Report documented increased use of r-word
Would anyone be surprised that the word has been used more frequently since POTUS did?
Drawing on a analysis by Bond Benton and Daniela Pererka-Benton of Montclair University, Michelle Diament of Disability Scoop reported that instances of use of the word “retard” on the social media platform called X increased substantially after US President Donald Trump used the term in November 2025. In her article, published 15 December 2025, Ms Diament not only covered the report by Professors Benton and Pererka-Benton, but she also provided discussion about the use of the term by advocatesKaty Neas of The Arc and Jonathan Schillace of Special Olympics.
Figure 3 from the report by Professors Benton and Peterka-Benton (2025) showed the changed in the frequency of uses of the r-word on X in the days immediately following President Trump calling Governor Tim Walsh “seriously retarded” on Mr. Trump’s social media outlet.1
It does not appear to me that the analysis by Professors Benton and Peterka-Benton (2025) has been reviewed by other scholars. The report included explanation of the methods they used as well as other aspects of their data (e.g., who posted the r-word most often; “likes” of the posts).
Read Ms. Diamint’s article, “‘R-Word’ Use Surges Following Trump Post” on Disability Scoop (may be paywalled).
Reference
Benton, B., & Peterka-Benton, D. (2025). “R-word” slurs triple on X after Donald Trump’s Thanksgiving post used the word (unpublished manuscript). Available from https://www.montclair.edu/college-of-communication-and-media/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/Trump-R-Word-Spike-on-X-1.pdf
Footnote
Regular readers likely recall that we covered that event in “US president called Minnesota governor ‘seriously retarded’’: Did POTUS throw fuel on the fire under efforts to stop use of the R word? on 29 November 2025.
JOHN