Last week, President Donald Trump took the internet by storm after he posted a racist video depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
Amid the justifications and blame games played by the Trump administration, one senator’s criticism really caught netizens’ attention.
Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff spoke about the Truth Social post over the weekend during his Rally for Our Republic event.
Highlights
- President Trump posted a racist video comparing the Obamas to apes, sparking widespread outrage and condemnation.
- Senator Jon Ossoff harshly criticized Trump’s post, likening it to a klansman’s hate speech.
- Ossoff addressed broader issues under Trump, including loss of insurance, hospital closures, and violence by federal agents.
“You’re seeing what I’m seeing, right? The president posting about the Obamas like a klansman at 1 a.m.,” Ossoff said.
Senator Jon Ossoff compared Trump to a klansman
Image credits: Megan Varner/Getty Images
Late on Thursday, Trump posted a one-minute video about voting machines, repeating his claim that the 2020 presidential election, won by Joe Biden, was “rigged” and “stolen.”
However, around the 59-second mark, the video briefly cuts to two seconds of the Obamas with ape bodies, set to the song ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight.’
The video seems to be a clip from an October 2025 video shared on X by @xerias_x. The 55-second video shows Democratic politicians as different animals in the jungle, and Trump eventually walking among them as the lion king of the forest, as the animals bow down to him.
Image credits: The White House/Flickr
The video has since been deleted, despite the Trump administration initially dismissing the “fake outrage” over the post and then blaming it on a staffer.
Ossoff, 38, did not stop his criticism there. He continued to list various other issues that Americans have had to suffer through under the Trump administration, including loss of insurance, hospitals being shut down, Americans being killed by federal agents, and more.
However, it’s the comparison to a klansman that piqued people’s interest. Klansman is the term used for a member of the infamous Ku Klux Klan (KKK), an American white supremacist group that supported racial segregation, anti-immigrant sentiment, and antisemitism.
Ossoff is the only Georgian Senate Democrat up for re-election in 2026—in a swing state that voted for Trump in 2024.
Ossoff is the only Georgian Senate Democrat up for re-election
Image credits: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Many users called out the fact that if Ossoff can speak out against Trump despite being in a vulnerable position, others can as well.
“Worth noting that if the MOST VULNERABLE Senate Democrat is talking like this, the rest of the party shouldn't be so risk-averse,” said one user on X.
Image credits: mehdirhasan/X
Journalist Mehdi Hasan wrote on X, “Perhaps the most charismatic and eloquent Democratic member of the Senate right now. If he can hold onto his seat in November, he will be one of the frontrunners in 2028 for sure.”
Calls for Ossoff to run for president flooded X, with one user praising him as “presidential material.”
Image credits: atrupar/X
“This individual, Senator Jon Ossoff, has the potential to become the President of the United States in the future, perhaps sooner than we anticipate... he communicates with ethical clarity, intellect, fortitude, and determination,” a user wrote.
Another said, “The courage to call Trump out as a KLANSMAN is seriously presidential-level. Other Democrats PLEASE TAKE NOTE.”
“The Georgia governor race may be the most important race of 2026 because if a dem wins, it'll allow Ossoff to run for president and he has some juice,” noted another commenter.
Many X users called for Ossoff to run for president
Image credits: atrupar/X
One user said what many on X were thinking, “Bro Ossoff rolled up to this speech like thanos.” Another compared Ossoff to Obama, saying, “His way of talking and his mannerisms resemble Obama in his prime.”
At the Rally for Our Republic, Ossoff discussed health care as a “life-or-death question” for Georgia families.
Image credits: adammocklerr/X
“While prices are going up and jobs are getting harder to find, they [Republicans] decided to let health insurance premiums double for more than 20 million Americans—including more than a million Georgians,” Ossoff said, connecting Republican-led Medicaid cuts and the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies to rising insurance premiums in Georgia.
Ossoff accused the Trump administration of prioritizing the wealthy while allowing salaried Americans to struggle with higher prices and job losses.