Trump se défend de tout racisme, après la vidéo montrant les Obama en singes
Donald Trump has denied any racism, claiming that he did not see the clip of a video showing Barack and Michelle Obama dressed as monkeys before it was posted on the US president's personal social media account and which triggered a whirlwind of political outrage.
"I did not make a mistake," the US president asserted on Friday when asked if he would apologize for the publication, to which the Obama couple had not publicly reacted.
The video, which has since been removed, remained online for about twelve hours, long enough to cause an uproar even within his own Republican camp, where criticism of him is almost non-existent.
"I only watched the first part" of the video "and I didn't see the whole thing," "nobody knew what was at the end," the part which includes images of the first black president of the United States and his wife as a primate, Donald Trump finally responded at the end of the day, as he left Washington aboard the presidential plane Air Force One.
"I am the least racist president you have had in a long time," Donald Trump proclaimed, before assuring that he condemned the racist content of the video.
Prior to these statements, the White House repeatedly hesitated and even backtracked on the release of this video.
"Smoke and mirrors"
The spokeswoman for the US president, Karoline Leavitt, initially denounced a "false outrage" and attacked the media that reported on it.
Then, faced with the outrage, a senior executive official told AFP that "a White House employee had published this content by mistake."
“No one believes this White House smokescreen, especially since they initially defended this publication,” Kamala Harris, the billionaire’s Democratic rival in the last presidential election, lashed out on the social network X. “We all know perfectly well who Donald Trump is and what his beliefs are,” added the opponent of Indian and Jamaican descent.
"It's a good thing that this content has been removed, it should never have been published and it does not represent the nation we are," Republican Senator Katie Britt also commented on X.
The US presidency has not provided any details about this anonymous employee, nor about the management of Donald Trump's Truth Social account, which has become his official communication channel, as well as an outlet.
The now-removed video, just over a minute long, presents alleged evidence of manipulation of the 2020 election, which the Republican president insists, against all evidence, that he won.
At the end, a montage of the Obamas appears very quickly, their faces laughing on a monkey's body, with the jungle in the background.
California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, a potential candidate for the 2028 presidential election, denounced the "despicable behavior".
- "Racist" -
Outrage has spread through the conservative camp.
Conservative Senator Tim Scott, the only Black Republican elected to the upper house of Congress, referred to X as "the most racist thing (he has) seen come out of this White House".
Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi called the content "totally unacceptable".
The image was originally published by the far-right American website Patriot News Outlet, and republished twice by Donald Trump.
The White House initially defended the president's post.
"This is taken from a video posted online depicting President Trump as the king of the jungle, and the Democrats as characters from 'The Lion King'. Stop this fake outrage and account for something that, today, means something to the American public," spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to AFP.
Animosity
The video she was referring to is an animated cartoon created by the pro-Trump account @xerias_x. It shows Democratic figures, such as Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, depicted as animals, with Donald Trump as a lion.
But the conspiracy video about election fraud posted on the president's account only uses a very short excerpt from this cartoon, the one that shows the Obamas as primates.
Donald Trump has a particular animosity towards Barack Obama, a figure who is very popular with Americans.
He only refers to him as "Barack Hussein Obama", using his middle name, and has helped spread conspiracy theories about the Democrat's nationality.
During his campaign, the Republican had made numerous violent statements against immigrants and spread false information with racist undertones.
AFP
Commentaires (10)
Participer à la Discussion
Règles de la communauté :
💡 Astuce : Utilisez des emojis depuis votre téléphone ou le module emoji ci-dessous. Cliquez sur GIF pour ajouter un GIF animé. Collez un lien X/Twitter ou TikTok pour l'afficher automatiquement.