President Donald Trump has shrugged off a controversy surrounding a racist meme of the Obamas shared on his social media account, ignoring rare pushback from several Republican lawmakers.
One White House ally, granted anonymity to be candid, dubbed the posting of a meme depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as primates a “big unforced error.” A number of GOP members of Congress expressed shock at the post, continuing a recent trend of world leaders, corporate executives and even political allies speaking out against a president who returned to office with little resistance.
But Trump has refused to apologize and tried to explain the controversy away as an oversight, saying he and an unnamed staffer did not watch the entire video that his account posted late Thursday night on the president’s Truth Social platform. It remained on the site for 12 hours before the White House removed it around midday Friday, with an official saying it was “erroneously” posted. On Air Force One later that night, Trump contradicted his staff, then blamed them, before shrugging the whole situation off and walking back to his cabin.
