US President Donald Trump on Sunday posted a digitally altered image on his Truth Social account depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama boarding an Air Force One jet covered in graffiti. The image, shared without comment, shows the Obamas waving at the top of the aircraft stairs while the plane is defaced with slogans including "Yes We Can," "Obama," "BLM," and the Arabic phrase "alhamdulillah," meaning "praise be to God."
Context of recent controversial posts
This incident follows a previous controversy in February, when Trump deleted a video from Truth Social after widespread bipartisan backlash. The video, shared late on February 5, depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes in a jungle, invoking a longstanding racist trope. According to CNN, the post was removed nearly 12 hours later after sharp criticism from lawmakers across party lines, including several close Republican allies.
Just before noon on February 6, a White House official told CNN that a staffer had erroneously made the post and it had been taken down. Earlier, the administration had dismissed criticism as "fake outrage." One White House adviser told CNN, "The president was not aware of that video, and was very let down by the staffer who put it out."
Bipartisan backlash and Republican condemnation
The backlash included condemnation from GOP Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican in the Senate, who called the post racist and urged its removal. In a post on X, Scott said, "Praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The President should remove it."
According to CNN, the controversy put the White House in damage-control mode, with officials and allies contacting lawmakers and media outlets to insist that Trump was not personally involved. The Obamas appeared briefly near the end of the deleted video, which otherwise promoted false claims about the 2020 US election. Their faces were superimposed on the bodies of apes, accompanied by the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
Implications of the latest doctored image
The latest doctored image, shared months after the video incident, continues a pattern of Trump posting altered or misleading content targeting the Obamas. The graffiti-covered Air Force One includes political and religious slogans, potentially inflaming tensions. As of now, there has been no official response from the White House regarding this new post, and it remains on Truth Social.
