Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott criticized President Donald Trump on Friday for making a now-deleted Truth Social post featuring a short clip of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama depicted as apes on Thursday.
Scott called it “racist” and urged Trump to delete the clip in a Friday X post. Axios’ Trump White House reporter Marc Caputo subsequently posted on X that a White House official said, “A White House staffer erroneously made the post” and added that it had been deleted.
“Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” Scott wrote. “The President should remove it.”
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Trump’s post briefly portrayed the Obamas as apes at the beginning of an artificial intelligence (AI) meme video that appeared to automatically play after a full, unrelated clip the president shared.
“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from [T]he Lion King,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, Axios reported.
Trump’s post only included part of the section of the video featuring the Obamas, rather than the full video. The post was deleted after roughly 12 hours, according to Axios.
Democrats, anti-Trump Republicans and media pundits condemned the president’s post, Mediaite reported.
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“Disgusting behavior by the President,” Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office wrote in a Friday X post. “Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.”
Scott has not posted on X since his initial criticism as of Friday afternoon.
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