Trump Deletes Racist Video of the Obamas After Rare Republican Backlash

Barf Bag: Karoline Leavitt initially defended Trump’s reposting of a video depicting the Obamas as apes as a harmless internet meme based on The Lion King.

By Susan Rinkunas  |  February 6, 2026 | 7:18pm
Photo: Getty Images Politics
Trump Deletes Racist Video of the Obamas After Rare Republican Backlash

Welcome back to Barf Bag.

Hours ahead of the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony, the president of the United States reminded us and the world that he is, at his core, a gutter racist. 

On Thursday night, Donald Trump reposted a video on Truth Social that depicted former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes in the jungle with their mouths hanging open. February is Black History Month and Obama was famously our first Black president.

The video was about election conspiracy theories, because of course:

Nearly all of the 62-second clip, which was among dozens of Truth Social posts from Trump overnight, appears to be from a conservative video alleging deliberate tampering with voting machines in battleground states as the 2020 presidential votes were tallied. At the 60-second mark is a quick scene of two primates, with the Obamas’ smiling faces imposed on them. 

White House Propaganda Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt initially defended Trump’s repost, saying in a statement that the clip “is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from ‘The Lion King.’” She added, “please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”

But multiple Republicans said it was racist and that Trump should delete it, including South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black GOP member of the Senate, who called it “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.” He was joined by Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts, and vulnerable New York Rep. Mike Lawler. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called Trump “a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder” and asked why Republicans were “continuing to stand by this sick individual.” (Leader Jeffries: more of this, please.) 

The White House realized this rare public criticism was a problem because it quickly threw Leavitt’s rationalization in the trash. “A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down,” a spokesperson said. A small group of people is believed to have access to Trump’s Truth Social account, Semafor noted, including “human printer” Natalie Harp. The video was taken down shortly before 12 p.m. Eastern on Friday.

The debacle comes after Trump has been making unbelievably racist claims about Somali immigrants in Minnesota in an attempt to justify his cruel mass deportation agenda. In December, he denigrated immigrants from “shithole countries,” admitted that he actually used the phrase in his first term despite denials at the time. The disastrous dehumanizing operation led to Immigration and Customs Enforcement murdering two U.S. citizens on Minneapolis streets and several immigrants dying alone inside detention centers across the country in January. 

Immigration used to be one of Trump’s best-polling issues, but it appears he’s getting too racist even for his own supporters, as six in 10 Americans disapprove of the job immigration agents are doing. 

I guess it’s lame duck season already.

House Speaker Mike Johnson thinks he knows the Bible better than the Pope, who criticized Trump’s mass deportations. Johnson wrote a 1,600-word post about it:

Q: Pope Leo cited Matthew 25:35 to critique Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda. How would you respond to Pope Leo in scripture?MIKE JOHNSON: Sovereign borders are biblical and right and just. It's not because we hate the people on the outside. It's because we love the people on the inside.

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-03T19:38:23.573Z

Even more barf:

  • White House border czar Tom Homan said the administration would pull 700 federal officers out of Minnesota, leaving behind 2,000 agents. That’s 2,000 too many. [MPR News]
  • Ex-Trump advisor Steve Bannon called for ICE agents at polling sites during the midterm elections. [The Guardian]
  • Our mad king is blackmailing New York and Washington, D.C. to name a train station and airport after him. Does this preoccupation with legacy mean death is near? [The Guardian]
  • Jeanine Pirro, former drunk Fox News host and current U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, pissed off the Second Amendment people when she suggested that lawful gun owners who carry in D.C. would go to jail. [New York Times]
  • Sen. Mitch McConnell checked himself into a hospital on Monday night with flu-like symptoms “in an abundance of caution.” As of Friday afternoon, no one is reporting that he’s been released, so perhaps this was not so cautionary. [NBC News]
  • The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is investigating Nike for allegedly discriminating against—you guessed it—white people. [New York Times]
  • Vice President JD Vance said on Megyn Kelly’s podcast that it was “so perceptive” of the president to tell CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins that she should smile more when she asked Trump about the Epstein survivors. [The Hill/Bluesky]
  • A 31-year-old Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate is using Tinder to “meet young female voters where they are.” James Fishback was previously accused of sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old. [HuffPost]
  • Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed a bill expanding the state Supreme Court to change the balance of power. Take note, Democrats. [Associated Press]
  • The campaign of former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema refunded nearly $600,000 to donors who wanted their money back and also paid her bodyguard–turned–boyfriend more than $128,000. [NOTUS]
  • “With New Memoir, [Gavin] Newsom Wants Americans to Know He Struggled Growing Up.” OK! [New York Times]

This has been your Friday Barf Bag, thanks for reading! 

 
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