‘Disgusting behaviour’: Democrats slam Trump over video depicting Obamas as monkeys

The one-minute video repeats false claims that ballot-counting firm Dominion Voting Systems helped rig the 2020 US presidential election.

Updated on: Feb 6, 2026, 22:18:20 IST

By HT News Desk

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US President Donald Trump is facing sharp criticism after he shared a video on social media that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.

Former President Barack Obama talks with then President-elect Donald Trump as Melania Trump reads the funeral program before the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP)

The one-minute video, posted on Trump’s Truth Social account on Thursday, repeats false claims that ballot-counting firm Dominion Voting Systems helped rig the 2020 US 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.”

As of Friday morning, the video had garnered more than 2,500 likes and been reposted over 1,100 times, even as prominent Democrats strongly criticised the post.

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Criticism from Democrats

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a vocal critic of Trump and a potential Democratic presidential contender in 2028, condemned the post, calling it “disgusting.”

“Disgusting behaviour by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now,” Newsom’s press office account wrote on X.

Ben Rhodes, a former senior national security adviser to Barack Obama, also criticised Trump, saying he would be remembered negatively by history.

"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," he wrote on X.

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