Did Trump go too far? Remembering his harsh attack on Harris

During a campaign event in Wisconsin on September 28th, Donald Trump escalated his criticisms of Vice President Kamala Harris by making an outright claim that she was born with a mental impairment.

The former president immediately made headlines after comments he made about Vice President Harris in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, triggered criticism. But why did he say and why prompted the remark?

Rolling Stone reported that Trump’s campaign stop in Wisconsin saw him double down on his “unhinged lies” about the United States being “occupied” by migrants, and it was against this backdrop that Trump made his comment. 

Trump claimed that President Joe Biden had become mentally impaired but stated that Vice President Kamala Harris had been born that way, a comment that Axios noted was met with laughter by his audience. 

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

Trump also called Harris a “very dumb person” and mispronounced her name several times, something The Washington Post reported has been called “demeaning and racist” by some of the Vice President’s supporters.

The former president's comments earned him a quick rebuke from Maria Town, the CEO and President of the American Association of People with Disabilities, who explained in a statement that Trump’s remark said more about him than Vice President Harris. 

"Donald Trump’s ableist comments today 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,” Town noted according to The Independent. 

“Trump holds the ableist, false belief that if a person has a disability, they are less human and less worthy of dignity,” Town added. “These perceptions are incorrect, and are harmful to people with disabilities.”

A spokesperson for the Vice President’s Campaign criticized the former president in a statement that asserted Trump was “finally telling the truth to voters: He’s got nothing ‘inspiring’ to offer the American people, just darkness.” 

The darkness comment was a nod to the widely reported remark the former president made during his speech in Prairie du Chien acknowledging what he was saying at the Wisconsin campaign stop “was a dark speech.”  

The statement noted Trump had no plan to grow or bring down costs and no ideas for fixing the immigration system since he sunk the bipartisan border deal. “The American people deserve better than Trump’s bleak, backward-looking Project 2025 agenda,” the statement added. 

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