Trump Posts Racist Video Depicting Obamas as Apes

Donald Trump posted a video on Truth Social that concluded with Barack and Michelle Obama's faces superimposed onto dancing apes. This clip was attached to a minute-long video promoting baseless conspiracy theories about 4G internet-connected microchips in voting machines altering 2020 election results. The White House's spokesperson, Carolyn Levit, defended the post by claiming it was an 'internet meme video depicting President Trump as the king of the jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King.' The hosts immediately debunked this, pointing out that 'The Lion King' does not feature apes (only one monkey, Rafiki), and that depicting Black people as apes is inherently racist.

Sam Stein and Andrew Edgar describe the video content and the White House's official response. They explicitly state, 'Here you have Barack and Michelle Obama depicted as monkeys. It doesn't get more racist than that.' They also fact-check the 'Lion King' claim, noting, 'There are no monkeys in Lion King' (later corrected to 'no apes' as Rafiki is a monkey).

Andrew Edgar argues that since building Truth Social, Trump has significantly changed his media consumption habits. Instead of primarily watching cable news, he now 'mainlines his own algorithm' of the 'craziest, most sloppily, most hate-filled, most lunatic studded website out there.' This constant exposure to extreme content, often from creators like the one responsible for the ape video, is 'cooking his brain even more and more and more every day,' leading to the frequent reposting of gross and ridiculous material.

Andrew Edgar states, 'Ever since he built Truth Social, he has been noticeably different in the way that he approaches just sort of like being on the screen. And it is that he is actually mainlining his own algorithm of like the craziest, most sloppily, most hatefilled, most lunatic studded website out there.'

The hosts criticize the muted and often apologetic reactions from Republicans, such as Tim Scott hoping the video was 'fake' or Mike Lawler suggesting it was an 'accident.' This reluctance to directly condemn Trump's actions, even when overtly racist, is seen as part of a broader 'moral training' within the right-wing ecosystem. This conditioning encourages supporters and officials to 'hold their nose' and pretend that 'obviously bad things are fine and good,' rather than severing ties with voters who might embrace such content.

Sam Stein and Andrew Edgar discuss Tim Scott's reaction ('Praying it's fake. It was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. President should remove it.') and Mike Lawler's ('whether intentional or a mistake'). Andrew Edgar comments, 'they cannot abide even throwing the original meme creator under the bus... because it's one of their guys, this whole right-wing ecosystem, like you can never apologize for it.'