"In the first week of Black History Month, President Trump posted a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on social media - a video clip showing the Obamas' faces on apes. The post was later deleted and the White House blamed a staffer for "erroneously" posting it. It was one of dozens of posts Trump shared in the middle of the night on his platform Truth Social"
"White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the clip before it was deleted, saying "please stop the fake outrage." Leavitt said it was from an "internet meme" that depicted Trump as king of the jungle while Democrats were shown as characters from the Lion King. Trump's clip did not include any of the longer video Leavitt referred to, which also includes other Democrats, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, depicted as animals."
"The racist trope depicting Black people as apes or animals has historically been used to dehumanize Black people and to justify slavery. Criticism of Trump and his post came swiftly, including from some otherwise allied with Trump. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican, said he was "praying it was fake." "It's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The President should remove it," said Scott, who is Black."
In the first week of Black History Month, President Trump posted a video clip on Truth Social that placed the faces of Barack and Michelle Obama on apes. The post was deleted and the White House said a staffer had "erroneously" posted it. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the clip as part of an "internet meme" depicting Trump as king of the jungle and Democrats as Lion King characters, though Trump's clip omitted the longer video. The depiction invoked a historic racist trope, drawing swift criticism including from Republican Sen. Tim Scott. Trump has a history of racist remarks and false claims about Black public figures.
Read at www.npr.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]