Trump shares election conspiracy social media video with racist depiction of Obamas

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U.S. President Donald Trump is sparking backlash from Democrats over a late-night social media repost during which Barack and Michelle Obama are superimposed atop the our bodies of apes.

The video — which repeated a laundry checklist of debunked claims in regards to the 2020 election, which Trump misplaced — accommodates a number of temporary seconds of the previous president and his spouse, smiling on the animal our bodies. The Sixties hit The Lion Sleeps Tonight, with its lyrics of the "mighty jungle," performs within the background.

"Disgusting behaviour by the president. Each single Republican should denounce this. Now," the X account of California Gov. Gavin Newsom's press workplace posted.

Ben Rhodes, who labored within the Obama White Home, added: "Let it hang-out Trump and his racist followers that future People will embrace the Obamas as beloved figures whereas learning him as a stain on our historical past."

From the start of his political profession, Trump has claimed ignorance about content material when reposting inflammatory messages authored by others.

"I retweet issues and we begin dialogue, and it's totally fascinating," he stated on the 2016 marketing campaign path.

The frames depicting the Obamas had been taken from an extended video, beforehand circulated by an influential conservative meme maker. It exhibits Trump as "King of the Jungle" and depicts a variety of Democratic leaders as animals, together with Joe Biden, who's white, as a primate consuming a banana.

White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in feedback to The Related Press, stated: "Please cease the faux outrage and report on one thing right now that really issues to the American public."

"That is from an web meme video depicting President Trump because the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King," Leavitt stated by textual content, referring to Disney's 1994 characteristic movie.

False Obama claims Though Trump's political commentary dates again to the late Eighties, when he first teased a possible presidential run, after he joined Twitter in 2009, he started to incessantly weigh in on political points, serving to to reignite and popularize a fringe concept that Obama had not been born in Hawaii, however fairly, in Africa.

Even after publicly stating that he believed Obama was America-born, Trump continued to play footsy with the thought, pointing to the "many individuals" who believed the forty fourth president's Hawaii beginning certificates was not genuine.

He additionally falsely accused Obama of spying on his 2016 political marketing campaign and serving to to spearhead the investigation into contacts between his marketing campaign and Russian officers. No credible proof has emerged stemming from quite a few experiences and investigations that Obama when president had any affect over the selections of the Justice Division and FBI.

The Obamas have sometimes pushed again on Trump's claims or criticized the two-time Republican president, together with late final month after two deadly shootings in Minneapolis dedicated by federal immigration officers.

"Fairly than attempting to impose some semblance of self-discipline and accountability over the brokers they've deployed, the president and present administration officers appear desirous to escalate the scenario, whereas providing public explanations for the shootings of Mr. [Alex] Pretti and Renee Good that are not knowledgeable by any severe investigation — and that seem like immediately contradicted by video proof," the Obamas wrote.

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Photographs supplied by The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Photographs Michelle Obama didn't attend Trump's inauguration or Jimmy Carter's funeral, each in January 2025, though she has not publicly cited him as the explanation for her absence.

With respect to the 2020 election, Trump continues to insist that his loss to Joe Biden was a "rigged" vote, however has by no means defined how the presidential contest alone was corrupted on a day the place a whole bunch of different federal, state and county elections occurred with out main incident. A typical voter on Nov. 5, 2020, was confronted with a poll with a number of contests on it.

Each Trump's former lawyer basic William Barr and the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company in his first administration rejected his claims of widespread fraud that would change the last word end result, and recounts, opinions and audits within the battleground states of 2020 all affirmed Biden's victory.

However current Trump feedback about federalizing elections, and an FBI raid ostensibly associated to the 2020 vote, have renewed fears amongst Democrats that his administration will once more fire up confusion and chaos on this 12 months's midterms and the 2028 presidential election.