'Should not have learning disabilities': How Trump uses ableism to insult his foes

President Donald Trump insulted California Governor Gavin Newsom for his dyslexia in a comment that exacerbates tensions between his administration and the neurodivergent community.

Describing Newsom as a “low-IQ person” while talking with reporters in the White House on Monday, Trump said that “Gavin ‘Newscum’ has admitted that he is a — that he has learning disabilities. Honestly, I’m all for people with learning disabilities, but not for my president. I don’t want — I think a president should not have learning disabilities, OK?”

Later, appearing to reference Newsom admitting he got a 960 on her SATs, Trump said “I know it’s highly controversial to say such a horrible thing. The president of the United States, Gavin Newscum, admitted that he has learning disabilities, dyslexia. Everything about him is dumb.”

Dyslexia is a neurological condition that makes it difficult for those with it to read, write and spell, regardless of their intelligence. It is part of a larger umbrella of neurological differences including autism, ADHD, OCD, bipolar disorder and other diagnoses known as “neurodiversity.”

“Learning disabilities do not preclude anyone from running for or assuming elected office,” Haley Moss, the first openly autistic female Florida lawyer and a neurodiversity advocate, told AlterNet. “Neurodivergent people are competent and can hold office or any job they'd like as long as they have the right supports and qualifications. In fact, we have also had other politicians and elected officials who also had dyslexia or were otherwise neurodivergent.”

One of those dyslexic politicians is a former president, Woodrow Wilson, who historians believe was dyslexic based on descriptions of him from childhood. He could not learn to read until he was twelve and was a slow reader throughout his life. Despite these hardships, Wilson is the only president to have earned a PhD, excelling as a historian and professor at Princeton before becoming university president and governor of New Jersey.

“People with disabilities are one of the largest minority groups in the U.S. today, and excluding us by making ableist attacks on intelligence ends up harming more people than likely anticipated,” Moss told AlterNet. “Further, the notion of ‘IQ’ is ableist in itself. IQ tests do not measure intelligence adequately and have roots in eugenics.”

This is also true. Speaking with this journalist for Salon in 2024, Harvard University research professor and psychologist Dr. Howard Gardner explained that the public perception of IQ tests is disproportionate to their actual scientific utility.

“If you and I were parents, and we wanted to know how our kid would do, the IQ test does as well as anything else you can do in 15 minutes or an hour,” Gardner told Salon. “But at schools, where AI [artificial intelligence] will be much more important every month, the less good an instrument we have [in IQ tests]. We need to develop different ways of assessing people's intelligence or talents.”

He added that he explains to colleagues “We all use the word ‘smart’, but if you're trying to decide whether somebody in physics should get tenure, you're going to have entirely different criteria then when it's somebody who's teaching Shakespeare or Homer.”

Even before Trump’s comment regarding Newsom, the president and key administration officials have been repeatedly criticized for their seeming insensitivity to neurodiversity issues. Speaking with this journalist for Salon in 2025, Dr. Eliza Barach, a cognitive psychologist and ADHD coach and consultant, said that “scientific evidence shows these [neurodivergent] conditions are not ‘threats’ but rather neurological differences that can lead to positive outcomes when given appropriate support.” Barack was responding to comments by Trump’s then-new Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who pathologized autism, slashed social programs on which neurodivergent people rely and purged initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion.

“While individuals with ADHD/autism face unique challenges, they can thrive when their traits are properly understood and supported,” Barach told Salon at the time. “The true threat is in failing to recognize and support neurodivergent folks,” and she later pointed out that “research has revealed that these neurotypes often come with distinct strengths, including exceptional pattern recognition, hyperfocus abilities, creative problem-solving, and innovative thinking.”

Trump later doubled down on this pseudoscience regarding neurodiversity, most conspicuously last year when Trump falsely claimed women who take Tylenol while pregnant are more likely to give birth to autistic children. Kennedy later also made the inaccurate claim that “children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, and it’s highly likely because they’re given Tylenol.”

Trump chimed in, “There’s a tremendous amount of proof or evidence. I would say as a non‑doctor, but I’ve studied this a long time.”

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