Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) slammed Donald Trump for alleged remarks in which he dismissed the lives of disabled Americans, emphasizing the dangers of another Trump presidency.
In a recent Time article , Fred C. Trump III, who has a disabled son, recounted a conversation he says he had in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic with his uncle in which Donald Trump said disabled Americans “should just die.”
The conversation reportedly occurred after a meeting with advocates, doctors and White House staff to discuss how to mitigate and address challenges faced by disabled people, their families and caregivers in housing, medical spaces and other areas of daily life.
In a statement Friday, Duckworth said that anyone who suggests disabled Americans shouldn’t exist is “fundamentally unfit to serve.”
“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. But we know this is nothing new for him,” she said.
HuffPost has reached out to Trump’s 2024 campaign spokesperson multiple times for comment but has not received a response.
Trump has made remarks disregarding disabled people in the past, such as when he mocked a disabled reporter on the campaign trail in 2015 or, more recently, criticized President Joe Biden’s age and cognitive ability throughout his campaign.
But Duckworth also laid out the ways his past policies have negatively impacted disabled Americans, and how the disability community “cannot afford another four years of Trump.”
The Trump administration scaled back the use of penalties against nursing homes that harm residents. Trump had also proposed budgets that would slash individual unemployment benefits for disabled veterans by more than $40.8 billion over 10 years, as well as make cuts to Social Security and Medicare . The former president has vowed to terminate the Affordable Care Act , which will impact over 45 million Americans who benefit from it.
These harmful policies will only be exacerbated by another Trump presidency, Duckworth said, especially considering Project 2025, the authoritarian playbook created by the Heritage Foundation that lays out a policy blueprint for a potential second Trump presidency.
The agenda calls for imposing a scheme to reclassify government workers, which Trump attempted to do in 2020 and plans to do if reelected . The move would degrade public services like disaster relief, financial regulation and the administration of benefits, as well as harm welfare programs like Social Security.
According to the Center for American Progress , these policies would result in divestments from programs that benefit vulnerable student populations, including disabled students who use Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IEP) plans.
Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025 , claiming to “know nothing” about it.
But multiple people connected to Trump are affiliated with Project 2025, such as former housing secretary Ben Carson; Paul Dans, the former chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management during the Trump administration; and Trump’s running mate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) . The team has also put out a call for recruiting potential second-term Trump officials.
“And Trump’s Project 2025 agenda would go even farther — slashing access to health care by terminating the Affordable Care Act,” Duckworth said. “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.”
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