‘Won't apologise’, Trump says after his racist post about Obamas is deleted after backlash
The Hindu
Trump refuses to apologize for a deleted racist post about the Obamas, blaming staff amid bipartisan backlash.
U.S. President Donald Trump's racist social media post featuring former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama was deleted on Friday (February 6, 2026) after a backlash from both Republicans and Democrats who criticised the video as offensive.
Mr. Trump said later on Friday (February 6, 2026) that he won't apologise for the post. "I didn't make a mistake," he said.
The Republican President's night post on Thursday (February 5) was blamed on a staffer after widespread backlash, from civil rights leaders to veteran Republican senators, for its treatment of the nation's first Black President and first lady.
A rare admission of a misstep by the White House, the deletion came hours after press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed "fake outrage" over the post. After calls for its removal — including by Republicans — the White House said a staffer had posted the video erroneously.
The post was part of a flurry of overnight activity on Mr. Trump's Truth Social account that amplified his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, despite courts around the country and Mr. Trump's first-term attorney general finding no evidence of systemic fraud.
Mr. Trump has a record of intensely personal criticism of the Obamas and of using incendiary, sometimes racist, rhetoric — from feeding the lie that Mr. Obama was not a native-born U.S. citizen to crude generalisations about majority-Black countries.
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