Daijiworld Media Network - Washington

Washington, Feb 6: US President Donald Trump has triggered widespread outrage after sharing a controversial video on social media that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, drawing sharp criticism from political leaders and former officials.

The one-minute video, posted on Trump’s Truth Social platform on Thursday, repeated his long-standing and false claims that ballot counting firm Dominion Voting Systems helped rig the 2020 presidential election against him. Towards the end of the clip, the Obamas briefly appear with their faces superimposed on monkey bodies, accompanied by the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

The video was swiftly condemned across political lines, with California Governor Gavin Newsom calling the post “disgusting behaviour” and urging Republicans to denounce it. “Disgusting behaviour by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now,” Newsom’s press office said in a post on X.

Ben Rhodes, former senior national security adviser to Barack Obama, said Trump would be remembered poorly by history and criticised those backing him. “Let it haunt Trump and his racist followers that future Americans will embrace the Obamas as beloved figures while studying him as a stain on our history,” Rhodes wrote on X.

This is not the first time Trump has used artificial intelligence-generated or morphed content to mock political opponents. Last year, he shared an AI-created video showing Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office and later depicted behind bars. He has also previously posted an AI clip portraying House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries with a fake moustache and sombrero.

Barack Obama, the only African-American president in US history, had actively campaigned for Trump’s rival Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election.