Trump's Account Shared Video Depicting Obamas as Apes

At 16 minutes before midnight, Donald Trump's Truth Social account posted a video that crossed a line many thought uncrossable in modern American politics. The clip briefly showed Barack and Michelle Obama's heads superimposed on ape bodies, dancing to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."

The video stayed online for 12 hours. When it was finally removed just before noon, the White House claimed an unnamed employee had "erroneously made the post." But the damage was already done—and the enthusiasm was already brewing.

The Memecoin Frenzy

Within minutes of the video's posting, someone minted $APEBAMA, a cryptocurrency designed to capitalize on the controversy. In 12 hours, over $4 million worth of the token changed hands. An X group with the same name attracted hundreds of members, with a pinned tweet suggesting the memecoin would succeed precisely because of how outrageous the video was.

The apparent creator, @xerias_x, reposted the full video to X, where it has now garnered over 1 million views. The complete version shows a menagerie of Democratic politicians as animals, all bowing to Trump depicted as a lion. This same user previously created an AI-generated video that Trump shared in October, showing the president raining what appeared to be excrement on protesters.

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The "joke" Trump's account spread isn't new—it's part of America's oldest playbook of dehumanization. In 1377, a historian wrote that Africans "have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals," making them "submissive to slavery." Civil War-era cartoons depicted Black people as apes holding books upside down, labeled "NEGRO-MAN."

In 1906, Ota Benga, a man from what was then the Belgian Congo, was displayed at the Bronx Zoo in a cage with an orangutan. During Boston's school desegregation in 1975, white teenagers chanted "Two, four, six, eight, assassinate the nigger apes" at Black students.

This imagery still shapes how Black Americans are perceived and treated. Yet this morning, the administration initially played it off as harmless entertainment. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called it "an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King."

Pattern or Accident?

Even if a staffer did post the video by mistake, its message aligns with Trump's documented history. He has called Somalis "low-IQ," and his administration recently announced rules that will ban nearly 90% of African immigrant visa applicants.

Trump launched his political career claiming Barack Obama wasn't American. Now his account suggests Obama isn't even human.

The White House hasn't explained why the video remained up for 12 hours if it was truly an error, or why they initially defended it before removing it. The silence speaks volumes about what kinds of "mistakes" this administration is willing to make—and profit from.