On Tuesday, Donald Trump began receiving some harsh criticism after video of him mocking disabled journalist Serge Kovalevski surfaced on the internet. Kovalevski, who suffers from a congenital joint condition that restricts him from utilizing a full range of motion. In the video, Trump mimics the journalist to discredit him after some “facts” that the Donald was spewing about Muslims on 9/11 came into question.
Now, Trump is claiming that he never made fun of Kovalevski to begin with and doesn’t know why people are so upset, especially because he has no idea who Kovalevski is despite his “all-time great memory.” He even issued a statement further denigrating the reporter for using his disability to “grandstand.” Now, Trump even wants an apology from The New York Times, which dared suggest that Trump might make fun of anyone who’s disabled.
Trump demanded an apology from the Times and added ““Kovaleski must think a lot of himself if he thinks I remember him from decades ago — if I ever met him at all, which I doubt I did. He should stop using his disability to grandstand and get back to reporting for a paper that is rapidly going down the tubes.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 26, 2015
If there’s one thing you can say for Trump it’s that he never, ever backs down, which will either make him an excellent president or the reason America falls and is reborn as the twelve districts forced to participate in The Hunger Games.
As to Trump’s claim that he has no idea who Kovalevski is? Gawker’s got some different ideas. The site reports that Trump and Kovalevski met multiple times in the 90s. Trump may claim he wasn’t making fun of the journo, but is it really a coincidence that our future president mocked the reporter in a way that fit with Kovalevski’s condition?
(Via Time)