Progressives’ Big Ableism Problem
content note: this piece shares examples of ableism, including ableist slurs
On June 13th, President Trump was filmed slowly walking down a ramp at West Point Military Academy.
Video clips of that walk quickly went viral alongside another clip showing him using two hands to lift a glass of water. People openly mocked these actions and suggested any number of armchair diagnoses. The Lincoln Project created an entire ad highlighting Trump’s perceived impairments, suggesting they made him unfit for the presidency and encouraging speculation about so-called secret medical records Americans deserve to know about, spurring the hashtag #TrumpIsNotWell. This hashtag joined #RampGate, #TrumpWearsAdultDiapers, and more.
The mocking and armchair medical judgments of Trump continued to ramp up — pun intended — and ultimately the viral video of Trump mocking reporter Serge Kovaleski back in 2015 began making the rounds again.
Disabled activists have called out Trump’s mocking of Kovaleski since 2015. Now, the same activists are fighting against liberals who, when called out on their current mocking of Trump, double down with, “He deserves it, we’re getting him back for mocking that disabled reporter.” Yet they can’t tell us Kovaleski’s name when we ask. He’s just become their pawn — so they feel better about mocking…
