The White House dismissed backlash after President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated video depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, calling criticism "fake outrage."
The clip was posted to Trump's Truth Social account during Black History Month before being deleted, even as Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt waved off concerns and urged critics to "report on something that actually matters."
"This is from an Internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from 'The Lion King,'" said Leavitt. "Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public."
As @Phil_Lewis_ pointed out, "there are no gorillas in The Lion King."
The video included a watermark displaying the name of a pro-Trump account. It's not the first time that Trump supporters have portrayed the Obamas in this classically racist manner, though it may represent a new low for the President himself.
"Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House," wrote Senator Tim Scott (it was real).
No condemnation of this depiction came down from Trump or his administration.
In addition to being angry about the racism, the left is now once again irritated about the constant obfuscations from the Trump administration.
"The constant gaslighting from the current administration is horrendous, but this is probably the most egregious example yet," wrote @aidanvosooghi.
"We are being lied to with alarming swiftness," said @zachsgotlife. "They think we are stupid. That's the whole headline. They think we are stupid and they can just lie to cover it up and people will fall in line."
Others pointed out that there might also be something more important to the public that Trump could be doing than posting.
"Crazy idea here, maybe instead of posting memes all night the president can be focusing on things that actually matter to the American public?" @SOC53 suggested.
"'Report on something that actually matters to the American public' as the president is posting racist memes online lmfao," wrote @EmergingKompany.
Former White House Deputy Press Secretary and "Republican in exile" Sarah Matthews had some thoughts on Leavitt specifically.
"No job, clout, or proximity to power is worth debasing yourself to defend something like this," she said.
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