Robert Latta

WASHINGTON - Politics may be a jungle, but when it came to a video President Donald Trump posted on social media that depicts former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, some Ohio Republicans went out on a limb to condemn it while others retreated into silence.

The brief AI clip, which mostly focused on false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, included just a second or two of a meme that showed the Obamas’ faces superimposed on dancing primates as the Tokens version of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” played in the background.

Critics called the imagery racist and harmful, pointing out that it echoed long-standing offensive stereotypes.

Congressional Republicans from Ohio who condemned the video included U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, and U.S. Reps. Mike Turner, Bob Latta and Max Miller. Turner said Trump should apologize.

But others have remained silent.

Previously: Some Ohio Republicans condemn racist Trump video depicting Obamas as primates

The NAACP labeled the post “blatantly racist” and “disgusting,” suggesting the video was designed to divert attention from other political issues by provoking outrage.

An Obama spokesperson declined to comment on the incident.

Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, defended the post before it was removed, calling it “just a meme” and part of a longer video meant to show Trump as the “King of the Jungle,” not to insult anyone. She dismissed the complaints as “fake outrage” and urged the public to “focus on other news.”

The White House later said a staffer had mistakenly posted the clip and confirmed it had been taken down.

When asked about the video Friday aboard Air Force One, Trump defended the post and refused to apologize. He said he hadn’t seen the full video before putting it on his TruthSocial account. He described it as a “takeoff from The Lion King.”

“I didn’t make a mistake,” Trump said. “I looked at the beginning of it, it was fine.”

When asked if he condemned the racist parts of the video, Trump said, “Of course I do.”

Touting his administration’s record on criminal justice reform and assistance to historically black colleges and universities, Trump said “black voters have been great to me. I’ve been great to them.

“And I am, by the way, the least racist President you’ve had in a long time,” Trump added.

“I guess probably nobody reviewed the end of it, because what I saw at the beginning was really, really strong,” Trump said of the video. “It was about fraudulent elections. And anytime I see that stuff, and when it’s credible, you put it up. But somebody slipped and missed a very small part ... I didn’t do it, by the way. This was done by somebody else. This was a retruth that was not done by us.”

Trump told reporters he had discussed the video with U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, a black South Carolina Republican who condemned it as “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.”

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

The controversy comes during Black History Month, a period when many Americans honor the contributions of Black leaders. Critics said the timing made the post especially insensitive.

Husted, a Columbus area Republican, focused on the video being inappropriate.

“The video was absolutely unacceptable, and I’m glad the White House recognized that and removed it,” the senator said a statement.

Max Miller, a Bay Village Republican who served as director of advance in the first Trump administration, said the video should not have been posted.

“If someone from my team did this while I was at the White House, I can tell you honestly, that they would not have a job come Monday morning,” Miller said in a text message.

Latta “strongly condemns the video and believes it was rightfully removed and should never have been posted in the first place,” said a statement from Latta press spokesperson Ashley Juhn.

Turner was the most emphatic.

“I do not feel the need to respond to every inflammatory statement made by the White House,” Turner wrote on X. “However, the release of racist images of former President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama is offensive, heart breaking, and unacceptable. President Trump should apologize.”

Not all Ohio Republicans have publicly weighed in, however, taking their cues from the proverbial three monkeys who “see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil.”

Spokespeople for U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, a Westlake Republican, and U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Champaign County Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, did not respond to requests for comment.

Other Republican House members haven’t issued public statements on the matter.

Some Democrats, though, condemned the video.

U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, a black Democrat from Warrensville Heights, described the post as “disgusting, disrespectful and disgraceful in a video posted on social media.

She said the “thin veil that Trump used to execute his racist policies has fallen,” denouncing his efforts to “take away health care for millions, cut SNAP benefits and to make racial profiling and discrimination legal again.

“Now he wants to use racist insults against the Obamas and all black Americans, really, to motivate MAGA and humiliate us,” Brown continued. “We all should be alarmed, because this wasn’t the first time with them, and I can assure you it won’t be the last.”

A social media post from U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman, a Cincinnati Democrat, described the video as “incredibly racist” and called Trump “unhinged and unwell.”

“My Republican colleagues need to stand up to this man and condemn this hate,” Landsman said. “Everyone must.”

A statement from U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Columbus Democrat who formerly headed the Congressional Black Caucus, described the video as “abhorrent and racist.”

“While the video has since been removed, its very existence within the administration is disturbing, deeply troubling, and revealing of how this administration views African Americans,” she said. “This conduct should be condemned unilaterally, and GOP leaders must hold the White House accountable.”