Defendant Maintains Innocence: “I Didn’t Make a Mistake”

In a swift backlash that spanned the political spectrum, President Donald Trump’s social media post depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as primates in a jungle was deleted Friday, though Trump later refused to apologize for the incident.

The controversial post on Truth Social, which appeared during the first week of Black History Month, was attributed to a White House staffer after widespread condemnation. Hours after Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed criticism as “fake outrage,” the administration changed course and removed the content.

“I didn’t make a mistake,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Friday evening. While claiming he “of course” condemned the video’s racism, he added that he “liked the beginning” of the video and “just passed it on,” suggesting “probably nobody reviewed the end of it.”

The 62-second clip primarily featured allegations about voting machine tampering in the 2020 election, but concluded with images of jungle primates with the Obamas’ faces superimposed on them. The White House initially defended the post as part of an “internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King.”

Critics quickly pointed out that Disney’s “Lion King” is set on the savannah, not in the jungle, and does not feature great apes.

The incident has raised questions about control of the president’s social media accounts, which he regularly uses for policy announcements and political messaging. The White House did not immediately respond to inquiries about how posts are vetted or when the public can know if Trump himself is posting.

Mark Burns, a Black pastor and Trump supporter, said on social media platform X that he had spoken directly with Trump and recommended firing the staffer responsible. “He knows this is wrong, offensive, and unacceptable,” Burns posted.

Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) rejected the White House’s explanation. “If there wasn’t a climate, a toxic and racist climate within the White House, we wouldn’t see this type of behavior regardless of who it’s coming from,” Clarke told The Associated Press, adding that Trump “is a racist, he’s a bigot, and he will continue to do things in his presidency to make that known.”

Condemnation came from across the political landscape, including from Republicans. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the Senate’s only Black Republican and chair of Senate Republicans’ midterm campaign arm, called on Trump to remove the post, saying he was “praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.”

Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who represents the state with the largest percentage of Black residents, called the post “totally unacceptable” and said Trump should apologize.

At a Black History Month market in Harlem, vendor Jacklyn Monk expressed dismay: “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.”

In Atlanta, Reverend Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., responded by quoting her father: “Yes. I’m Black. I’m proud of it. I’m Black and beautiful.” She added that Black Americans “are beloved of God as postal workers and professors, as a former first lady and president. We are not apes.”

The incident reflects America’s long history of racist imagery associating Black people with animals, particularly primates. This dehumanizing practice dates back to 18th century pseudo-scientific theories used to justify slavery and later to portray freed Black people as uncivilized threats.

This isn’t Trump’s first controversy involving racial rhetoric. During his current campaign, he claimed immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country,” language reminiscent of Adolf Hitler’s dehumanization of Jews. During his first term, Trump referred to majority-Black developing nations as “shithole countries.”

Trump also spearheaded the “birther” movement, falsely claiming Obama was born in Kenya and therefore constitutionally ineligible to serve as president. Though Obama released his birth records and Trump eventually acknowledged Obama’s Hawaiian birth during his 2016 campaign, he falsely claimed Hillary Clinton had started the birther attacks.

NAACP President Derrick Johnson called the video “utterly despicable” and suggested Trump is attempting to distract from economic conditions and attention on the Jeffrey Epstein case files. “You know who isn’t in the Epstein files? Barack Obama,” Johnson said. “You know who actually improved the economy as president? Barack Obama.”

A spokeswoman for former President Obama said he had no response to the incident.