Trump shrugs off racist meme posting amid rare wave of GOP criticism

WASHINGTON — 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.

Asked Friday night by reporters if he condemned the racist portions of the video depicting the Obamas, Trump said, “Of course, I do.”

But the president also said he would not apologize for the racist meme, telling reporters on Air Force One that most of what he re-posted was a “strong” post about alleged voter fraud in 2020 in Georgia.

“No, I didn’t make a mistake. I mean, I look at a lot of, thousands of things. And I looked at the beginning of it, it was fine,” he said. “If you look at where it came from, I guess it was a takeoff on ‘The Lion King.’ And certainly it was a very strong post in terms of voter fraud.”

“Nobody knew that that was at the end. If they would’ve looked, they would’ve seen it. And probably they would’ve had the sense to take it down,” he added.

Trump then confirmed he had spoken to Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., about the post before it was removed.

“He was great. Tim is a great guy,” Trump said. “He understood that 100%.”

Scott, who called the post “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” was not the only congressional Republican who’s been mostly loyal to Trump to speak out.

Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, wrote in a Friday X post: “This is totally unacceptable. The president should take it down and apologize.”

New York Rep. Mike Lawler, one of the House’s most vulnerable Republicans, told ABC News on Sunday that he was glad White House staffers deleted the post, saying, “I think sometimes it’s just best to say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and do better.”

“I take the White House at their word that this was a mistake, but at the end of the day, given the history of our nation, given the insensitivities with some of the stereotypes that have long been promulgated to attack African Americans, I think it’s imperative to recognize that, and meet the moment,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”

‘Shouldn’t be hard’

The president and leader of the Republican Party, who has a history of making racially insensitive remarks, used his Friday night responses about the controversy to again make false claims about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

“I looked at the first part, and it was really about voter fraud and the machines, how crooked it is, how disgusting it is,” Trump said on the executive jet. “Then I gave it to the people. Generally, they look at the whole thing. But I guess somebody didn’t, and they posted it. And we took it down.”

“What I saw at the beginning was really, really strong. It was about fraudulent elections,” he added. “And anytime I see that stuff and when it’s credible, you put it up.”

Trump’s weekend social media posts covered a range of topics, including the Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl halftime performance by Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny, an outspoken critic of the administration’s mass deportation policies. He performed his entire set in Spanish, angering Trump and several other conservatives.

“The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER! It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children that are watching from throughout the U.S.A., and all over the World.”

While active on Truth Social all weekend, in between two rounds of golf and a Super Bowl party at his golf club in South Florida, Trump did not address the posting of the racist meme.

Republican strategist Douglas Heye used a series of social media posts to criticize Trump, the White House staff and GOP officials who did not speak out against the racist meme.

“I’ve been condemning this blatant racism against the Obamas since 2010. 16 years later, why aren’t more of my GOP brethren do the same?” he wrote Friday. “When will the staffer who ‘really let the president down’ be named and fired? This shouldn’t be hard.”

Notably, Trump on Sunday night broke a recent streak of conducting news-making gaggles on Air Force One with reporters traveling back with him to Washington, with the president opting against taking questions.