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Democrats commemorated the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act by coming out swinging against Donald Trump, after his nephew claimed in a new memoir that the former president once suggested people with disabilities “should just die.”
“It’s hard to describe the pain millions of Americans with disabilities are feeling in response to Donald Trump’s newly-reported comments against folks with disabilities,” Senator Tammy Duckworth, who lost both of her legs serving in the Iraq War, said in a statement shared by the Democratic National Committee on Friday.
“But we know this is nothing new for him — he mocked a reporter with a physical disability, dismissed traumatic brain injuries as ‘not very serious,’ attempted to slash support for disabled veterans and so much more. Any human being who suggests that people with disabilities ‘should just die’ is fundamentally unfit to serve.”
Duckworth’s slam comes after the former president’s nephew, Fred Trump III, revealed shocking details from a private conversation the pair had following a meeting about patients with disabilities and their families at the White House at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Those people... The shape they’re in, all the expenses, maybe those kinds of people should just die,” Trump allegedly said in the Oval Office, according to Fred Trump III’s memoir, All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way.
Democrats also sought to tie Trump’s words about disability to Project 2025, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a potential second Trump administration. Trump has sought to distance himself from the program, despite the fact many former administration officials helped write it.
Friday marks 34 years since former President George H W Bush, a Republican, signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law, thanks to bipartisan collaboration in Congress.
In recent years, there has been less agreeement between parties on disability rights. The DNC’s release points out that Trump faced multiple lawsuits during his presidency claiming that his properties did not comply with the ADA and also notes his attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would have reduced funding for Medicaid, which many people with disabilities rely on to receive care in their homes.
The Republican National Committee’s “research” account on X has also taken heat for mocking Vice President Kamala Harris in 2022 for describing what she was wearing, a common practice to aid people who are blind or who have low-vision. The Republican National Committee did not release a statement commemorating the law.
Democrats also noted how Project 2025 proposes eliminating the Department of Education, which enforces accommodations for students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Despite the eroding bipartisan consensus, a few areas of agreement remain on the issue. Numerous states with Republican governors have outlawed the practice of paying people with disabilities below the minimum wage, as have many Democratic governors.
Similarly, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a recent candidate for the Republican nomination for president, recently signed legislation to allow for supported decision-making as an alternative to guardianship to allow for people with disabilities to still have control of their finances. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of California signed similar legislation.
Harris for her part was the first Democratic presidential candidate in the 2020 contest to release a disability policy.
“On the 34th anniversary of the ADA, we’re reminded how far we’ve come but how much work still remains, and we won’t go backward,” Duckworth sad. “The disability community cannot withstand another four years of Trump.”
