Trump posts racist video depicting Obamas as monkeys<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n
Hello and welcome to today\u2019s live coverage.<\/p>\n
Donald Trump<\/strong> went on a massive social media spree overnight that included posting on Truth Social<\/strong> an election conspiracy video that ended with a clip depicting former president Barack Obama<\/strong> and former first lady Michelle Obama<\/strong> as monkeys.<\/p>\n The racist depiction of the Obamas \u2013 the first Black president and first lady in American history \u2013 appears at the end of a one-minute video perpetuating the false and disproven claims that ballot-counting company Dominion Voting Systems helped steal the 2020 presidential election from Trump. The company in 2023 settled for $787.5m <\/a>with Fox News<\/strong> in a landmark defamation lawsuit.<\/p>\n For two seconds, the video shows the smiling faces of the Obamas superimposed on monkeys bobbing to \u201cThe Lion Sleeps Tonight\u201d.<\/p>\n As of Friday morning, the video has been liked more than 2,500 times and reposted more than 1,100 times, as prominent Democrats decried the post.<\/p>\n \u201cDisgusting behavior by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now,\u201d said the press office of California governor Gavin Newsom<\/strong>, a longtime Trump critic and potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is overt racism. Full stop. There\u2019s no \u2018misinterpretation\u2019 and no excuse. This is who he is, who he\u2019s always been, and why he should never be anywhere near power again,\u201d political strategist Adam Parkhomenko posted on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n The video was just one of more than 60 posts the president made on Truth Social over the course of three hours. In addition to repeating lies about the 2020 presidential election, Trump posted the Trump Accounts<\/strong> Super Bowl ad and calls to add his face to Mount Rushmore<\/strong>.<\/p>\n More to come.<\/p>\n