Ammon News - President Donald Trump condemned but did not apologize for a video on his social media account depicting Democratic former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as apes, a post that triggered swift, bipartisan criticism for dehumanizing people of African descent.

The White House first defended the racist post on Friday, then deleted it 12 hours after it appeared.

The minute-long video shared on Trump's Truth Social network late Thursday amplified false claims that his 2020 election defeat was the result of fraud. Spliced into the video near its end was a brief, apparently AI-generated, clip of dancing primates superimposed with the Obamas' heads.

HISTORY OF PROMOTING RACIST RHETORIC
On Friday night, Trump told reporters he had not watched the entire video before a White House aide posted it to his account.
"I didn't see the whole thing," Trump said. "I looked at the first part, and it was really about voter fraud in the machines, how crooked it is, how disgusting it is. Then I gave it to the people. Generally, they look at the whole thing. But I guess somebody didn't."

Asked by reporters if he condemned the clip, Trump said, "Of course I do." But he declined to apologize, saying, "I didn't make a mistake. I mean, I give - I look at a lot - thousands of things."

Trump’s comments capped a day of competing narratives within the White House. An administration spokesperson initially defended the video as a harmless "internet meme" before another official said it had been posted in error and was removed, marking a rare retreat for a White House typically unflinching in defending Trump.

Reuters