Throughout both of his presidencies Donald Trump has been an active user of social media. It started primarily with Twitter, which has since been renamed X and now he has his own social media platform Truth Social which he launched following his hearing in 2022 which resulted in him being banned from a majority of social media. Trump’s social presence should be extremely offensive and concerning to the U.S. public despite what political side they identify themselves with but instead his offensive and concerning posts are usually brushed aside.

So far in 2026 alone Trump has had multiple social media scandals, one notable and a recent incident occurring on Apr. 12. Trump posted an AI generated photo of him dressed in a white robe with a red sash around his shoulders; the photo shows light coming out of his right hand which is on a man’s forehead seemingly healing him, around him you can see law enforcement agents floating in the sky (like angels) and people looking up to him one of which even holding up prayer hands. The photo is so obviously Trump depicted as Jesus, the outfit replicates one Jesus is wearing in many historical paintings and the rays of light painting him as a being with god-like healing powers. Trump deleted the photo pretty soon after posting and when approached about the photo he claimed it was him as a doctor. This photo is concerning on multiple levels, one being that him posting this about himself leads you to believe that he sees himself as a god. The other is that he feels comfortable lying to the public and it obviously worked, after the initial outrage the upset about this blasphemous image has simmered down which has successfully let him get away with his initial act of posting it and lying to cover it up.

On Feb. 5th, 2026, Trump posted another AI-generated piece, this time a video, which showed the first black president and first lady, Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys. First off, this is highly racist and feeds into the long, racist history of using the name “monkey” as an insult to a black person. Using the term monkey as an insult has been used for a long time in order to insert inferiority and dehumanize the target. The Obamas are not known for doing any forms of advocating or philanthropy with the focus of monkeys. There is no reason for their faces to be plastered onto a monkey’s body. It is so extremely difficult to categorize this post as anything other than unashamedly, blatantly racist. Immediately after the post there was  bipartisan backlash and yet Trump still refused to apologize or even acknowledge any wrongdoings claiming “I didn’t make a mistake” because he didn’t see the entire video. The White House initially claimed the video was just a meme before quickly taking down the video and putting the blame on a staffer.

On top of these specific posts, Trump has a long history of bashing or name calling specific people or groups that don’t align with him. One notable example was a tweet made by Trump following the murder of Rob Reiner, an American actor and director who was found stabbed to death in his house alongside his wife Michelle. Reiner was murdered on Dec. 14, 2025, Trump posted on Truth Social the following day commenting on the situation. In this post Trump starts with a normal opening calling the death tragic but the post then spirals; in the following sentence he refers to Reiner as “tortured and struggling, but once very talented”. He then proceeds to say Reiner and his wife passed away due to “the anger he caused through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind numbing disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME,”. This entire tweet seems to be a mockery of Reiner with Trump later claiming that Reiner had an obsession with him and in the same tweet boasts about the Trump Administration surpassing “all goals and expectations”. In this tweet Trump used the tragic murder of a well known actor and effectively made the situation about himself while disrespecting the victims. Later when asked to comment Trump doubled down by stating his disapproval of Rob Reiner and calling him deranged.

All of these scandals have a couple things in common. The first being an obvious lack of maturity and shame – very rarely does Trump show shame or maturity on his social media. The second being despite the initial outrage about the posts, the energy  seems to fizzle out to an afterthought after a week or two. And last but not least the lack of empathy in Trump’s responses, after posting something hurtful he either doubles down or the blame is redirected to a “staffer”. Whoever the President of the United States is should show a character of maturity, shame, equality and patriotism but so far Trump hasn’t shown any of this. His social media should be so concerning to the U.S. body as it reveals his weak character and the dangers having him in office pose to our society. Instead it has turned into a meme or a way for him to use his power to put down those who don’t agree with him.