Republicans are lining up to condemn President Donald Trump’s racist video about the Obamas.
The crack in the MAGA base included calls to from across the president’s coalition to delete the “vile” video, which Trump did late Friday morning despite his press secretary brushing off outrage as “fake.”
Sen. Roger Wicker said the video that superimposed Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces on those of apes was “totally unacceptable.”
“The president should take it down and apologize,” the Mississippi Republican said.
Sen. Tim Scott, who was on Trump’s shortlist to be VP in 2024, wrote that the video was the “most racist thing” he has seen from the Trump White House. The South Carolina Republican did not elaborate on which other racist things the White House has done, despite implying Trump’s post was not the first.
Sen. Susan Collins reshared Scott’s post and added, “Tim is right. This was appalling.”
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had claimed in a statement that the video, which also depicted Trump as a lion, was a meme from The Lion King, though there are no apes in the 1994 Disney film. The Obamas, who did not respond to a request for comment, have not addressed 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,” Leavitt said. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
GOP lawmakers were not eager to line up behind that explanation.
Rep. Mike Turner said the post was “heartbreaking.”
“I do not feel the need to respond to every inflammatory statement made by the White House,” the Ohio Republican said in a statement. “However, the release of racist images of former President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama is offensive, heartbreaking, and unacceptable. President Trump should apologize.”
Sen. Pete Ricketts called on the White House to refrain from its usual deflection and instead own its “mistake.”
“Even if this was a Lion King meme, a reasonable person sees the racist context to this,” the Nebraska Republican posted on X. “The White House should do what anyone does when they make a mistake: remove this and apologize.”
The post was deleted from Trump’s account on Truth Social sometime late Friday morning—more than 12 hours after it was posted from Trump’s account. A source told Axios that White House staff were “besieged with calls from fellow Republicans begging him to take it down.”
The post Republicans Break Ranks to Slam Trump’s Racist Obama Video appeared first on The Daily Beast.
