The era of President Trump is a bloated, red-hot eruption of anger from a white, Christian Republican world onto literally anything else. Islam, migrants, abortion seekers, socialism, LGBTQ people, and antifa warrior Joe Biden have all faced Trump’s wrath of blame and defamation. Noticeably, however, “the disabled” do not inspire the same outrage from MAGA’s proverbial cult compound.
Or do they?
A careful study of Trump’s actions on disability shows a well-rounded attack on rights, liberties, law, language, benefits, accommodations, health care, community living, and existence.
Well, oops!
“In hindsight he announced it from the beginning. His campaign book was literally called Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again. Problem, meet solution,” says Herb Powell, a Trump voter and father of a disabled teen.
Trump’s “un-crippling” of America has been less a rhetorical ploy than a literal un-crippling of decades of progress in disability rights, including but not limited to: expanding civil commitment for mental illness, reducing home and community-based services, slashing Medicaid, giving RFK Jr. control of special education, and limiting “woke” language like “disability” and “accessibility” in government documents. In addition, Trump makes crude impressions of disabled people, which are disrespectful both in content and for lack of creativity.
When pressed on the issue, Trump denied any personal malice, saying disability was no longer a real word and that America’s new golden age had only just begun. He then quickly promoted a commemorative coin depicting him as a superhero, “Aktion Man T4,” available on the Treasury website and from select vendors at the Las Vegas airport. Stephen Miller had told him Aktion Man T4 was all the rage with kids these days.