, despite the company Dominion Voting Systems settling a defamation lawsuit with Fox News for $787.5 million in April 2023.
