On President Donald Trump's social media platform, someone in the administration — the White House offered different versions of how this happened -- posted a 62-second cartoon video set to the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."
This was posted on a Thursday night and, following cries of "racism," was removed by noon the following day. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the reaction "fake outrage." Trump said: "I guess during the end of it, there was some kind of picture people don't like. I wouldn't like it either, but I didn't see it. I just, I looked at the first part, and it was really about voter fraud."
Asked by a reporter if he condemns the racist part of the video, Trump said, "Of course I do."
The video shows Trump's head attached to a lion confidently strolling through the jungle. Other animals dance as the Trump lion saunters through. On the heads of the other animals are well-known Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former President Joe Biden, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, former Vice President Kamala Harris, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and others.
Near the end, for about one second, the video showed the heads of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama on the heads of monkeys. A screenshot of Barack and Michelle's heads on apes went viral. That Biden's face was on that of a banana-eating orangutan did not seem to disturb anyone.
The outrage was predictable. "Racist" Donald Trump strikes again! Those crying out included Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer.
Jeffries said, "He definitively needs to apologize. It was a disgusting video ... even a handful of Republicans ... finally showed some backbone in pushing back against the president's malignant, bottom-feeder-like behavior."
But Jeffries has his own record of "malignant, bottom-feeder-like behavior." As a college student, Jeffries praised two of the country's most prominent antisemites — his uncle and City College of New York professor Leonard Jeffries, who compared Jews to "dogs" and "skunks" and claimed that rich Jews financed the slave trade, and Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakhan, who has a decades-long record of antisemitism.
Hakeem has long insisted he only "vaguely remembers" defending them. But, in 2023, CNN reported the Binghamton University Black Student Union, of which Hakeem was a leader, invited Uncle Leonard to speak. When Jewish students protested, Hakeem "led a press conference" to defend his uncle, despite later saying that "he did not recall any press coverage" of the controversy.
CNN said Jeffries' 1992 op-ed undermines claims he wasn't aware of his uncle's antisemitic controversy. Hakeem wrote that his uncle challenges the "existing white supremacist educational system and long-standing distortion of history. His reward has been a media lynching complete with character assassinations and inflammatory, erroneous accusations."
In a research paper called "Dr. Jeffries and the Anti-Semitic Branch of the Afrocentrism Movement," Kenneth Stern with the American Jewish Committee wrote, "... Leonard Jeffries was already known for his teaching that blacks are racially superior to whites because blacks, whom he calls 'sun people,' have more melanin in their skin than whites, whom he calls 'ice people.'" But Hakeem defended his uncle.
After this CNN report, the Republican Jewish Coalition said, "Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries owes the Jewish community an explanation as to why he lied and attempted to cover up his defense of these revolting antisemites."
At the time, Hakeem also described black conservatives as "token," "opportunists" and "house negroes." He wrote: "Clarence Thomas was appointed by George Bush to the highest court in the nation. Colin Powell was appointed by George Bush to lead the military establishment 'policemen of the Wall Street Bankers.'"
As for Schumer, he called the video "racist. Vile. Abhorrent." Yet, in 1974, the then-freshman New York assemblyman proposed a blatantly racist scheme to appease whites by ridding blacks from their New York neighborhood. Read the 2006 "American Spectator" article "Race to the Top" by a writer who was present when Schumer outlined his plan.
Democrats and the media, who lick their chops to pounce on "racist" Trump, are silent about Jeffries' record of antisemitism and indifferent about the allegations of Schumer's anti-black racism.
Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an "Elderado," visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on X @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
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