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Democrats are slamming Donald Trump on the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act after his nephew claimed in a new memoir that Trump once said people with disabilities should “die.”
“Words are hard to express the pain felt by millions of Americans with disabilities in the wake of newly reported comments made by Donald Trump about people with disabilities,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs in the Iraq War, said in a statement released by the Democratic National Committee on Friday.
“But we know this is nothing new for him. He’s mocked a reporter with a disability, dismissed traumatic brain injuries as ‘not that serious,’ tried to cut support for disabled veterans, and much more. Someone who suggests that disabled people ‘should just die’ is fundamentally unfit for public service.”
Duckworth’s criticism came after the former president’s nephew, Fred Trump III, revealed shocking details of a private conversation the two had following a White House meeting about people with disabilities and their families at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Those people…their builds, their spending, maybe these people should just die,” Trump was quoted as saying in the Oval Office, according to Fred Trump III’s memoir, “All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got to Become This.”
Democrats also tried to link Trump’s comments on disabilities to Project 2025, a blueprint created by the conservative Heritage Foundation for a second Trump administration, from which Trump has sought to distance himself, even though many former administration officials helped develop the plan.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth attends a briefing on Ukraine on Capitol Hill on September 20, 2023 (Getty Images)
Friday marks 34 years since former Republican President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law with the help of bipartisan Congress.
There has been less bipartisan agreement on disability rights in recent years, with the Democratic National Committee noting that Trump faced multiple lawsuits during his presidency alleging that his properties were not ADA compliant and that he attempted to repeal Obamacare, which would have cut funding to Medicaid, the program that many people with disabilities rely on to receive care in their homes.
The Republican National Committee’s “Research on X” account has also come under fire for mocking a description of the outfit worn by Vice President Kamala Harris in 2022, a common practice to assist those who are blind or have low vision. The Republican National Committee did not issue a statement commemorating the law.
Democrats also noted that Project 2025 proposes abolishing the Department of Education’s responsibility for implementing accommodations under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act for students with disabilities.
While bipartisan consensus is crumbling, there remains some agreement on this issue: Many states led by Republican governors have banned the practice of paying people with disabilities below the minimum wage, as have many Democratic governors.
Similarly, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, recently signed a bill allowing supported decision-making as an alternative to guardianship to allow disabled people to continue managing their assets, and California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a similar bill.
Harris was the first Democratic candidate to announce a disability policy during the 2020 presidential election.
“As we mark the 34th anniversary of the ADA, we are reminded of how far we have come and how much work remains to be done. We will not back down,” Duckworth lamented. “The disability community cannot endure another four years of the Trump Administration.”