“Hateful” and “harmful”: Trump blasted for calling Kamala Harris “mentally disabled”

Advocate says Trump remarks "say far more about him and his inaccurate, hateful biases" than about Harris

By Igor Derysh

Managing Editor

Published September 29, 2024 10:35AM (EDT)

Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers remarks at the Prairie du Chien Area Arts Center in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, on September 28, 2024.  (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers remarks at the Prairie du Chien Area Arts Center in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, on September 28, 2024. (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday falsely called Vice President Kamala Harris “mentally disabled” after Democrats accused him of cognitive decline.

Trump attacked Harris over border security, calling her “mentally impaired” while blaming her for crimes committed by immigrants.

“Kamala is mentally impaired. If a Republican did what she did, that Republican would be impeached and removed from office, and rightfully so, for high crimes and misdemeanors,” he said during a speech in Prairie du Chien, Wis.

“Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way. She was born that way. And if you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country,” he continued.

Maria Town, CEO and president of the American Association of People with Disabilities, said Trump’s remarks “say far more about him and his inaccurate, hateful biases against disabled people than it does about Vice President Harris, or any person with a disability.”

“Trump holds the ableist, false belief that if a person has a disability, they are less human and less worthy of dignity,” she said in a statement to The Washington Post. “These perceptions are incorrect, and are harmful to people with disabilities.”


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