Donald Trump Under Fire for Mocking a Reporter With a Disability
Presidential candidate Donald Trump is under fire for publicly mocking a man with a disability.
On Tuesday, Nov. 24, Trump gave a speech in South Carolina in which he appeared to imitate the physical disability of a New York Times reporter named Serge Kovaleski, The Guardian reported. Trump made flailing motions with his arms in apparent mimicry of Kovaleski, who has arthrogryposis, a joint condition where a child is born with joint contractures that may limit arm mobility, according to Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Donald Trump performed an impression of a disabled reporter during a rally https://t.co/TFJjJJLZOp pic.twitter.com/D9GpbXrC7T
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) November 26, 2015
The incident occurred as Trump was reiterating his claim that he witnessed thousands of Muslims cheering in New Jersey on Sept. 11, 2001, as the World Trade Center collapsed, The Washington Post reported. His claim has since been discredited by journalists, law enforcement and government officials who were in New Jersey in the days and weeks following the terrorist attacks, including Kovaleski.
“The sad part about it is, it didn’t in the slightest bit jar or surprise me that Donald Trump would do something this low-rent, given his track record,” Kovaleski told the Washington Post.
On Thursday, Nov. 26, trump tweeted a statement about the incident in which he claims he was not mocking Kovaleski and that he had no idea Kovaleski had a disability.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2015
A spokesperson for the New York Times told Politico they consider the ridicule of one of their reporters “outrageous.”
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Melissa McGlensey is the former News Editor at The Mighty. Her writing can also be seen in Ms. Magazine, on the Ms.Magazine blog and in The Huffington Post’s Good News, Comedy and Impact sections. Melissa is also a New York City comedian who does sketch, improv and stand up. She is passionate about social justice, politics, Thai food, literature, disability rights and more. She is currently in a long-distance relationship with her cat, Sneakers, who lives in California. You can follow her on twitter at @OhHeyMeliss.
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