Briel Condemns Trump’s Racist Truth Social Post

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — State Rep. Amy “Murri” Briel, D-Ottawa, is denouncing President Donald Trump’s racist social media post depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes by passing a formal resolution through the House chamber Wednesday.

“Words hold weight. And when those words repeatedly, and nonchalantly, degrade entire communities across our nation, and are encouraged by the highest office in power, we cannot turn our heads and excuse this behavior. These actions are grotesque. And I’m truly disturbed by the lack of accountability of Donald Trump, and the universal numbness this administration has displaced on Americans nationwide,” said Briel. “Our only Black president being reduced to a racist caricature is beyond a moral failure. These actions are not normal. This presidency is not normal. And I will continue to reject and call out this inherent and blatant racism that endangers the dignity of tens of millions of Americans nationwide.”

Earlier this month, an artificial intelligence (AI) video was posted to the president’s Truth Social account depicting various Democratic elected officials and content creators as jungle animals. The Trump Administration claimed that the post was simply mirroring Disney’s The Lion King, although there were no apes in the film. The depiction of people of color as apes is a centuries’
old, well-known racial stereotype and caricature. The video has since been deleted from the president’s social media without an apology to the Obamas or anyone else depicted in the video, nor acknowledgement of the video’s inherently racist nature.

Briel supported House Resolution 696 to honor the 100th anniversary of Black History Month and condemn the president’s racist rhetoric on the House floor. The resolution makes clear that this AI video is not the administration’s first overtly racist action, but one of its most recent efforts to diminish and sideline Americans of diverse backgrounds.