Donald Trump’s idiotic monkey meme: A new low in presidential racism

In the dead of night on 6 February 2026, Donald Trump, the supposed leader of the free world, slithered back into his favourite swamp of bigotry by posting a grotesque video on Truth Social.

The clip, a puerile meme superimposing the faces of Barack and Michelle Obama onto the bodies of apes, is not just offensive; it is a deliberate plunge into the cesspit of racial dehumanisation that has stained American history for centuries.

This is no slip of the thumb or staffer blunder, as the White House later feigned. It is the unfiltered ID of a man whose entire political career has been built on stoking white resentment, and it exposes the rotten core of his administration once more.

Let us be crystal clear: equating black people with primates is not humour, it is hatred wrapped in a thin veil of deniability.

This trope traces its vile roots back to the era of slavery, where pseudo-scientists and eugenicists peddled lies about racial inferiority to justify chains, whips and lynchings.

Trump, ever the opportunist, resurrects this poison in 2026, a time when one might hope the nation had evolved beyond such primal bile.

But no, here he is, at 4:44am, sharing content from some obscure meme-maker @XERIAS_X, depicting the first black president and first lady as jungle beasts laughing maniacally.

The video, clocking in at over a minute, weaves in election conspiracy drivel before hitting its racist crescendo with the Obamas dancing to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” How fitting for a president who roars like a lion but cowers like a cub when called out.

This is not some isolated gaffe in Trump’s long, sordid saga of racism; it is the latest chapter in a lifetime of bigotry that began long before he infested the White House.

Back in the 1970s, the Trump family business was sued by the Department of Justice for systematically refusing to rent apartments to black tenants, marking applications from African Americans with a “C” for “coloured” and steering them away from white neighbourhoods.

Trump fought the case tooth and nail, countersuing the government instead of admitting fault, only to settle with a slap-on-the-wrist agreement to stop discriminating without ever owning up to it.

This was no youthful indiscretion; it was the foundation of a real estate empire built on exclusion and prejudice, where black people were seen as undesirable tenants who would drag down property values.

Fast forward to the 1980s, and Trump’s venom turned deadly. When five black and Latino teenagers were wrongly accused of raping a white jogger in Central Park, Trump didn’t wait for evidence or trials. He splashed out on full-page newspaper ads screaming for the death penalty’s return, fanning the flames of hysteria and demanding blood for the so-called “Central Park Five.”

Even after DNA evidence exonerated them years later, proving their innocence beyond doubt, Trump refused to apologise, doubling down on his calls for execution.

These were kids, railroaded by a racist system, and Trump revelled in their persecution, using it to polish his image as a tough-on-crime demagogue who saw young men of colour as disposable threats.

The administration’s response to this latest outrage? Initially, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the uproar as “fake outrage,” insisting it was just an “internet meme” portraying Trump as “King of the Jungle.”

Fake outrage my foot! Tell that to the millions of black Americans who have endured centuries of being caricatured as sub-human to prop up white supremacy.

Only after bipartisan fury erupted, including from Republican Senator Tim Scott, who branded it “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” did the post vanish.

Suddenly, it was all a “staffer error,” a convenient scapegoat for a president too cowardly to own his venom.

This is the same Trump who, in 2011, ignited his political ascent with the birther lie, falsely claiming Barack Obama was not born in the United States, a racist smear designed to delegitimise the first black commander-in-chief.

He demanded Obama’s birth certificate like a schoolyard bully, only to grudgingly admit the truth in 2016, while baselessly pinning the conspiracy on Hillary Clinton.

Trump’s obsession with the Obamas reeks of insecurity. Here is a couple who embody grace, intellect and achievement: Barack, the Harvard-educated constitutional scholar who steered America through economic turmoil; Michelle, the Princeton and Harvard alumna who championed health, education and empowerment.

Their success shatters Trump’s fragile worldview, where white mediocrity must always reign supreme. He resents what they represent, a black family adored globally, while he scrabbles for relevance in his echo chamber of sycophants.

This is not isolated; it is a pattern. From calling African nations “shithole countries” in Oval Office meetings, to telling four congresswomen of colour to “go back” to the “crime-infested places from which they came,” despite three being American-born, Trump has weaponised racism as his political oxygen.

He praised “very fine people” among the white supremacists marching in Charlottesville, where neo-Nazis chanted “Jews will not replace us,” and equated them with counter-protesters fighting hate.

He mocked black athletes kneeling against police brutality as “sons of bitches” who should be fired, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, he spewed “Kung Flu” slurs, stoking anti-Asian violence.

His administration, complicit in this filth, enables it. Where are the checks? The balances? Instead, we get deflections and deletions, as if erasing a post erases the damage.

This incident is a clarion call to every decent soul: Trump’s racism is not a bug, it is the feature of his presidency. It divides, it dehumanises, it drags America back to the dark ages of Jim Crow and segregation.

Studies show his rhetoric has emboldened hate crimes, with surges in assaults on black and immigrant communities following his inflammatory speeches. White supremacists see him as their champion, from the Klan’s endorsements to the “very fine people” he refuses to fully condemn.

Republicans who tut-tut but stay silent are accomplices, their “bipartisan backlash” mere theatre before they fall in line for the next tax cut or judicial appointment.

Democrats, meanwhile, must not mince words; this is white supremacy from the Oval Office, and it demands unrelenting opposition.

Imagine the outrage if the roles were reversed, if a black president mocked a white predecessor this way. The hypocrisy is staggering. Trump’s enablers, from Fox News pundits to his cultish base, will spin this as “edgy humour” or “owning the libs.”

But let us call it what it is: a desperate gasp from a fading demagogue, clinging to power by fanning the flames of hate.

In 2026, with the world watching, America cannot afford this embarrassment. Trump must be held accountable, not just for this post, but for the toxic legacy he inflicts on a nation striving for better.

His words don’t just hurt; they inspire violence, normalise prejudice and erode the fabric of a diverse society.

From housing discrimination to birtherism, from Central Park lynch mob calls to “shithole” slurs, Trump’s record is a blueprint for bigotry that no amount of denials can whitewash.

The Obamas, with their dignity intact, will rise above this sludge, as they always have. But for Trump and his cabal, this is a stain that no deletion can scrub away. It is time to reject this presidency’s bigotry, to demand leaders who unite rather than degrade.

Anything less betrays the very soul of democracy. America must mobilise, vote and fight back against this resurgence of nostalgic racism, ensuring that future generations inherit a nation where equality is not a punchline but a promise.

Gabriel Manyati is a Zimbabwean journalist and analyst delivering incisive commentary on politics, human interest stories, and current affairs.