No one should use the r-word as an insult.

December 3, 2025

President Trump posted on Truth Social last week in a rant against Minnesota Governor Tim Walz that Walz was “seriously retarded” in light of Minnesota’s welcoming posture toward Somali refugees. Regardless of your perspective on Minnesota’s stance toward immigrants, using the r-word is both ineffective and harmful.

When people in power use the r-word to denigrate others, they belittle people with intellectual disabilities, normalize the use of slurs, suggest intellectual disability is shameful, and prop up their own positions with weak and crass appeals to our worst instincts.

We should expect so much more of our leaders, including our President.

Leah Libresco Sargeant writes that for the “most vulnerable people in our midst, a culture that despises dependence will endanger their lives.” This is why belittling language from our leaders cannot be shrugged off. The way we speak reveals what we believe about who matters.

There’s more about the dignity of dependence in my conversation with Leah for the podcast.

Reimagining the Good Life podcast 🎙️The World Is the Wrong Shape for Women with Leah Libresco Sargeant

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