Trump shares racist video depicting Obamas as ‘monkeys’ in election conspiracy post

U.S. President Donald Trump started an immediate and widespread condemnation early Friday, February 6, after he posted a video on his Truth Social Platform.

The video depicts former U.S. President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys.

The one-minute video, which propagates the false conspiracy theory that election company Dominion Voting Systems helped steal the election, ends with a two-second clip of the smiling faces of the Obamas morphed onto the faces of monkeys dancing to the music. 

The company, Dominion, has reportedly settled a $787.5 million defamation case against the news organization Fox News.

The post was part of more than 60 posts of a social media spree that Trump posted overnight.

Before facing public backlash, it was liked a thousand times by Trump’s supporters.

Several American politicians and media personalities condemned Trump’s behaviour.

Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom stated: “Disguisting behaviour, Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.”

Political strategist Adam Parkhomenko wrote: “This is overt racism. Full stop…. This is who he is.”

The incident brings overtly racist imagery back into the center of U.S. political discourse, prompting outrage over its targeting of the nation’s first black First Family. Trump’s prodigious social media session also featured reposted falsehoods about the 2020 election, as well as his suggestion to add his likeness to Mount Rushmore.