Please buckle in. dear readers. This is a long post compared to what one would usually read on Special Education Today. Mayhaps it’s appropriate that some readers will have the entire weekend to read it.
Donald J. Trump, the President of the United States (“POTUS,” in popular language), has repeatedly used terms such as “low IQ” and “intellectual disabilities” in public remarks. I am troubled by these references to ideas that are important to some individuals with disabilities, their families, and those who work with or advocate for them.1
Did he really say it?
I suspect some members of the general audience might wonder whether accusations that Mr. Trump used these terms are based on misunderstanding of what he said, quotes taken out of context (joking references), or manufactured by people who disagree with the president (“Trump haters”). I do not share those interpretations. Here are some examples so readers can check the accuracy of the statements, whether they are jokes or hater statements.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Mr. Trump referred to his opponent, Kamala Harris, as a “low IQ” individual.

Approximately 7 minutes and 15 seconds into his press conference on 30 January 2025 regarding the crash of a civilian airliner and a military helicopter, Mr. Trump said, “The FAA’s diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities.”2

In a prepared statement on 30 January 2025 about presidential actions on the subject of “Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety,” the White House decried previous presidential administrations’ emphasis on “diversity equity and inclusion’ tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities in the FAA.”
There are others, to be sure. Let me remind readers that Mr. Trump was criticized in 2016 for mocking a reporter, Serge Kovaleski, who has a disability. Many readers will be familiar with the story, but Snopes has a sensible analysis of it.
Anyway, I’m reflecting on these actions and statements and saying, “dang, that’s a pretty big dose of disrespect for our kids, for people with disabilities.” Is my interpretation (“my take”) inaccurate?
Have people expressed concerns?
It’s not only I who finds these and similar statements concerning. Here are references to others’ critical comments.
In a press release dated 30 January 2025, Jess Davidson of the American Association of People with Disabilities posted a statement on behalf of at least six disability advocacy organizations, decrying the references to individuals with disabilities:
“The President’s remarks today suggesting the deadly crash of Flight 5342 may have been the fault of public servants with disabilities are irresponsible, disparaging, and wrong. It is extremely inappropriate for the President to use this tragedy as an opportunity to advance his anti-diversity hiring agenda. The focus of the federal government and the entire nation should be on the emergency response, a thorough investigation, and most of all, supporting the families and communities who lost their loved ones in this tragedy.
“People with disabilities proudly serve our nation through government service in every federal department and agency. Disabled employees, like non-disabled employees, are hired because they meet the qualifications needed to do the job. The Federal Aviation Administration has rigorous standards for hiring Air Traffic Controllers and all other FAA employees. Diversity hiring initiatives seek to expand the pool of potential qualified talent for a role – they do not supersede the qualifications and skills that the role requires. The implication that people are being hired to do a job for which they are unqualified is an unfounded lie that further reinforces harmful stereotypes against disabled people.
As the headline on a column by Joseph Shapiro noted, “People with intellectual disabilities do lots of jobs — but they don't direct air traffic.”
In her article under the headline, “Trump Is Now Blaming People With Disabilities for D.C. Plane Crash: Republicans are blaming everyone but themselves,” published 30 January 2025, Edith Olmsted of the New Republic cataloged Mr. Trump’s statement about DIE the 29 January 2025 crash and similar ones by others.
Okay. I’m not alone. Phew! Maybe some readers of SET even have reactions (please post them). But I have to be cautious here, because we are going into what I jokingly refer to as “the spin zone.” That zone is one of interpretations, reactions, personal perspectives, and such.3
Discusion
As I indicated previously, I am concerned about these references to intelligence and IQ and to intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. Let me explain my concerns.
Mr Trump seems to use these idea, terms, and such as a way to disparage those with whom he disagrees. Often, the points he makes are simple ad hominem arguments: “You’re bad…I’m connecting you with horrible ideas and people…you have a terrible personality type…Therefore, I’m the good guy.”
Is “low IQ” really a terrible thing? Psychologists debate the concept of intelligence and measurement of it. Mr. Trump’s use of “intelligence” doesn't seem consistent with those academic concepts (Brody, 1999; Eysenck, 2012; Hawkins & Blakeslee, 2004; Pfizer & Scheier, 2001; Sternberg, 2000). It seems likely that Mr. Trump does not have the level of understanding of IQ to be able to discuss what an “average” or “low” IQ means, let alone what “severe intellectual disability” means.
I am also concerned that the apparent emphasis on “intelligence” is misplaced. Is “smarts” really so important that it (excuse me) trumps other considerations? Some of us care about kids’ academic competence, their social relations, and their physical capabilities. I am not going to go full-on “multiple intelligences” here, but let’s think about what is important for human competence. I submit that the foremost factor may not be IQ. I am not going to hang my hat on that hook. I think that a person’s value (and I have reservations about that concept, too) is predicated on my than her IQ.
Also, I’d like to know how Mr. Trump knows the intelligence of the individuals his disparages. Does he have a database that shows IQ for everyone? How did the scores get into that database? Who administered the tests to set those scores? What instruments were used in those testings? How was he average determined (mean, median, mode)? Where are the cut-points between, say, severe and moderate intellectual disability (Kauffman & Lloyd, 2025)?
Last (or damn near the last), I’d like to know what Mr. Trump knows about efforts to dissuade people from using descriptors of individuals with disabilities as pejorative terms. Should we bring back “the R word?” Should it be okay to say, “Oh, she’s so retarded” as a way of demeaning that person. Indeed, is it generally OK to demean other people?
I hope that Mr. Trump will no longer use references to disabilities as a way to demean others with whom he may disagree. If one is going to use “dog whistles” to rally followers against others….
References
Brody, N. (1999). What is intelligence? International Review of Psychiatry, 11(1), 19-25.
Eysenck, H. J. (Ed.). (2012). A model for intelligence. Springer.
Hawkins, J., & Blakeslee, S. (2004). On intelligence. Macmillan.
Kauffman, J. M., & Lloyd, J. W. (2026). Educational decisions. In J. M. Kauffman, D. P. Hallahan, & P. C. Pullen (eds.), Handbook of special education (3rd edition; pp. nnn-nnn). Routledge.
Pfeifer, R., & Scheier, C. (2001). Understanding intelligence. MIT press.
Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.). (2000). Handbook of intelligence. Cambridge.
Footnote
To be clear, this post presents an editorial view, not so much “news” (though it is based on current events). Although I hope that Special Education Today can carry commentaries about matters related to disabilities, I don’t want it to become a “we-they” or “us-them” (“red-v-blue” or etc.) source, like so many that seem to be common on the Intertubes these days.
I hope that this post presents ideas for rational contemplation. One might say, “Food for thought” is the goal here. And, if SET does become an advocacy site, I hope to steer it toward being one that advocates for the evidence-based advancement of individuals with disabilities and their families and educators. This is just to say that I’m not hoping to score political baskets or points or goals with this post. It’s about our kids.
Mr. Trump appears to be reading from a statement as he referred to reports about hiring the Federal Aviation Administration hiring policies. I wonder if this may be what he was referencing: A 14 January 2024 story on Fox News by Emma Colton entitled, “FAA’s diversity push includes focus on hiring people with ‘severe intellectual’ and ‘psychiatric’ disabilities: FAA says people with 'severe' disabilities are most underrepresented segment of federal workforce.” As reported by Alex Kasprak on Snopes, this Fox News story and a similar one from the New York Post “not-so-subtly tried to link a Jan 5 [2024] Alaska Airlines incident—in which a Boeing 737 Max 9 lost a plug door mid-flight—to an allegedly new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) emphasis on diversity equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives” (I should say “sic” to cover the grammatical slips in that quote). Mr. Kasprak reported that a Tweet by Elon Musk of the reports on. his social media was shared more than 16 millions times.
As I argued in the post about Helen Keller on 30 January 2025, people can put all sorts of interpretations on events, stories, and facts. They can even say that Earth’s moon is made of cream cheese and site evidence to support their view.
Thank you, John, for this. And I’ll be giving it more coverage. I’m not surprised, however, by the finger-pointing or his targets. After forcing the FAA administrator out of office, it took him 9 days, one day after the accident, to appoint an acting administrator. Clearly, this was not a priority for him. Thus, the finger-pointing.
Tim Alberta wrote an article for the Atlantic titled "Inside the Ruthless, Restless Final Days of Trump's Campaign. In his article, he recounts how Trump wanted to refer to President Biden as "Retarded Joe Biden." Trump's advisors, who are always seeking to sane-wash Trump, managed to talk him out of it.