President Trump said on Monday that Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat widely seen as a likely presidential contender, should not be president because he has dyslexia, prompting criticism from a leading advocacy group for people with learning disabilities.
In an appearance at the White House, Mr. Trump insulted Mr. Newsom, saying that he was “all for people with learning disabilities, but not for my president — a president should not have learning disabilities.” He added, “Everything about him is dumb.”
Mr. Newsom has often spoken publicly about his dyslexia, a common learning disability that makes it more challenging to read and can affect spelling and speaking. He has an acrimonious rivalry with the president filled with name-calling.
The National Center for Learning Disabilities said it was disturbed by Mr. Trump’s comments. “We believe the statement to be both factually and morally incorrect,” the organization said in a statement. “We are deeply troubled by these negative and stigmatizing remarks.”
Mr. Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday morning.
About one in five people has dyslexia, according to the Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity. Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president, was believed to have dyslexia, presidential historians said. He once told his wife that he did not learn to read until he was 9 years old, according to the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum Visitor Center.
Mr. Newsom prefers not to use teleprompters because of the condition, and he wrote in a passage in a recent memoir that when he was younger he had overcompensated by memorizing a list of pretentious words. He has described himself as a “960 SAT guy” who struggles to read.
Attacks between Mr. Trump and Mr. Newsom have escalated in recent months. Mr. Newsom regularly goes after the president in social media messages that mimic the president’s style of posting in all capital letters.
On Monday night, Mr. Newsom’s press office wrote on social media that the news media should “start reporting on Donald Trump’s mental decline.” The White House did not immediately comment on the remark and has defended Mr. Trump’s fitness to serve as president.
The governor also seized on a portion of Mr. Trump’s commentary in which he sarcastically referred to the governor as “the president of the United States, Gavin Newscum.”
In a statement on social media, Mr. Newsom wrote that he was now “OFFICIALLY PRESIDENT” and that he had “MANY BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS TO MAKE!”
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