President Trump Says Disabled People Competing In Sporting Events Is "Tough To Watch"
Trump, who openly mocked a disabled reporter during his campaign, said today he finds the Paralympics “tough to watch.” Has there ever been a President who so openly disdained disabled people?
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Who watches what is irrelevant. He belittled them in front of the nation. The comments appear on the official white house website
He belittled them in front of the nation
Only in your eyes, JR. So how many hours did you watch, or did you watch at all??
Who watches what is irrelevant.
Obvious you and the rest of the left.
He belittled them in front of the nation.
It's not belittling anybody. It's objectively true, and the comments I made about the general public watching are proof of that.
Watching the competition and then talking to the public about it are clear signs of respect, not belittling. The president also visits wounded veterans in hospitals. That's hard to look at too, but he does it anyway. If it were easy to watch, there would be no virtue in watching it.
If you have empathy for the suffering of people, then watching disabled people struggle to do things the rest of us take for granted SHOULD be hard to watch. If it's not, there's something wrong with you.
This centrist is still trying to figure out what is left and what is right. Seems too many folk make way too much money telling us that there is only a right and a left. A black or white distinction. Tend to believe in varying shades of gray myself.
Tend to believe in varying shades of gray myself.
And because of that, to the left, you are a racist, misogynist, and some would say you should be exterminated for even the slightest indication you disagree with them. The right, I've seen a bit more tolerance from them. They'll at least let you make your own decision. You may have to prove your reasoning, but we all should be able to provide what influences our decisions.
Actually, it doesn't work that way at all. I am not any of those things to my friends on the left or right. Hard to be a centrist in the current environment of extreme positions but I manage. Even many of my hard core liberal friends enjoy shooting my new AR-15.
Just what would you call that sickening imitation of a disabled reporter then?
Everybody saw it, mags. We all saw the context. It's sad that some people would defend that.
It's been recorded. All of Trump's lies and fuckups are recorded. And then he says "I didn't say that".
I did not imagine the visual I and millions viewed. Surely you can come up with a better answer than that or can you?
This has been well debunked so many times by now, but I guess the lying Left doesn't care.
Declaring it to be debunked doesn't debunk it. Lame excuses for bad behavior don't debunk it, either.
I can understand this.
I have helped disabled veterans many times. It can be difficult to watch a disabled person doing stuff. Especially if it is something you do yourself with little thought and effort and especially if that person is struggling to do the task themselves.
Watching a disabled person doing what we normally do without thought is very eye opening. The more empathy you have the harder it is to watch a person overcome the difficulties they do to do even simple tasks.
Many times the impulse is to step in and do it for them... That is the exact wrong thing to do in most instances.
Watching a disabled person also brings to light ones own physical attributes, IF you are healthy, whole and not disabled in any way it naturally can bring forth many thoughts and emotions about your own good health fortune and how you have it made compared to many others, that tends to induce all kinds of emotions as well.
If you haven't been in situations that forced you to confronted yourself on these issues, ideas, thoughts and emotions it would be extremely hard to do it all at once, especially in public with ever eye upon you.
And trump's not a robot... thankfully !!
IMO ... This is understandable, in fact it shows trump has emotions... GOOD !
.................
Unfortunately it also indicated to me trump's emotions in this area may not be developed real well,or he probably may not have much of a problem with watching the whole thing. ( "I watched as much as I could") Being around and watching disabled people isn't the easiest thing to deal with especially if you are not used to it.
To each their own.
PS: One of my best friends is disabled, we have talked about this. He agrees and understands my reasoning on this.
It can be difficult to watch a disabled person doing stuff.
I don't find it difficult at all. I find it inspiring, uplifting and praiseworthy. My Father, Maternal Grandfather and Brother were all disabled Veterans, and I watched as they worked soooo hard to try and regain some normalcy to their lives again. Their determination, grit, and willingness to accept what they could no longer do physically, and be so thankful for what they were still able to do. It was not difficult at all to watch them work so hard to be all they could be again. It was truly inspiring to see each step of their journey become a miracle for them, and me.
While not all those who participate in the Paralympics may be disabled American Veterans, some may be, however, Vets or not, they all deserve nothing but praise and respect for the long, hard, arduous road they have willingly traveled to get where they are. Not the flippant lip service by their country's President.
However, it is nothing unexpected from President Bone Spurs, who felt he was too good to serve his country like those he now chooses to send into battle without a second thought to the actual sacrifices they are expected to face every second of their lives while there.
Just my own opinion, and if some don't like it, that's their problem, not mine.
Watching someone overcome obstacles caused by a disability tends to make me become emotional. The Left took that emotion and have tried to turn it into criticism of the disabled. He did say they inspired him, something Obama didn't do.
You know, I'm actually willing to give Trump a pass on this one, because I think he's incapable of expressing himself well, even if his intentions aren't bad.
Obama apologized for his remarks. Did Trump ever do the same for mocking the disabled reporter?
Ahhh, the ole "Obama did it once, so Trump should be able to do it also." argument. Both comments were wrong and I don't give a pass to either of them on this subject.
That argument was used by the left during Clinton email server, did you forget all the hillarybots shouting how it was OK because Condition Rice and Colin Powell did. Is that reasoning only valid for liberal democrats?
Believe me, I agree that Trump is terrible in the way he expresses himself most of the time, but this instance is a matter of perspective. One perspective is you look for reasons to make it out a criticism of the Paralympians and the other is to actually understand Trump and realize it wasn't a criticism at all when taken into context with the whole statement ending with 'they really inspired me.'
I'm not too good at seeing things or even hearing things that somehow touch me in such a way, tears may come. I don't necessarily start crying, but my chest will sink and I will feel a deep emotion, even if it is something I should be happy about, so I understand Trump's comment would only be taken the way this article is trying to present it if it was an intentional deception of the true meaning of the comment.
Did Trump ever do the same for mocking the disabled reporter?
No he didn't according to my recollection and he should have cleared that up in my opinion. There's more to that story than just the reporter. Trump shows no mercy to anyone. He did the same thing to Ted Cruz and Ted Cruz didn't resemble the reporter in any way, but that was Trump's way of attacking Ted Cruz, who he was battling for the nomination for the Republican Party candidate.
I'm not defending what he did with the reporter, but I feel sure Trump didn't even know the reporter was handicapped when he did that, although when he found out it was the case, he should have made an apology for his actions in my opinion.
I so much understand Pres. Trump's feelings on this. After the last seven weeks, I understand even more.
Too bad you don't. Maybe you will someday. Hopefully you don't become enlightened by personal experience.
I'll be sure to tell my son
Depending on his age, it wouldn't surprise me if your son already doesn't know the president is underdeveloped in this kind of way.
I accidentally deleted my post when I wanted to make a correction. So, here it is again.
I'll be sure to tell my son, who is disabled vet, that the president of the U.S. thinks that it's tough to watch the disabled compete. It must be even tougher for the non military serving president to watch disabled vets compete. Those vets became disabled serving OUR country.
Semper Fi.
I have so much respect for you and you know that.
I, also, know your son is disabled.
If I thought for one minute that Pres. Trump was slamming the disabled, I would be on it like gravy on rice. You, for sure, know what your son goes through to achieve what appears to be so easy.
It is so difficult to explain my heartfelt feelings for all disabled people. It is agony to work as hard as they do and I believe that is what Pres.. Trump was trying to convey. Maybe, I haven't done a good job of letting you know that while we are proud and in awe of them our hearts break knowing how difficult it is.
Those vets became disabled serving OUR country.
And they deserve nothing but honor, respect and thanks, not disparaging remarks from the President of their country that they sacrificed so much for.
The man has no class, no respect of anyone but himself, and is totally disgusting. He's just too stupid to realize how hurtful the crap that comes out of his mouth like endless diarrhea is, and could care less.
Typical. trump says something shitty and his apologists jump right on defending him and praising him (unjustly). It seems the people that praise him the most, act just like him. Don't give a crap and think they can say whatever they want without any repercussions. If it is so hard to watch, don't. Or just keep your mouth shut.
My cousin has always had a disability. He has to use a walker to get around. He went to college, travels on his own and has a job. It was never hard for me to watch him as this is his life and he takes it in stride. He was only ever treated as another member of the family.
So again I say, for those that think it is hard to watch, Don't, because the only thing about him and his life that was hard for me to watch was how other people treated him, stared at him, gave him weird looks, or said shitty remarks.
The hate is so blatant and obvious when you take comments out of context and pervert their meaning. How come this line isn't the headline?:
what happened with the Paralympics was so incredible and so inspiring to me
Why don't you focus on these comments?:
You overcame setbacks, you powered through obstacles. And I will tell you this: Because of your hard work and your sacrifice, you were given the greatest honor in sports — to represent the United States as an Olympic athlete. That is really an honor. And you have to be so proud, and your families.
Why don't you focus on that?
Why isn't this the headline?:
You performed and you made us very proud.
Answer: Political tribalism, i.e. hate.
This kind of garbage is bad for the country. The people who put this stuff out there clearly hate having a Republican in the White House more than they love America and her people.
I swear, I don't understand the liberals on here. No matter what he says or does they take it totally off the wall!
I use to ask conservatives why they would bash Pres. Obama over everything? If he failed as president, then, America fails. It is not that I didn't have some issues with him, but everything?
I watched the Paralympics when I could. I, actually, wanted more coverage than what NBCSN and NBC gave us. I wanted about as much coverage as they gave the Olympics, which was wall-to-wall coverage not a 3-5 hour highlight show that ended up either about just hockey or skiing. When I did watch, there were times I found it hard to watch, for instance when Oksana Masters fell on camera going around a turn then withdrawing from the race. Plus, the many sled hockey games where the USA or Canada thrashed their opponents were hard to watch. The bi-atheletes in their sledded chairs having to pretty much lay down on their stomachs with their chair almost resting on their backs as they shot at the targets, again, were hard to watch. All of this still doesn't reduce the fact that some of these people overcame worse disabilities than me just losing my left leg just above the knee to complications from cancer surgery to excel at a sport.
Losing a leg is major. I would imagine it has been tough to compensate. The arms really get strong, don't they? They have to unless the cancer affected your arms. I am so sorry.
My arms are quite strong. My wife tells me that I have to be careful when giving her a massage because I don't realize my own strength.
As the disease progresses, they start to criticize everything that triggers them and everything seems to trigger them. But in the final days they lose all control of their bowels and that is something that finally allows them to truly experience emotions instead of pretending to be sympathetic to others shortcomings in this life. I must be in the latter days myself as I always seem to get a little emotional when I see people with difficulties I've never experienced overcome such difficulties to excel in spite of them and I didn't even know I had the disease. I still have control of my bowels, though. And I never experienced the other symptoms.
Do you think his words on audio have a different meaning than they have in print?
They certainly have a different meaning than your little tweet that left out 95% of them. Of course I understand. You know what's next, don't you?
I seeded the link to the white house site that has the entire speech.
I understand you wish to excuse every thing this man says. We have seen that from you for a long time.
I seeded the link to the white house site that has the entire speech.
Why would they bother to read it when they can simply ignore it and just endlessly post their denial arguments.
I made it much easier for you by posting the actual comment he made about the Paralympians, something the seeder should have done instead of a tweet that left out 99% of the comment and twisted the entire meaning of it. By the way, when did tweets start becoming articles?
Was that the complete tweet? No. The seeder was too slack to even post the entire tweet, but that would take away from his purpose, right? 
I wonder if anyone stopped to consider that he might have meant that he wanted to watch every single event and just couldn't? I pointed out how the coverage of the Paralympic Games was essentially a 3 to 5 hour highlight show and with much of the focus on skiing and sled hockey in my original comment. And, I touched on how hard it was watching the events themselves, for instance watching Oksana Masters fall. But listening to the actually audio, it comes across to me that Trump was lamenting that he didn't have the ability to actually watch it as much as he wanted to; which has been my main complaint about these Paralympic Games.
It must be devastating to the disabled. Most times for the rest of their lives. One day alright and the next you are in a wheelchair forever. My heart hurts for them.
Just back from bar day, righties, so don't push your luck!
Why did Trump even have to mention his refusal to watch more than he did? He could have just left it at the inspired by them comment but as usual he has to make it all about him.
Every time that I see this profile picture of Trump's double chins I revert back to the picture of Donald Trump that has a been overlaid with the audio of the BBC's Sir David Attenborough describing the feeding habits of the pelican. A British friend posted it on Facebook.
Okay, I am going to explain this ONE TIME for all of our liberal butt hurt always a victim friends.
It was all praise. The "it's a little tough to watch too much but I watched as much as I could"? MEANING, I AM THE POTUS. I ONLY HAVE SO MUCH TIME IN A DAY TO BE WATCHING A TELEVISION. I DID WATCH AS MUCH AS I COULD WITH MY BUSY SCHEDULE. IT WAS REALLY FANTASTIC AND I WANT TO THANK YOU..........
I swear, if it wasn't for the need for constant victimhood, some people couldn't breathe............................
PSSSSSSSSSSSST. See #15 up here ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
He has no filtered, thinks he can say anything he wants and plainly doesn't give a chit who he insults.
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This makes me think of Cartman signing up for the Paralympics because he thinks he'll beat everyone and win a thousand dollars. I can so see Trump thinking the same thing in his little walnut brain. Of course, Cartman signs up and gets mercilessly beat in every category and wins the "Spirit Award" for coming in last. Any paralympian could whip that useless sack of orange garbage in any competition. I really wonder if Trump used what he found out about the white house doctor Ron Jackson to influence his test results. 239 lbs? That sack of lard? Yeah right, he's 280 if he's an ounce. And live to 200? On a diet of Cheeseburgers and diet coke? Laughable.
Didn't previous presidents go to Walter Reed for their medical exams instead of a tame WH flunky?
It's a lot tougher watching him try to be president of the United States.
You can always move to Mexico. How about Haiti? I'd recommend N. Korea, but President Trump is instrumental in bringing that dictator around.
Not surprised you are off topic.
off topic
And no surprise you didn't get my point. I know, if didn't draw it out in crayon for you.
Is what Donald Trump said about people with disabilities acceptable to you? THose people are also veterans with battle-related disabilities.
Donald Trump did nothing to encourage North Korea to be civil, unless acted like a spoiled brat is now diplomacy.
See, you are sweating the minute things. Not to mention you are STILL going on about something that was proven to go against your narrative.
The spoiled brats have been crying about their loss in 2016. President Trump has done more for this country (and now others) in just under 2 years than Obama did 8. But you keep on with your crying spouting off your talking points.
You just don't get it~
LMFAO!!!! Well one thing he does better than Obama? Golf....constantly. Lying is another thing that trumpy is fantastic at.
I'll support a President who actually did something over one that provided lip service. I mean, it's not like President Trump is arming Mexican drug lords or re-starting a war in a place he supposedly ended war, or using the NSA to spy on US citizens. He's all for closing the southern border which will not only bring the flow of illegals to a crawl but will also bring the flow of drugs to a crawl. I don't recall President Trump forcing a travesty of a "health care plan" on us while exempting himself and the other bottom feeders in Washington. I also don't recall President Trump negotiating with the Taliban and releasing terrorists back into a combat zone either.
You keep on the golf thing. That talking point is a bit worn out. It's not like he's taking family trips to Africa.
Donald Trump has done nothing positive for this country. He is an embarrassment to the human race.
A President is not supposed to insult people with disabilities. He should have either said something encouraging or kept his foul mouth shut.
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The ACA wasn't a healthcare plan that they were exempt from. There was no Obamacare medical insurance to sign up for. Its been almost 8 years and yet you refuse to understand even the most basic ideas of that healthcare policy. The ACA didn't affect you because you already have socialist healthcare.
I think the local Trumpsters are losing their minds. I'll admit that what he said about the Paralympics is not the biggest deal around, but neither should people say "who cares, he is dealing with North Korea". By that "logic" nothing less than world peace is worth the time of day.
The Trumpsters get sillier and sillier every day.
There was no insult.......only for you.
Trump? Keep his mouth shut. Are you kidding?
Deleted, CoC {SP} I was referring to the last president's vacations out of the country.
And yes, they are exempt from it. On that, if I recall, you are a vet. I fell under and still fall under the Tricare system you do or did. So if that the socialist healthcare you were referring to you can thank Ms. Clinton for that travesty. She was behind that being put into place.
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This was on topic? Well seeing how your seeds are all about your irrational fear and hatred of all things Trump, I can see how you would think so.
No, just florida every fucking weekend.
Some people do live in a hole.
Bush Authorized Domestic Spying
NSA warrantless surveillance (2001–2007)
Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts
And try as you may there will never be a complete wall on the border. Try building one in the middle of a river. This is a pipe dream of people that are scared of their shadow. They will never stop the flow of drugs as a lot of them do not even come across the border. It comes in from other ways.
As far as health care I find it funny that one that uses tax payer funded healthcare complains about others wanting the same. There are still some that want to privatize the VA. Wonder how that would go over.
As far as family trips to Africa , funny that you find no fault in us paying for trump to visit his own property.
I wasn't in the service longenough to earn Tricare.
The core idea of the ACA is that we must all have medical insurance if we can afford it, and obviously Congress has healthcare because that has been part of their job benefits for a very long time. How are they exempt from the ACA? You and other conservtives seem to think that there is medical insurance called Obamacare to sign up for, but that doesn't exist.
The only government healthcare plans are Tricare, Medicaid, for the poor and disabled and Medicare for people who are retired. The ACA exchanges are private for-profit capitalist medical insurance policies.
You can do better than that.
Hawaii is in the US despite what conservatives think.
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Grasping at straws again I see. Did you miss the part where he says they inspire him. Most people would say he was sympathizing with them. But because he is Trump, they will twist his words. Again...the smear campaign is not working and is backfiring on the left.
Just how is saying that he is uncomfortable watching disabled athletes sympathizing with them?
Totally disgusting. But, not unexpected.
Why repeat this lie? This has been well debunked so many times by now, but I guess the lying Left doesn't care. If you really want to see a president mock the disabled, check out
Honesty is a bitch, isn't it. Try being honest for a change, like Trump. How many people who will be critical of Trump actually watched the Paralympics themselves? I'm betting the number is close to zero.
How come the Paralympics don't monopolize prime time television for 16 days like the regular olympics do? The networks know very well that people aren't thrilled to watch armless and legless people bravely doing their best in athletic competition.
We can acknowledge in a ten-second clip or in a conversation that the Paralympics are a good thing, but the honest truth is that for 99% of people the Paralympics are "tough to watch." So, unless you were glued to your television or went to the games yourself, you don't really have a firm standing to criticize the president for simply telling the truth.