<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/usa" rel="" target="" title="US"><span>US</span></a><span> President </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/donald-trump" rel="" target="" title="Donald Trump's"><span>Donald Trump's</span></a><span> racist social media post featuring former President </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/barack-obama" rel="" target="" title="Barack Obama"><span>Barack Obama</span></a><span> and his wife, </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/michelle-obama" rel="" target="" title="Michelle Obama"><span>Michelle Obama</span></a><span>, as primates in a jungle was deleted after a backlash from both Republicans and Democrats who criticised the video as offensive.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump said later Friday that he won't apologise for the post: "I didn't make a mistake," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Republican president's post was blamed on a staffer after widespread backlash, from civil rights leaders to veteran Republican senators, for its treatment of the nation's first Black president and first lady.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/australia-weather-rain-and-storms-to-impact-entire-country/c1c681ab-e3b1-4b90-9936-0c52171af944" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Huge weather turnaround to bring storms, floods for every state and territory</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A rare admission of a misstep by the White House, the deletion came hours after press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed "fake outrage" over the post.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>After calls for its removal — including by Republicans — the White House said a staffer had posted the video erroneously.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The post was part of a flurry of overnight activity on Trump's Truth Social account that amplified his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, despite courts around the country and Trump's first-term attorney general finding no evidence of systemic fraud.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/trumps-racist-post-about-obamas-is-deleted-after-backlash-despite-white-house-earlier-defending-it/13cbe16d-5107-43fb-8631-cf17cb7a99a4" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump has a record of intensely personal criticism of the Obamas and of using incendiary, sometimes racist, rhetoric — from feeding the lie that Obama was not a native-born US citizen to crude generalisations about majority-Black countries.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The post came in the first week of Black History Month and days after a Trump proclamation cited "the contributions of black Americans to our national greatness" and "the American principles of liberty, justice, and equality."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>An Obama spokeswoman said the former president, a Democrat, had no response.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.nine.com.au/sport/olympics/milano-cortina-2026-daisy-thomas-knee-injury-acl-training-crash-20260206-p5o0ah.html"><strong><span>Star Aussie skier stretchered away after brutal training crash</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>'An internet meme'</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Nearly all of the 62-second clip appears to be from a conservative video alleging deliberate tampering with voting machines in battleground states as 2020 votes were tallied.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>At the 60-second mark is a quick scene of two jungle primates, with the Obamas' smiling faces imposed on them.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Those frames originated from a separate video, previously circulated by an influential conservative meme maker.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It shows Trump as "King of the Jungle" and depicts Democratic leaders as animals, including </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/joe-biden" rel="" target="" title="Joe Biden"><span>Joe Biden</span></a><span>, who is white, as a jungle primate eating a banana.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from </span><em><span>The Lion King</span></em><span>," Leavitt said by text.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/disneyland" rel="" target="" title="Disney's"><span>Disney's</span></a><span> 1994 feature film that Leavitt referenced is set on the savannah, not in the jungle, and it does not include great apes.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public," Leavitt added.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>By noon, the post had been taken down, with responsibility placed on a Trump subordinate.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump, answering questions from reporters accompanying him Friday night aboard Air Force One, said the video was about fraudulent elections and that he liked what he saw.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I liked the beginning. I saw it and just passed it on, and I guess probably nobody reviewed the end of it," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Asked if he condemned the video's racism, Trump said, "Of course I do."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The White House explanation raises questions about control of Trump's social media account, which he's used to levy import taxes, threaten military action, make other announcements and intimidate political rivals.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The president often signs his name or initials after policy posts.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The White House did not immediately respond to an inquiry about how posts are vetted and when the public can know when Trump himself is posting.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mark Burns, a pastor and a prominent Trump supporter who is Black, said Friday on X that he'd spoken "directly" with Trump and that he recommended to the president that he fire the staffer who posted the video and publicly condemn what happened.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"He knows this is wrong, offensive, and unacceptable," Burns posted.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Yvette Clarke told The Associated Press she does "not buy the White House's commentary."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"If there wasn't a climate, a toxic and racist climate within the White House, we wouldn't see this type of behaviour regardless of who it's coming from," Clarke said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She added that Trump "is a racist, he's a bigot, and he will continue to do things in his presidency to make that known".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/christopher-columbus-statue-to-be-installed-in-washington/f234d3ff-525e-4664-bbd8-0ca02ee6dc61" target="_blank"><strong><span>Trump taking steps toward installing a Christopher Columbus statue near the White House</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Condemnation across the political spectrum</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump and White House social media accounts frequently repost memes and artificial intelligence-generated videos.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>As Leavitt, Trump allies typically cast them as humorous.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>This time, condemnations flowed from across the spectrum — along with demands for an apology that doesn't appear to be coming.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>At a Black History Month market in Harlem, the historically Black neighborhood in </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/new-york/9" rel="" target="" title="New York"><span>New York</span></a><span> City, vendor Jacklyn Monk said Trump's post was embarrassing even if it was eventually deleted.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The guy needs help. I'm sorry he's representing our country. … It's horrible that it was this month, but it would be horrible if it was in March also."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In Atlanta, Bernice King, daughter of the assassinated civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., resurfaced her father's words: "Yes. I'm Black. I'm proud of it. I'm Black and beautiful."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Black Americans, she said, "are beloved of God as postal workers and professors, as a former first lady and president. We are not apes."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The US Senate's lone Black Republican, Tim Scott of South Carolina, called on Trump to take down the post.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House," said Scott, who chairs Senate Republicans' midterm campaign arm.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/protest-restrictions-remain-in-place-ahead-of-israeli-president-visit/cf060331-5e1e-4445-a7f7-de6178c5f710" target="_blank"><strong><span>Police extend protest restrictions ahead of Israeli president's visit</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Another Republican, Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, is white but represents the state with the largest percentage of Black residents. Wicker called the post "totally unacceptable" and said the president should apologise.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Some Republicans who face tough reelections this November voiced concerns, as well.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The result was an unusual cascade of intraparty criticism for a president who has enjoyed a stranglehold over fellow Republicans who stayed silent during previous Trump controversies for fear of a public spat with the president or losing his endorsement in a future campaign.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>NAACP President Derrick Johnson called the video "utterly despicable" and pointed to Trump's wider political concerns that could help explain Republicans' willingness to speak out.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Johnson asserted that Trump is trying to distract from economic conditions and attention on the Jeffrey Epstein case files.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"You know who isn't in the Epstein files? Barack Obama," he said. "You know who actually improved the economy as president? Barack Obama."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/front-to-kerb-parking-fine-sydney-council-signage/13e8841c-050c-4a36-9bb4-6d3929cb6585" target="_blank"><strong><span>Karina copped a $140 fine for parking the wrong way on a trip to the beach</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>A long history of racism</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>There is a long history in the US of powerful white figures associating Black people with animals, including apes, in demonstrably false, racist ways.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The practice dates to 18th century cultural racism and pseudo-scientific theories used to justify the enslavement of Black people, and later to dehumanise freed Black people as uncivilised threats to white people.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote in his famous text "Notes on the State of Virginia" that Black women were the preferred sexual partners of orangutans.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>President Dwight Eisenhower, discussing school desegregation in the 1950s, suggested white parents were rightfully concerned about their daughters being in classrooms with "big Black bucks."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Obama, as a candidate and president, was featured as a monkey or other primates on T-shirts and other merchandise.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In his 2024 campaign, Trump said immigrants were "poisoning the blood of our country," language similar to what Adolf Hitler used to dehumanise Jews in Nazi Germany.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>During his first White House term, Trump called a swath of majority-Black, developing nations "shithole countries".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He initially denied saying it but admitted in December 2025 that he did.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>When Obama was in the White House, Trump pushed false claims that the 44th president, who was born in Hawaii, was born in Kenya and was constitutionally ineligible to serve.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump, in interviews that helped endear him to conservatives, demanded that Obama prove he was a "natural-born citizen" as required to become president.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Obama eventually released birth records, and Trump </span><a href="https://apnews.com/united-states-presidential-election-general-news-events-61f7085d848248cd98410027d33f2101"><span>finally acknowledged</span></a><span> during his 2016 campaign, after having won the Republican nomination, that Obama was born in Hawaii.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But immediately after, he said, falsely, that his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, started the birtherism attacks.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><em><span>NEVER MISS A STORY:</span></em></strong><span> </span><strong><em><span>Get your breaking news and 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