Trump Deletes Racist Video of Obamas After Outcry; The New York Times, February 6, 2026

Erica L. Green and Isabella Kwai, The New York Times; Trump Deletes Racist Video of Obamas After Outcry

"President Trump posted a blatantly racist video clip portraying former President Barack Obama and the former first lady Michelle Obama as apes, then deleted it after an outcry, including from members of his own party. 

The clip, set to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” was spliced near the end of a 62-second video that promoted conspiracy theories about anomalies in the 2020 presidential election. It was the latest in a long pattern by Mr. Trump of promoting offensive imagery and slurs about Black Americans and others.

The decision to delete the link from his social media site was an unusual walk-back by the president, whose own press secretary just hours earlier had brushed off criticism of the video.  

“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King,” Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, before Mr. Trump deleted the clip. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”"

White House installs plaques mocking former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden; NBC News, December 17, 2025

 Sarah Dean, Garrett Haake, Alexandra Bacallao and Rebecca Shabad , NBC News; White House installs plaques mocking former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden

[Kip Currier: This quote by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is jaw-droppingly farcical:

"The plaques are eloquently written descriptions of each President and the legacy they left behind," she said. "As a student of history, many were written directly by the President himself.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/white-house-installs-plaques-mocking-former-presidents-barack-obama-jo-rcna249746 

 

To refer to such defamatory and erroneous statements as "eloquently written" is the epitome of George Orwell's 1984 Newspeak, in which words used by propagandists are converse from their true meanings, e.g. Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength.]

[Excerpt]

"The White House has installed plaques on the exterior of the building bashing President Donald Trump's predecessors, including Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and promoting disinformation about their administrations.

The plaques were hung up below presidential portraits that have been on display on Trump’s recently added "Presidential Walk of Fame" in the White House colonnade.

The one placed under the portrait of the “Autopen," which stands in for President Joe Biden's portrait, refers to him as “Sleepy Joe Biden” and calls him “the worst President in American History.” The plaque contains a number of derisive statements about the former president, referring to Biden’s “severe mental decline,” “the Biden Crime Family” and his “Radical Left handlers."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News in a statement that Trump wrote the text of "many" of the plaques.

“The plaques are eloquently written descriptions of each President and the legacy they left behind," she said. "As a student of history, many were written directly by the President himself.”"