US2 min(s) read
Donald Trump has been accused of racism after he shared another edited image featuring former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama on social media.
The post follows an earlier image that drew widespread criticism after it depicted the former first couple as primates in a jungle. That post was later removed following backlash around its blatant racism.
The latest edited image shows the Obamas smiling and waving while standing on the steps of a blue-and-white aircraft that has been spray-painted with the slogans "Yes We Can" and "BLM" (Black Lives Matter)".
This comes after a separate image circulating online has sparked widespread discussion after showing a black woman seated alone on a Washington, DC, train surrounded by white nationalist demonstrators.
The photo was taken during July 4 celebrations in the US capital, when hundreds of men wearing matching clothing and hats bearing the logo of the extremist group Patriot Front traveled into Washington by train.
Footage shared online showed members of the group chanting "reclaim America."
Some participants carried American flags, while others displayed Confederate flags, the banner associated with the Confederate states that fought to preserve slavery during the American Civil War.
Speaking at the National Mall during Independence Day celebrations, Trump praised the country, calling America the "crowning achievement" of human history.
He also declared: "Today our country is winning again, and we're winning like never before."
The edited image of Air Force One was one of several posts Trump shared on Truth Social on Sunday.
Among the posts was an older manipulated image that appeared to show Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni smiling and looking up at Trump beneath the caption: "RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED."
The post could also reignite controversy ahead of this week's meetings in Turkey. Trump previously claimed that Meloni repeatedly asked to have her picture taken with him during the recent G7 summit, suggesting she had been eager to secure a photo opportunity with him due to his influential position.
.jpg_9MdBvK?tr=cr-0.16.1024.592,f-webp,q-70,w-525,h-200)
4 min(s) read
.webp_QQJmGo?tr=cr-345.0.1535.1190,f-webp,q-70,w-1024)
2 min(s) read
4 min(s) read
2 min(s) read
2 min(s) read
us4 min(s) read
us2 min(s) read
us4 min(s) read
us2 min(s) read
us2 min(s) read
A recent video posted to President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account has sparked outrage after it featured a racist image of Barack and Michelle Obama.
The video, which is primarily about voting machines and election integrity, includes a highly offensive clip at the end where the faces of the Obamas are superimposed onto the bodies of apes, per the Guardian.
The footage lasts for one second and is accompanied by the song 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' by The Tokens.
The video was shared on Truth Social just before midnight ET, drawing immediate backlash for its racist imagery.
The altered image of the Obamas, both of whom are prominent Democrats, carries a watermark @XERIAS_X, which links back to a Trump-supporting account on X (formerly Twitter), with around 46,000 followers.
It’s unclear if President Trump personally watched the entire video, especially since the bulk of the video focuses on claims regarding election voting machines.
The 62-second video appears to have originated from Patriot News Outlet, a website that claims Michigan officials accessed voting tabulators showing potential election interference, per Newsweek.
This comes amid Trump’s continued, though unfounded, claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Trump has repeatedly asserted that Joe Biden’s victory was the result of a rigged process.
While much of the video focuses on these election-related concerns, the racist image of the Obamas at the end has overshadowed its primary message.
The video’s intent and its inclusion of such offensive content are unclear, raising questions about whether Trump was aware of the specific imagery when he reposted it.
This incident is not the first time Trump has targeted Obama. Throughout his presidency, Trump frequently criticized the former president.
In 2020, he accused Obama of "treason" following a report by Tulsi Gabbard, who alleged that Obama and members of his administration had fabricated intelligence regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump also shared an AI-generated video on Truth Social depicting Obama being arrested and jailed.
In response to the allegations, Obama’s office dismissed them as "bizarre" and "ridiculous," calling it a weak attempt to distract from more pressing issues.
Additionally, a report by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) revealed a surge in online death threats against Obama following these accusations.
A White House spokesperson, Davis Ingle, condemned all forms of violence and reaffirmed the administration’s stance against harmful rhetoric.
Trump’s use of social media has been widely scrutinized over the years.
In 2021, he was banned from both Facebook and Twitter (now X) following the January 6 Capitol riot, when his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building.
This ban led Trump to create his own platform, Truth Social.
While his accounts on Facebook and Twitter were eventually reinstated, his actions on these platforms, including sharing inflammatory and offensive content, have continued to spark controversy.
The video’s release quickly garnered criticism from political figures across the spectrum.
Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the post, calling it "disgusting behavior by the President" and urging Republicans to denounce it publicly.
Newsom wrote on X, "Every single Republican must denounce this. Now."
A statement from the account Republicans Against Trump echoed the sentiment, saying: "Trump just posted a video on Truth Social that includes a racist image of Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys. There’s no bottom."
Donald Trump deleted his controversial social media post about the Obamas after he was accused of being racist.
The deletion was seen as a rare admission of guilt by the White House, and came just hours after Trump's Press Secretary Karoline Leavett dismissed backlash against the post as 'fake outrage.'
The original post was made on Trump's Truth Social account - his go-to place to sound off during his second term as President of the United States.
Outrage over the post came from both sides of the political spectrum, with both Democrats and Republicans calling for its removal.
.jpg_5nklUk?tr=cr-0.0.1024.683,f-webp,q-70,w-1024)
The social media post in question featured former US President Barack Obama and his wife, former First Lady Michelle Obama, as primates in the jungle.
The 62-second clip, according to PBS, was among dozens of posts made by Trump overnight about alleged tampering of voting machines in the 2020 election, which Trump famously lost to Joe Biden.
At the 60-second mark, there was a quick scene of two primates, with the Obamas faces superimposed onto the animals.
By noon the next day, the post had been taken down, with responsibility for the posting of the clip passed down to an oversight by a Trump subordinate.
Condemnation of the clip was widespread and not just from the left-leaning political sphere either.
The Rev. Bernice King, daughter of the late civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., said that; "[Black Americans] are beloved of God as postal workers and professors, as a former first lady and president.
"We are not apes."
Criticism even came from within Trump's own party.
The US Senate's only Black Republican, Tim Scott of South Carolina, said that he '[prayed] it was fake,' and called on Trump to delete the post.
"It's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House," Scott added.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson wholeheartedly condemned the post in a statement, saying it was 'blatantly racist, disgusting, and utterly despicable.'
He even made a reference to the equally controversial release of the Epstein files, drawing a link between the post and Trump's seeming determination to distract from the attention of the files.
"You know who isn't in the Epstein files? Barack Obama," Johnson said.
"You know who actually improved the economy as president? Barack Obama."
Donald Trump has continued his run of bizarre posts on social media with a meme about former President Barack Obama.
The 47th US President has been among the headlines this week for his war of words with the Pope, where he called the religious leader "weak on crime" and "terrible on foreign policy."
Pope Leo XIV would eventually respond after alluding to world leaders having "hands full of blood," saying on Monday (April 13) that he has "no fear of the Trump Administration."
“I will not enter into debate. The things I say are not meant as attacks on anyone,” he said.
Trump has also shared a number of controversial AI-generated images, including one depicting him as Jesus Christ.
The President even claimed that he was meant to be a "doctor" in the controversial image, which was described as "blasphemy."
Now though, he is under criticism for a meme about a former US President.
Taking to his own social media platform, Truth Social, the President reposted a meme which showed him smiling at Obama, who was looking off into the distance.
It included text which read: "When you see the guy who said 'you'll never be President' at your inauguration."
The post was originally captioned: "Twice," with a US flag.
Originally posted on Wednesday, it wasn't a clear response to anything said by Obama or his supporters, though it garnered over 28,000 likes.
Taking to the comments, many users weren't happy at this out-of-the-blue dig, with one labelling him as "childish."
Another pointed out: "Man he roasted you at that White House dinner I mean to tell you he tore your a** up."
A different user wrote: "No. Obama publicly stated in 2016 that he believed Trump would not become president (I continue to believe that Mr. Trump will not be president), but he never said 'You’ll never be president' to Trump.
"The saddest part about this is that Obama had more faith in the American people than we deserved."
A fourth said: "Trump never has been president. I don't know what to call what he is doing, but it is far from presidential.
"We are all counting the days before this criminal parasite is gone from the White House, and we can begin the long job of restoring sanity to the country."
"Unfortunately, he (Obama) proved to be wrong about the general stupidity of Americans. Trump is a national disgrace and an international nightmare," one penned.
Trump already angered many online recently, by posting an AI image of himself as Jesus Christ, after the Pope criticized his role in the Iran war.
Just minutes after calling out the leader of the Catholic Church, he posted the controversial image, where he is seen in robes similar to that of Jesus.
He can be seen looking of a higher power, while healing an elderly man who appears unwell in a hospital bed, as nurses, veterans and soldiers can be seen surrounding him as he has his hand on the head of the sick man.
There are many patriotic symbols in the background, such as the American flag, the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial and an eagle soaring through the sky, while warplanes are seen flying in the sky.
He would later come out and claim: "It wasn't a depiction, I did post it and I thought it was me as a doctor, and had to do with red cross as a red cross worker, which we support and only the fake news could come up with that one."
Trump went on: "It's supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better, and I do make people better."
Michelle Obama has accused incumbent President Donald Trump of spreading "racist lies" in a passionate Instagram post.
Per The Independent, taking to her official Instagram account, the 56-year-old former First Lady shared an image of herself and her husband Barack Obama attending Donald Trump's inauguration outside the White House back in January of 2017.
Michelle Obama once compared Trump's presidency to "living with a divorced dad":
[[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/lLAW0Y53-dkXnENEs.mp4||lLAW0Y53]]
In an emotional caption addressed to her 44 million followers, Obama criticized Trump for pushing "groundless conspiracy theories", and reflected on how she was forced to put her personal feelings on the Republican leader aside in order to ensure a smooth administrative transition.
Michelle Obama wrote: "This week, I’ve been reflecting a lot on where I was four years ago. Hillary Clinton had just been dealt a tough loss by a far closer margin than the one we’ve seen this year. I was hurt and disappointed - but the votes had been counted and Donald Trump had won.
"We invited the folks from the president-elect’s team into our offices and prepared detailed memos for them, offering what we’d learned over the past eight years."
[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/CHqZ-ylrqJd/]]
She continued:
"I have to be honest and say that none of this was easy for me. Donald Trump had spread racist lies about my husband that had put my family in danger. That wasn’t something I was ready to forgive.
"But I knew that, for the sake of our country, I had to find the strength and maturity to put my anger aside. So I welcomed Melania Trump into the White House and talked with her about my experience, answering every question she had."
[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/CGDhOgSAUgB/]]
Obama added: "I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do - because our democracy is so much bigger than anybody’s ego. Our love of country requires us to respect the results of an election even when we don’t like them or wish it had gone differently - the presidency doesn’t belong to any one individual or any one party.
"To pretend that it does, to play along with these groundless conspiracy theories - whether for personal or political gain - is to put our country’s health and security in danger."
[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/CHikvR1rDB_/]]
A number of Instagram users swiftly took to the comments to praise Obama for speaking so candidly.
For instance, one person wrote: "Thank you for the example you provided for what a real President and First Lady do during a time like this."
Meanwhile, someone else added: "This is what we all needed to hear. Thank you for constantly being a beacon of hope to all of us."
Michelle and Barack Obama have openly pledged their support for former VEEP and projected POTUS Joe Biden throughout the 2020 election.
But in a recent interview with Gayle King on CBS Sunday Morning, the former president claimed that his wife Michelle would "leave him" if he ever decided to join Biden's cabinet.
Whenever the White House gets handed over from the Democrats to Republicans (or vice versa) after an election, there are always noticeable juxtapositions in the way that government is handled. Republicans tend to take a harder line on economic policies, for example, whereas Democrats often make waves in the realm of social change.
However, no two consecutive presidents in history have ever been as opposite as Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
The former - America's first African American leader - was hailed as a marker of progress, a highly-educated leader, and a man with genuine empathy and respect for his country. Trump, on the other hand, is known as a hard-headed businessman, a womanizer, and, by his own admission a man who wants to make America great "again" by somehow taking it back to the 'good old days'.
But the disparity between the former and current presidents never truly hit home until people began sharing images of how each one reacted to the most horrific school shootings of their respective terms.
[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BfSO1z6gpaB/?taken-by=realdonaldtrump]]
Trump, who last year signed a measure that would make it easier for mentally ill people to purchase weapons (and yet blames mass shootings on mental health problems), visited some of the victims of the recent Parkland shooting last week.
During his visit, he appeared to be all smiles, and was even flashing a thumbs up in several pictures. A recent image of his personal notes also showed that he had to be reminded to show empathy to the victims, with one of the bullet points saying "I hear you".
In contrast, images of Obama after the Sandy Hook shooting show a man who is truly distraught at the deaths of so many young citizens. He spent the following days working, comforting families, and making tearful speeches about gun control in the country. Trump, on the other hand, went about his usual routine.
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/USseriously/status/965036862124511232]]
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/eligit/status/964875863987802112]]
After Trump's brief visit to the hospital, many people called him out for his hypocritical behavior.
"Him coming here is absolutely absurd, and he's a hypocrite," said Mark Bogen, the vice mayor of Florida's Broward County. "How can you come here and talk about how horrible it is when you support these laws?"
He went on:
"So President Trump now, based on his actions, allows mentally ill people to purchase guns when over a year ago they could not, and then comes down here and wants to act as though this is horrible, and this shouldn't happen, but goes back to Washington and supports it.
"It is hypocrisy, it is absolute hypocrisy."
[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/brianklaas/status/964734435613605888]]
Many students who were present during the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last week have since stood up to Trump and other pro-gun politicians in order to make their opinions on the matter heard.
Emma Gonzales, who has been at the forefront of the student-led campaign to regulate gun control, said at a rally this weekend:
“If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy, and how it should never have happened, and maintain telling us how nothing is going to be done about it, I’m going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association."
Needless to say, Trump is still maintaining a hard line on his gun stance at present, and has even suggested that he wants to see more weapons in classrooms by arming teachers.
.webp_QQJmGo?tr=cr-345.0.1535.1190,f-webp,q-70,w-100)