Overview
- The president, speaking during a White House Cabinet meeting on Thursday, said Gavin Newsom “took himself out of the running” by “admitting” a “mental disability.”
- He said he does not want “a person with mental disability” to be president and called the California governor “a very stupid person.”
- Newsom has disclosed he has dyslexia, which affects how the brain processes reading and spelling and does not indicate low intelligence, according to the Cleveland Clinic and other groups.
- CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who has dyslexia, called the attack cruel on air and showed clips of Trump flubbing words while noting that former Trump adviser Gary Cohn also has severe dyslexia.
- Left-leaning outlets labeled Trump’s claim false and stigmatizing while the Washington Times reported the remarks with medical definitions, and critics say the rhetoric risks spreading harmful stigma and pulling disability into 2028 fitness debates.