The White House moved quickly into damage-control mode after President Donald Trump triggered intense backlash for sharing a racist video depicting Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes — an unusually pressured retreat that unfolded as criticism mounted not just from Democrats, but from within Trump’s own party.
After hours of blowback, the video was quietly deleted from Trump’s Truth Social account, a rare reversal for an administration that more often doubles down, mocks critics, or shrugs off outrage as a joke.
When an initial attempt to once deflect from responsibility backfired, responsibility was shifted away from Trump — a move critics described as both convenient and implausible.
CNN White House correspondent Alayna Treene reported that a White House official claimed “a staffer erroneously made the post” and that it had been taken down. Trump has offered no apology.
The video itself, posted during the first week of Black History Month, revived a racist trope long used to dehumanize Black people. Critics said the timing fit a familiar pattern, particularly Trump’s fixation on the Obamas and his repeated use of degrading imagery and language involving Black political figures.
When asked about it Friday evening aboard Air Force One, Trump remained nonchalant.
“I made no mistake,” he said.
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Amid the fallout, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, one of Trump’s most prominent Black allies in Congress, emerged as an unexpected voice of dissent. In a post on X, Scott wrote: “Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it.”
While the comment marked an unusually direct rebuke, it stopped short of calling for consequences or acknowledging Trump’s broader record on race.
That restraint quickly became the focus of backlash across the political spectrum. Longtime conservative commentator S.E. Cupp pushed back on Scott’s framing, writing, “You know it’s not fake. What are you going to do about it?”
Another X user asked Scott, “Have you been asleep for the past two decades?” referencing Trump’s rise in national politics through racist attacks on Obama.
Some supporters credited Scott with prompting the deletion itself.
“How convenient: a “staffer error” magically lasts 12 hours—long enough for millions to see the racism, but short enough to feign innocence when caught,” wrote one user in an extensive post on X.
It continued, “Press Secretary Leavitt first defended this ape depiction as a “harmless meme” on Feb 6. Only after Tim Scott called it “the most racist thing” from this White House did they pivot to blaming staff.” The thread went on to cite previous incidents in which the administration promoted racist or manipulated imagery, only to later minimize or deflect responsibility.
A well-meaning poster called for consequences, “If the explanation is a staffer did it, then the WH will need to fire a staffer & the staffer needs to come out & apologize for the error & take ownership of it.”
“Oh hell no. Taco will probably promote the person,” responded another.
Another said bluntly, “They’ve done this repeatedly. It wasn’t an accident.”
The backlash revived scrutiny of Scott’s own record on race.
In past remarks, the senator has denied that racism remains a systemic force in the United States, framing it instead as a collection of isolated incidents. That history led critics to view his condemnation as carefully calibrated rather than transformative.
Skepticism deepened as Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down, claiming the video was meant to portray Trump as the “king of the jungle” and Democrats as characters from “The Lion King.”
Critics quickly rejected the explanation, noting that the animated film contains no gorillas and that depicting Black public figures as such is a well-documented racist trope, further undercutting Scott’s suggestion that the post might not have been real or intentionally offensive.
Prominent Democrats and civil rights groups, including the NAACP, condemned the video, with the organization signaling the post would factor into how voters judge Trump and his party come November.
