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• Donald Trump criticised Vice President Kamala Harris’s mental capacity, claiming she was “born mentally impaired”.
• Trump’s remarks drew swift criticism from disability advocates, including Maria Town, who called them “hateful”.
• Trump's speech focused on immigration and border security, a key issue in his campaign strategy.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump criticised Vice-President Kamala Harris’ mental capacity on Sunday, falsely claiming she was born “mentally impaired” and comparing her actions to that of “a mentally disabled person”. The remarks prompted criticism from advocates for people with disabilities.

Disparaging Harris’ actions on border security as Vice-President, Trump told the crowd in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, “Kamala is mentally impaired. If a Republican did what she did, that Republican would be impeached and removed from office, and rightfully so, for high crimes and misdemeanours”.

He later suggested Harris “was born that way,” prompting cheers in the crowd.

“Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way. She was born that way. And if you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country,” he said, elaborating on a claim backed by no evidence. He called Harris “a very dumb person,” and repeatedly mispronounced her first name, an action some supporters see as demeaning and racist.

Biden’s faltering debate performance prompted criticism about his mental acuity and his eventual decision to drop out.

The comments, which were part of what Trump acknowledged was “a dark speech,” drew swift criticism. Maria Town, chief executive and president of the American Association of People with Disabilities, said in a statement to the Washington Post that Trump’s comments “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”.

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at the Philip Chosky Theatre during a campaign event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on September 25, 2024. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

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

The speech marked the latest escalation in personal attacks by Trump against Harris. The Republican has baselessly questioned her racial identity and amplified a vulgar joke about her performing a sex act.

The former President has a history of mocking people with disabilities, and has repeatedly questioned the intelligence of black women, such as Representative Maxine Waters (D-California) and several journalists, and referred to one of his former staffers, Omarosa Manigault Newman, as a dog.

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On the campaign trail in 2015, Trump mocked a reporter with a physical disability that limits the functioning of his joints.

More recently, Trump has repeatedly taunted President Joe Biden for his stutter on the campaign trail. Earlier this year, he discussed the late Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) for his vote against a Republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. “John McCain for some reason couldn’t get his arm up that day,” Trump said, doing an impression of McCain by giving a low thumbs down. The move was seen by critics as Trump mocking McCain’s disability – an injury sustained while a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

The Atlantic reported in 2023 that General Mark A Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had arranged for a severely wounded Army captain to sing at his welcome ceremony. Trump was on camera going in to give the captain, Luis Avila, a hug. But after Avila’s performance, Trump reportedly walked over to congratulate Milley and said to him, “‘Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded’”. Never let Avila appear in public again, Trump told Milley.

Trump did not mention the devastation of Hurricane Helene during his speech. He focused much of his remarks on immigration and border security, an area where polls show he has a political advantage and where he has regularly misrepresented Harris’ record.

Trump held his event in a small town where he and Republicans have seized on a recent case where a Venezuelan immigrant with known gang ties was accused of assaulting a woman and her daughter. The appearance came one day after Harris went on a border-security-focused trip to Arizona, where she was on the ground for a tour of a portion of the US-Mexico border fence and outlined how she would be strict on border security if elected.

Immigration has long been a vulnerability for Democrats as Biden faced an unprecedented number of migrants crossing the border from early on in his administration. In June, Biden rolled out a sweeping asylum crackdown that Harris has backed and Republicans have criticised as coming too late in his presidency.

On Sunday, he renewed his argument that migrants crossing the border are taking away jobs from Hispanics and black Americans, repeating his frequent effort this campaign cycle to explicitly pit minority groups against migrants who have arrived in recent years when he speaks about illegal immigration.

“You’re gonna lose your culture. You’re gonna lose your country. You’re gonna have crime, the likes of which nobody has ever seen before. Now, I’m speaking from common sense,” Trump said.

“Donald Trump is finally telling the truth to voters: He’s got nothing ‘inspiring’ to offer the American people, just darkness,” Sarafina Chitika, a Harris-Walz campaign spokeswoman, said in a statement responding to Trump’s speech.

The Trump campaign has recently focused heavily on Wisconsin, a battleground state Biden won by about 20,000 votes in 2020. In 2016, Trump won it by about 22,000 votes.

Trump this week will host two rallies in Wisconsin ahead of the vice-presidential debate. His team hosted a bus tour through Wisconsin this past week, which included various Republican surrogates, including former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee.