Extract from ABC News
Analysis
Donald Trump shared, then deleted, a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys on his Truth Social platform. (AP: Alex Brandon)
Donald Trump has, until now, thrived in controversy.
Immune to criticism, and convincing supporters that any backlash is the "woke left" revelling in "political correctness".
He's even survived making many previous racial slurs.
He rose to political prominence while peddling conspiracy theories about the former president Barack Obama's citizenship and birthplace (when he was in fact born in Hawaii).
But President Trump's complete impunity and dominance, "Peak Trump", may have passed.
He's just done something which a year ago would have been unthinkable — deleted a social media post.
During an after-dark social media binge, the president posted more than 70 items or videos — including one portraying Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes.
That sort of vile racist portrayal was often used in America in the 1960s, and has caused a furore when reposted by President Trump.
It's the latest in a string of racial slurs.
In December, he described Somali immigrants as "garbage" — a precursor to a week's long immigration crackdown on that community in Minneapolis, which has resulted in the killings of two American citizens protesting against ICE agents.
Michelle and Barack Obama have declined to comment on the post. (AP: Evan Vucci)
During the election campaign, Trump pushed racist and untrue claims that Haitian migrants were "eating the dogs" in Ohio, and said former vice president Kamala Harris "became Black".
The president has also said immigrants were "poisoning the blood" of America — echoing white supremacy rhetoric.
Despite all this, African Americans turned out to vote for Trump in significant numbers.
According to Pew research, he nearly doubled his support among Black voters between 2020 and 2024, especially younger Black men.
Now Trump claims that he has done more for Black Americans than any president before him.
Republicans call post racist, 'totally unacceptable'
The backlash to this latest social media post was led by African American Senator Tim Scott who was considered by Donald Trump a potential running mate for the 2024 election.
The Republican has been a huge Trump supporter, but clearly this was a step too far for him.
"Praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House," he posted on social media.
"The President should remove it."
Another Republican Senator Roger Wicker, joined that call.
"This is totally unacceptable. The President should take it down and apologise," he posted.
At first, the White House did as it often does, go on the attack.
Karoline Leavitt said the backlash to Trump's post was "fake outrage". (Reuters: Kevin Lamarque)
"This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King," White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said.
"Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public."
But clearly race does matter.
The post was removed, and the White House changed its story, blaming an unnamed staffer for making the post in error.
The president told reporters on Air Force One that he only saw the start of the clip, which focused on voter fraud, and passed it to staffers to repost.
Though he maintained he didn't think he made a mistake.
"Nobody knew that was in the end, if they would have looked, they would have seen it, and probably they would have the sense to take it down," he said.
Mr Trump is a prolific social media user.
His website Truth Social is a central pillar of his political communication, where he regularly makes policy announcements and diplomatic statements signing off in full: "Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP".
So it's a strange idea that a mystery staffer was apparently in the White House with Donald Trump at a quarter to midnight, but responsible for only this single post.
In a country with a tragic history of racial violence, even this "Teflon president" can cross a line.
This social media backdown by Trump shows that when enough Republicans push back, the president can be influenced.
It seems this president can be challenged — "peak Trump" may have passed.
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