Claim via Social Media and News Outlets
Social media users and news outlets claim that President Donald Trump posted a video on Truth Social that included a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
Explanation
On February 6, 2026, Donald Trump posted a 62-second video to Truth Social primarily focused on voting machines and the 2020 election. Near the end of the video, for approximately one second, the faces of Barack and Michelle Obama appear superimposed onto the bodies of apes while the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” plays. The clip included a visible watermark from the X account @XERIAS_X, a pro-Trump meme account, indicating that the footage was reused rather than produced originally.
The post sparked immediate condemnation from public figures and commentators, who described the imagery as racist. As reported by Axios, the clip draws on a long-standing racist trope historically used to dehumanize Black Americans and justify discrimination and violence
The White House did not deny that Trump shared the video. Instead, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the criticism as “fake outrage,” stating the clip came from an internet meme portraying Trump as the “King of the Jungle” and Democrats as characters from The Lion King. She declined to say whether Trump would remove the video or apologize
Neither Barack Obama nor Michelle Obama publicly commented on the post as of publication. The video remained online at the time of reporting. Newsweek confirmed the imagery and the reaction it provoked, noting that the post occurred during Black History Month and reignited longstanding criticisms of Trump’s rhetoric toward Obama
Conclusion
Fact or Fiction? Fact. Donald Trump did post a video on Truth Social that included a racist depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. The imagery is real, documented, and acknowledged by the White House, which defended the post rather than disputing its content.
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