The White Home moved rapidly 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 simply from Democrats, however from inside Trump’s personal get together.
After hours of blowback, the video was quietly deleted from Trump’s Reality Social account, a uncommon reversal for an administration that extra usually doubles down, mocks critics, or shrugs off outrage as a joke.
When an preliminary try to as soon as deflect from accountability backfired, accountability was shifted away from Trump — a transfer critics described as each handy and implausible.
CNN White Home correspondent Alayna Treene reported {that a} White Home official claimed “a staffer erroneously made the put up” and that it had been taken down. Trump has provided no apology and has not acknowledged the put up publicly.
Karoline Leavitt Faces Calls to Be ‘Stoned’ After Dismissing Outrage Over Trump’s Most Racist Assault on Barack and Michelle Obama But
The video itself, posted throughout the first week of Black Historical past Month, revived a racist trope lengthy used to dehumanize Black folks. Critics mentioned the timing match a well-known sample, significantly Trump’s fixation on the Obamas and his repeated use of degrading imagery and language involving Black political figures.
Amid the fallout, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, certainly one of Trump’s most distinguished Black allies in Congress, emerged as an surprising voice of dissent. In a put up on X, Scott wrote: “Praying it was pretend as a result of it’s probably the most racist factor I’ve seen out of this White Home. The President ought to take away it.”
Whereas the remark marked an unusually direct rebuke, it stopped in need of calling for penalties or acknowledging Trump’s broader file on race.
That restraint rapidly grew to become the main target of backlash throughout the political spectrum. Longtime conservative commentator S.E. Cupp pushed again on Scott’s framing, writing, “You recognize it’s not pretend. What are you going to do about it?”
One other X consumer requested Scott, “Have you ever been asleep for the previous twenty years?” referencing Trump’s rise in nationwide politics by means of racist assaults on Obama.
Some supporters credited Scott with prompting the deletion itself.
“How handy: a “staffer error” magically lasts 12 hours—lengthy sufficient for tens of millions to see the racism, however brief sufficient to feign innocence when caught,” wrote one consumer in an in depth put up on X.
It continued, “Press Secretary Leavitt first defended this ape depiction as a “innocent meme” on Feb 6. Solely after Tim Scott referred to as it “probably the most racist factor” from this White Home did they pivot to blaming workers.” The thread went on to quote earlier incidents by which the administration promoted racist or manipulated imagery, solely to later reduce or deflect accountability.
A well-meaning poster referred to as for penalties, “If the reason is a staffer did it, then the WH might want to hearth a staffer & the staffer wants to return out & apologize for the error & take possession of it.”
“Oh hell no. Taco will most likely promote the particular person,” responded one other.
One other mentioned bluntly, “They’ve performed this repeatedly. It wasn’t an accident.”
The backlash revived scrutiny of Scott’s personal file on race.
In previous remarks, the senator has denied that racism stays a systemic pressure in america, framing it as a substitute as a set of remoted incidents. That historical past led critics to view his condemnation as fastidiously calibrated relatively than transformative.
Skepticism deepened as Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down, claiming the video was meant to painting Trump because the “king of the jungle” and Democrats as characters from “The Lion King.”
Critics rapidly rejected the reason, noting that the animated movie accommodates no gorillas and that depicting Black public figures as such is a well-documented racist trope, additional undercutting Scott’s suggestion that the put up won’t have been actual or deliberately offensive.
Distinguished Democrats and civil rights teams, together with the NAACP, condemned the video, with the group signaling the put up would issue into how voters choose Trump and his get together come November.
