Trump Declares ‘I Am the Least Racist President’ in ‘A Long Time’ Amid Racist Post Uproar

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

During a Friday gaggle with the press aboard Air Force One en route to Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump declared that he is “the least racist president you’ve had in a long time,” amid uproar from both sides of the aisle after he posted a video to Truth Social depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.

“I’ve done great with black voters,” declared Trump. “They’ve been great to me, I’ve been great to them.”

“I am, by the way, the least racist president you’ve had in a long time, as far as I’m concerned,” he added.

At another point during the gaggle, he refused to apologize for posting the video, insisting, “No, I didn’t make a mistake.”

The video in reference was posted by Trump’s account on Thursday evening. The first part contained baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, while a clip at the end shows AI-generated footage of the Obamas’ faces superimposed on the bodies of apes.

On Friday morning, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shrugged off the video, instead chalking it up to an “Internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle,” dismissing critics as “fake outrage.”

Meanwhile, members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, along with members of the media, condemned the video as racist.

Just a few hours after Leavitt’s initial comments, the post was deleted from Trump’s Truth Social account, and an unnamed White House staffer was blamed for making an “erroneous” post.

During the Friday gaggle, Trump reiterated that he did not post the video himself, saying, “What I saw in the beginning [of the video] was really, really strong. It was about fraudulent elections. Anytime I see that stuff, and when it’s credible, you put it up. But somebody slipped and missed a very small part… That was a very strong truth.”

Former Trump Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer that he “talked to several [GOP] House members that are just besides themselves” over the post and the president’s response, adding that “they don’t know how they’re going to handle it” during the 2026 midterms.

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