United States President Donald Trump on Thursday posted a video on his Truth Social platform that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys, sparking outrage among Democrats and political commentators.
The one-minute video, which repeats false claims about Dominion Voting Systems allegedly manipulating the 2020 election, shows the Obamas’ faces superimposed on monkeys for approximately one second near its conclusion.
By early Friday, the post had received over 1,000 likes on Trump’s social media network.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a prominent Democratic critic and potential 2028 presidential candidate, condemned the video.
“Disgusting behaviour by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now,” his office said via X (formerly Twitter).
Ben Rhodes, former national security advisor to Barack Obama, also denounced the imagery, writing on X, “Let it haunt Trump and his racist followers that future Americans will embrace the Obamas as beloved figures while studying him as a stain on our history.”
The post follows a pattern of him using hyper-realistic but fabricated visuals to target political opponents.
It could be recalled that last year, Trump shared an AI-generated video showing Barack Obama in an orange jumpsuit as if arrested in the Oval Office, and another clip showing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a fake moustache and sombrero.
The video has reignited debates over misinformation and the use of AI-generated content in political messaging, raising concerns about the impact of such posts on public discourse and social cohesion.
No response from Trump’s office regarding the backlash was immediately available.
Authorities and social media watchdogs continue to monitor the circulation of manipulated videos amid rising scrutiny of digital content ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
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