DRH Fast Forward - Donald Trump Mocks Disabled Journalist
Serge Kovaleski's story (and others) reminds us why we shouldn't vote for Trump.
Forward to November today, because I know my American friends have got an election coming up…and even though I’ll be preaching to the choir on this one, I think, I just wanted to get a post out there with some reminders about why voting for Donald Trump is an objectively shitty thing to do. Ask Serge Kovaleski, the disabled journalist that Trump mocked at a rally in 2015, and then insisted that he didn’t.
Image Description: Person’s hand drops a card with “VOTE” written on it into a closed box with a slit in the top.
Some of this post that I wrote back in 2015 is no longer relevant. It was written further out from the 2016 election than we are from the current election - there were more candidates still running, and we hadn’t had any debates yet. There was a hope for a National Forum on Disability Issues where candidates could answer questions on their positions on disability, but it didn’t happen (it didn’t happen this time around either, that I can find.) Now, just a month out from 2024’s election, it would be very difficult to get detailed answers from either candidate about disability issues.
Donald Trump doesn’t have a Twitter account anymore, although he does have an account on his own social media network where he continues to malign people (far less creatively during this election cycle, I’d argue.) He’s talked about wanting to be a dictator for a day and has said that he won’t accept the election’s results if he loses. The Heritage Foundation has developed an ultra-right wing policy playbook called Project 2025 that Trump claims he has no links to, but that at least 140 people involved in his last administration worked on.
As Al Jazeera, explains, Project 2025 calls for:
Privatising the Transportation Security Agency (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Food Insurance Program, the federal housing loan giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and all federal subsidised student loans.
Eliminating the US Department of Education (DOE) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Requiring the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to require states to track all abortions within their borders.
Recommending that the CDC stop collecting of data on gender identity
This is just a partial list. Project 2025 creators would like to see climate change mitigation efforts and the teaching of critical race theory stopped, and don’t believe that systemic racism exists.
So, I’ve edited some of this blog, that I wrote back in Nov, 2015, to be more applicable for today. I hope it’s a reminder of some of the things we went through in the last campaign that should make Americans even more resolved to not vote for Trump.
Because no one's heard nearly enough about Donald Trump, let's talk about him a bit more. Someone asked me this week why I wasn't blogging about his recent public mocking of disabled journalist Serge Kovaleski. I said that I've been filing things away on Trump that I want to address and that this would certainly be one of them, and we talked about the story a bit.
The prospect of Trump being President really does scare the shit out of me. I don't want that for you, American friends, I don't want that for me as a resident of a country neighbouring America, I don't want it as a world citizen. You keep him out at all costs.
He's a liar, he's a loose cannon, and he's an abusive bully, and the world doesn't need any of those things in America's leader.
Now that I've made my feelings on Trump clear. :)
I understand why disabled people are upset about Trump mocking Serge Kovaleski, but I really think that disabled Americans need to look at this for what it truly is and then evaluate how they can work it to their advantage, for several reasons:
Reason #1: Donald Trump is a Bully
Let's first focus on the fact that Donald Trump is truly a bully. Whenever someone doesn't agree with him, especially when they challenge him, they're:
"incompetent" (New York Times)
"a total joke", "loser", "dopey", "all talk no action dummy" (Karl Rove, political analyst)
"...one of the worst Presidential competitors in history. Can't debate, loves Obamacare - dummy!", "a total failure" (John Kasich, GOP Presidential candidate, Governor of Ohio)
"...one of the worst reporters in the business...wouldn't know truth if it hit him in the face" (Jeff Horwitz, journalist)
"A wacko" - Scott Walker GOP Presidential candidate (now dropped out of race), Governor of Wisconsin
"...worst mayor in the United States" (Bill Deblasio, Mayor of NYC)
"dopey", "boring", "broken down" (George Will, political analyst)
"a total loser" (Graydon Parker, Editor Vanity Fair)
"failed", "a clown" (Martin O'Malley, GOP Presidential Candidate, Governor of Maryland)
"lightweight choker" (Marco Rubio, GOP Presidential candidate)
"one of the dumbest political pundits on television", "dope" (Christ Stitwell, political analyst)
Those are just the really blatant insults from his Twitter timeline...for November.
Other points from the highlight reel include:
The first GOP debate, where, when asked about his contentious relationships with women, he made a joke about long-standing feud with Rosie O'Donnell and the names that he's called her. This led to some terribly inappropriate and sexist post-debate comments about reporter Megyn Kelly being on her period.
The news piece where he insulted fellow candidate Carly Fiorina, implying that she's too ugly to be President.
Two occasions where he's called fellow candidate Ben Carson "pathological", likening mental health issues in Carson's past to those of pedophiles. Trump supporters argue (correctly) that he didn't say that Carson is a child molester, only that his "pathological" issues are, like those of a pedophile, incurable. But the media picked up on the impact of the comparison (as, I'm sure, did people like me who have experience in the mental health field and find it inappropriate and downright dangerous when unqualified people start diagnosing other people as "pathological".)
American friends, be angry if you need to be, but don't give away your power to this man and his childishness. He doesn't deserve any space in your head.
I can't get a good read from media accounts on how Serge Kovaleski is reacting to this (although he seems to be taking it in stride, and good for him). If I was in his place, and people were asking what I thought about what Trump did, I hope that I'd be able to say, "I haven't thought about it. I've got far more important things to think about."
I'd hope that I could move on from that quickly. Because I wouldn't want to give my personal power as a disabled woman away to Donald Trump, and I'd certainly be resolved that my reaction to the whole thing wouldn't carry me any further toward only being remembered as the disabled reporter that Donald Trump mocked.
I'm better than that, and even just a cursory scan of his career accomplishments indicates that Serge Kovaleski is, too - far better:
He won a Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for breaking news for his work as part of the team that covered the Elliot Spitzer Scandal for the New York Times. He was also a finalist in the same category for a story that he covered with a team in 2008.
He covered the Boston Marathon Bombing and the Aurora, Colorado shootings for the New York Times, and has done investigative reporting for NYT across the US and in the UK
He's worked at The Washington Post, New York Daily News, Money Magazine, and The Miami News.
No one's talking about those things, are they? Make Serge Kovaleski known for his accomplishments - let's not let the reason that he becomes a household name be that he was the poor, disabled journalist that Donald Trump, in a move that only a monster could make, publicly mocked (because what could be more heinous than mocking the disabled? Please read my heavy sarcasm, in case it's not coming across).
In the interests of explaining this line of reasoning further, I'm going to make this post extra-long and include a Facebook post by disability advocate Cara Liebowitz, which she's given people permission to share. She says it much better than I can:
This is not so much about politics as it is about how Donald Trump has inadvertently shown what society really thinks of disabled people, and so I will not be debating the relative merits or lack thereof of candidates.
No one said Donald Trump's campaign hit an "all time low" when he implied that Megyn Kelly was on her period because she dared to ask him tough questions. No one said it hit an all time low when he said that Muslims should wear special ID badges and then was unable to say how that was different from Hitler's policies. Yet he makes fun of a disabled person and suddenly the world is up in arms, saying his campaign is at an all time low and this will hurt his chances.
You know what? I'm an actual disabled person and I'm not offended that Donald Trump mocked a disabled person. Do I think he's disgusting? Yup. Do I think he's the biggest asshole to ever walk this planet? Absolutely. Am I continually puzzled as to why he's leading in the polls? You bet your ass I am. But I'm not offended that he made fun of a disabled person, because he makes fun of everyone else. Disabled people should be no different. I'd be more offended if he made fun of everyone BUT disabled people.
What DOES offend me is people's outrage over this, which is much more than outrage over any of the other bigoted things he's said. Berating a disabled person is seen as morally reprehensible not because we're people and people shouldn't be berated, period, but because we're seen as weak, incapable of defending ourselves, and on par with a small child or a fuzzy animal. We're objects of pity, not diverse human beings with our own lives, goals, and ideas. We're certainly not a voting constituency.
If Donald Trump's poll numbers go down because of this, when they haven't gone down because of anything else that comes out of his bigoted mouth, I will actually be disappointed, as much as I despise the man. Because it will show that the American people think disabled people are so special that they're the one untouchable group. It shows that America thinks it's totally A-OK for a presidential candidate to abuse and berate women, Muslims, immigrants - but not disabled people. And it shows that for those of us who straddle multiple marginalized identities, disability is the only one that's ever going to matter.
People, get a grip. Donald Trump is a hateful bigot in the worst way, but at least he's equally bigoted towards pretty much everyone. The least we can do is be equally outraged.
Brava, Cara. Brava.
I also like Bill Peace's take on Trump and ableism.
Donald Trump is Abusive
Trump's gut reaction is to belittle, especially when he's defensive. Later, if it looks like what he's said is really going to do him damage, he comes back and makes a claim about what a hero he is:
He may have called Mexicans rapists and criminals, but clearly he was misunderstood, because no one has more respect for the Latino community than he does.
A #BlackLivesMatter protester may been beaten at one of his rallies, but that was about the protester, not the cause - no one has a better relationship with the Black community than he does.
Women? He cherishes them. He's committed to meeting their needs, even when a woman has got blood coming out of her "whatever". (Trump said he meant “nose”)
Clearly, we misunderstand what we're hearing when we're insulted by what he's saying, and that makes us wrong and worthy of his scorn.
That's how an abuser behaves..
You're not in this abusive relationship yet, America - make it your priority to be sure that you stay out of it, because Presidents tend to sit for two terms.
Reason #3 - This Is About More Than Disabled People
I'm going to piggy-back on what Cara has said.
I'm upset that Donald Trump mocked Serge Kovaleski. But not because Serge Kovaleski is disabled.
I'm upset that Donald Trump mocked someone, period. A Presidential candidate should not be running a campaign where his knee-jerk response to disagreement from anyone is belittlement and abuse. If you're going to be outraged for Serge Kovaleski, you should also be outraged for Megyn Kelly.
And George Will.
And Karl Rove.
And the other Presidential candidates, most of them a great deal more politically experienced than him and who will presumably remain his colleagues should he, God forbid, win the election, that he's personally maligned. I may intensely dislike what the GOP candidates generally stand for, and I'm all for fair criticism of an opponent's ideas during a political campaign. But name-calling over Twitter and cheap shots during debates makes a mockery of the political process and takes space away from the table (especially in this election, where how well a GOP contender is doing determines whether they get to be at the big evening debate or the earlier one that gets less attention) for a person with more qualifications than having the money to fund his or her own campaign.
Reason #4: Thanks to Serge Kovaleski, Trump's Attention is On Disabled People
American friends, harness your anger and use it - you've got Trump's attention. During a rally in Sarasota, Florida on Saturday, Trump really tried to backwalk on mocking Serge Kovaleski.
Here's all you really need to hear from that article:
"People that have a difficulty, I cherish them. These are incredible people, and I just want to put that to rest."
Blecch.
EDITED for 2024: It’s too late this time around to demand a response from let the candidates about disability concerns, but not too late to make a difference! Disabled Americans are a significant voting demographic, whether the candidates want to acknowledge it or not. When you add on concerned loved ones and caregivers and advocates, it's a demographic ignored at any candidate's potential peril. So you’ve got to get out and vote - and the candidate more likely to have some insight into the concerns of disabled people is the one whose VP pick has a disabled family member (as opposed to the one who thinks mocking disabled people and then denying he did it is okay.)
Conclusion
You've got power. Use it. Don't let Donald Trump, of all people, take it from you