President Donald Trump ignited a fresh firestorm on Saturday when he reposted a message from far-right activist Laura Loomer that labeled former first lady Michelle Obama an “anti-white racist,” just days after the White House scrambled to delete a racist video depicting the Obamas as primates.
On February 22, 2026, Trump shared Loomer’s post on Truth Social, which contained inflammatory claims about the former first lady and former President Barack Obama. The message accused the Obamas of planning “witch hunts against Trump” and described Michelle Obama as an “anti-White racist,” while referring to the former president by his full name “Barack Hussein Obama.”
The repost came less than three weeks after Trump shared a 62-second video depicting the Obamas with their faces imposed on the bodies of primates. That video, posted late Thursday night on February 5 and remaining online for nearly 12 hours, sparked immediate condemnation from Republicans and Democrats alike before the White House deleted it and blamed a staffer for the post.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt at first defended the primate video, brushing off criticism as fake outrage and saying it came from an online meme portraying President Trump as the King of the Jungle with Democrats cast as characters from The Lion King. A few hours later, the White House changed course and took the post down.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One after the deletion, Trump said he hadn’t watched the video’s final moments and declined to apologize. When asked whether he condemned the racist segment of the video, Trump responded, Of course I do.
The incidents occurred during Black History Month, creating an especially jarring contrast with Trump’s presidential proclamation honoring the accomplishments and contributions of Black Americans.
The backlash to the original video crossed partisan lines. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Senate’s only Black Republican, called it “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.” Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who is white but represents the state with the largest percentage of Black residents, called the post “totally unacceptable.”
NAACP President Derrick Johnson delivered a scathing assessment: “Donald Trump’s video is blatantly racist, disgusting, and utterly despicable.”
Rev. Bernice King, daughter of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., responded by quoting her father: “Yes. I’m Black. I’m proud of it. I’m Black and beautiful.” Black Americans, she said, “are beloved of God as postal workers and professors, as a former first lady and president. We are not apes.”
Former President Obama broke his silence on the controversy during a podcast interview with political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen that aired Saturday, February 15. Obama was asked about the “de-evolution of the discourse” coming from the Trump administration, highlighted especially by the racist video.
The Saturday repost also included Trump’s threat to Netflix, demanding the streaming service fire board member Susan Rice. “Netflix should fire racist, Trump Deranged Susan Rice, IMMEDIATELY, or pay the consequences,” Trump wrote. “She’s got no talent or skills – Purely a political hack!”
Rice, who served as national security adviser and United Nations ambassador in the Obama administration, has been a Netflix board member since 2018. Netflix has other ties to the Obamas through its overall deal with Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions to produce series and movies for the streamer.
Loomer’s original post suggested that if the pending Netflix-Warner Bros. merger is approved, “positive messaging of the Democrats’ upcoming witch hunts against Trump” would be “blasted across all streaming services as the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions continues to grow within Netflix.”
The controversy unfolds as Trump, who was inaugurated on January 20, 2025, faces mounting criticism over various policy decisions. The incidents have intensified scrutiny over who controls the president’s social media account, which he regularly uses to announce policy decisions, levy import taxes, and communicate directly with the public.
An Obama spokeswoman said the former president had no response to the original video, though his podcast interview suggested he views the episodes as part of a broader pattern threatening American democratic norms.
As the State of the Union address approaches, the repeated racial controversies have dominated headlines and drawn sharp rebukes from civil rights organizations and lawmakers across the political spectrum who say such rhetoric has no place in the White House.
