- Trump said Vice President Kamala Harris was born “mentally impaired” at a rally in Wisconsin.
- He later conceded to the crowd that it was a “dark speech.”
- Trump also made a number of inflammatory remarks about immigration at the event.
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Former President Donald Trump delivered what he conceded was a “dark speech” at a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday, reeling off a string of personal barbs about Vice President Kamala Harris.
Rather than focusing on policies, Trump used much of his speech in Prairie du Chien, WI, to take shots at Harris, including at one point saying she was born “mentally impaired.”
“Joe Biden became mentally impaired,” Trump said, adding: “Kamala 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 continued.
The comments sparked swift backlash from disability advocates.
Maria Town, the CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, condemned the remarks, saying in a statement that they “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.”
Trump later conceded that it was a “dark speech.”
“I got people sitting in the front row — they’re going, ‘Oh, my god.’ They thought they’d be out there jumping up and down — ‘make America great again,'” he said.
“I’m just saying, this is a dark — this a dark speech,” he added.
Trump’s pointed rhetoric comes as he attempts to shore up support in key battleground states ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Wisconsin, where the rally was held, is crucial for both parties, having swung narrowly for Trump in 2016 and then Biden in 2020.
Immigration remains a hot-button issue for voters, and Trump also used the rally to target the topic, often using inflammatory language.
At one point he called undocumented immigrants “stone-cold killers” who “make our criminals look like babies.”
After the rally, the former president took to Truth Social to hammer home his point, writing: “Left Wisconsin, where illegal migrants are causing havoc. I’ll take care of that situation, and fast!”