White House’s Explanation For Racist Obama Video on Trump’s Truth Social Raises Major Concerns

After President Donald Trump posted a widely condemned, now-deleted, video on his social media platform, Truth Social, depicting former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, the White House’s explanation has left many users with more questions than answers.

The video depicted several Democratic figures, including the Obamas, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, former President Joe Biden, and California Governor Gavin Newsom, as anthropomorphic animals from the 1994 Disney animated film “The Lion King.” However, what struck many as offensive and having racial undertones was the decision by the creator of the video to depict the 44th President and his wife as apes in the jungle.

According to reporting by Axios, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt initially dismissed critics, calling the post a harmless “internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King.” However, an anonymous staffer is now being blamed for posting the video by accident.

In a statement to International Business Times, the White House said, “A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down.”

Far-right political activist and ardent Trump defender, Laura Loomer, defended the White House’s version of events on X, stating, “President Trump doesn’t post on his own social media accounts. His staff posts for him. He dictates the text on the long posts, and then they type it. For the memes and photos, those are posted by staff. I have spent enough time with President Trump to know he doesn’t type the posts himself.”

This explanation, however, has left many questioning why an unnamed White House staffer would be given such autonomous access to the President’s social media accounts.

Zeteo News journalist Peter Rothpletz wrote on X that the explanation created “yet another scandal,” questioning the idea that “a random staffer has unfettered access to the most powerful man in the world’s phone in the middle of the night? and they can post things? and no one reviews it?”

Others, including the anti-MAGA X account @patriottakes, have pointed out that Trump has previously insisted that only he and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino have access to his social media accounts.

Editor-in-Chief at MeidasTouch, Ron Filipkowski, pointed out the shift in narrative, writing, “When Leavitt was asked about it, she defended it & said there was nothing wrong with it. Now after huge backlash they took it down & are blaming a staffer. Because it’s always the staffers & advisors, never Trump himself. Even when it’s up on his personal account for 12 hours.”

In response to Leavitt’s initial explanation, Rothpletz also pointed out that there are no gorillas featured in “The Lion King,” making the Obamas’ depiction in the video even more questionable.

The timing of the post at the beginning of Black History Month was also pointed out by the official X account of the NAACP, which wrote, “Trump posting this video — especially during Black History Month— is a stark reminder of how Trump and his followers truly view people. And we’ll remember that in November.”

The video was reportedly on Trump’s Truth Social page for approximately 12 hours before it was taken down. CNN White House Correspondent Alayna Treene claimed that “Sources tell me Republican lawmakers called Trump directly about the post, asking for it to be removed Of course, many GOP senators & House members also publicly called for him to do so.”

The post received widespread public condemnation from several Republican figures like Republican Sen. Tim Scott (South Carolina), the Senate’s only Black Republican and a frequent Trump ally, and Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska.