Former president Donald Trump mocked President Biden’s stutter at a campaign rally in Rome, Ga., the latest in a series of insults he has hurled at his rival, but one that disability advocates regard as a demeaning form of bullying.
Trump asked the crowd sarcastically if Biden would “bring the country t-t-t-together” while talking about Biden’s State of the Union address. “I’m gonna bring it together,” Trump added, slurring the words.
Trump’s mockery of Biden was denounced by critics who called out the contrast of the two candidates. On X, formerly Twitter, they compared Trump mocking Biden alongside a video in 2020 when Biden hugged Brayden Harrington, a child with a stutter whom Biden inspired. John Hendrickson, the Atlantic writer whose profile of Biden’s stutter earlier that year brought it to the national stage, wrote in a piece on Sunday that Trump’s “ugly taunt” crossed a line. Hendrickson also stutters.
T. Kenny Fountain, an associate professor at the University of Virginia who studies political rhetoric and had a stutter as a child, argued that Trump was weaponizing Biden’s disability to make a point about his competence while violating social norms to appeal to his supporters.
“It is a form of dehumanization behind a mask of humor,” Fountain said. “It reinforces the idea that Trump and his followers are in a particular ‘in’ group and those who critique them are not only outsiders, not only wrong, but they’re weak.”
Others such as Michael Sheehan, who consults on political speeches for Biden including the State of the Union, said the worst part of Trump’s mocking of Biden’s stutter is listening to the audience laugh.
“What appalls me is we’re now telling people it’s okay to laugh at stuttering,” said Sheehan, who had a severe stutter as a child. “And that’s unforgivable.”
About 3 million Americans stutter, a communication disorder in which speech is not fluent because syllables or words are repeated or prolonged. The causes of stuttering are not fully known, but genetics can contribute. Stuttering has long been misunderstood and stigmatized.
Biden does flub lines and at times has halting speech patterns, but he has spoken openly about how he has overcome the kind of stutter that was debilitating for him as a child. He gave a speech in 2016 to the American Institute for Stuttering, sharing the shame he felt over his stutter as a boy, but also crediting it for widening his perspective.
“I learned so much from having to deal with stuttering. It gave me insight into other people’s pain, other people’s suffering. It made me understand that everyone, everyone has something they’re fighting to overcome – and sometimes trying to hide,” Biden said.
Biden’s camp slammed Trump for lacking decency.
“Trump thinks mocking people and taking away their rights makes him look strong. But it just reveals how weak and insecure he is,” said TJ Ducklo, senior adviser for communications for the Biden reelection campaign.
Ezra Horak, who stutters and advocates for greater education about the condition, said that seeing the bullying behavior was hurtful and exhausting, but that it was even more triggering to hear people excuse and defend the behavior.
“As far as the bullying and mocking a stutter, it’s not terribly surprising. This has always been a part of our lives to some extent,” Horak told The Washington Post. “It’s the support around someone doing it – a leader doing it. It makes it hit home in a new way because most of us [who stutter] have family or friends who are going to continue to support somebody who very openly mocks us.”
Horak has raised concerns about Trump’s mocking with conservative family members, but they have replied with false theories circulated by conservative media, saying that Biden is faking his stutter.
When the Atlantic’s Hendrickson asked Biden in the interview several years ago about whether Trump would ever nickname him “St-St-St-Stuttering Joe,” Biden told him if he ever went there, ‘it’ll just expose him for what he is.’”
(c) 2024, The Washington Post · Lauren Weber, Carolyn Y. Johnson