[New Jersey 02/07/2026] – The following statement was released by the Ancient Order of Hibernians condemning the racist depiction of President Barack Obama and Mrs. Michelle Obama circulated via President Trump’s social media account.
“The Ancient Order of Hibernians condemns in the strongest possible terms the racist depiction of President Barack Obama and Mrs. Michelle Obama as apes that was shared from President Trump’s social media account. This is not a political statement, but a moral one founded in our Irish history and Catholic faith.
We recognize this tactic because it was used against us as Irish Americans.
As an organization founded to combat attacks against Irish immigrants, we know intimately the weaponization of simian imagery. For generations, our ancestors were caricatured as apes in newspapers, political cartoons, and popular culture; portrayed as violent, primitive, and less than human. The influential cartoonist Thomas Nast, whose work appeared in Harper’s Weekly throughout the latter half of the 19th century, repeatedly drew Irish immigrants with pronounced simian features equating them with violent primates. These depictions were used to justify discrimination, exclusion, and violence. They stripped our people of dignity and humanity.
The claim that this video was merely an “internet meme” or that critics were engaging in “fake outrage” is both morally bankrupt and historically ignorant. There is nothing lighthearted about reducing any people to apes. This imagery has been used for centuries as a tool of oppression, designed to dehumanize and justify subjugation. It is not humor; it is bigotry.
The subsequent walk-back, blaming an unnamed staffer and claiming the president was unaware, rings hollow. Leadership means accountability. As a leader, the President should be well aware that the captain of a ship is responsible for all who serve under him. When this content appeared on the president’s account, the president bears responsibility, regardless of whom he empowered to press the button. The initial defense of this post by staffers as harmless reveals either a shocking ignorance of history or a willful disregard for human dignity.
The Ancient Order of Hibernians is a nonpartisan organization. We do not endorse political parties or candidates. But we cannot—and will not—remain silent when any human being is dehumanized through the racist imagery that once targeted our own community.
An apology is owed. Not for political expediency, but because it is right. The dehumanizing of people as apes was wrong in the 19th century, it certainly as no place in the 21st.
We call on all people of conscience, regardless of political affiliation, to reject such dehumanization wherever it appears and whoever perpetrates it.”