President Donald Trump is taking heat after repeatedly stating that individuals with learning disabilities should be disqualified from becoming president.
“Honestly, I’m all for people with learning disabilities, but not for my president. I don’t want, I think a president should not have learning disabilities, okay?” Trump said Monday when speaking to reporters in the Oval Office at the White House.
The comments were directed at California Gov. Gavin Newsom who has been open about his experience with dyslexia and is widely considered a potential candidate for president in 2028. Trump has taken to calling the governor “Newscum” and referred to him during the interview as “low IQ.”
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“I know it’s highly controversial to say such a horrible thing,” Trump continued. “The president of the United States Gavin Newscum admitted that he has learning disabilities, dyslexia. Everything about him is dumb.”
Trump’s remarks expanded on comments he made last week in an interview with Brian Kilmeade from Fox News, also in reference to Newsom.
“He admitted he had learning disabilities. Somebody said, ‘Well, what’s wrong with that?’ I said, ‘That’s okay, but not for the president,’” Trump said in the interview. “President can’t have learning disability. If you have that, that’s not a good thing.”
The National Center for Learning Disabilities called Trump’s comments “both factually and morally incorrect” arguing that they only serve to perpetuate false stereotypes. While learning disabilities affect how the brain processes information, “they do not reflect a person’s intelligence, judgment or ability to lead,” the group said.
“In fact, people with learning disabilities have risen to the upper echelon of every public office in the United States, including former presidents,” said Jackie Rodriguez, CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities.
Rodriguez indicated that Trump’s comments have an impact far beyond politics.
“For decades, students with learning disabilities have been told, directly or indirectly, that they should lower their expectations about what they can achieve,” she said. “Many people still do not disclose a learning disability due to fear of negative reactions, such as the ones made by the president today. They perpetuate the very same stigma that families, educators and advocates have been working tirelessly to dismantle.”
Trump and Newsom frequently lob attacks at each other. Following Trump’s comments Monday, Newsom’s press office said in a post on X that “the media needs to start reporting on Donald Trump’s mental decline.” In a separate post, Newsom suggested that having a “dyslexic president instead of a brain-dead one” would be a “big upgrade.”
