David Axelrod, former Obama aide and CNN senior political commentator, chastised former President Trump on Monday for mocking President Biden’s stutter at a campaign rally in Georgia this weekend.
“Mocking someone’s stutter for laughs is pathetic and small, the stuff of schoolyard bullies not grownups,” Axelrod wrote early Monday morning on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Acting like a total jackass doesn’t make you strong,” he added.
Shortly before posting his statement, Axelrod shared a post describing Trump’s comments as “a sign of weakness, moral and otherwise,” accompanied by a short clip of Trump’s remarks.
In the clip, Trump feigned an impression of Biden saying he’s “going to bring the country t- t- t- t- together,” apparently mocking Biden for struggling with a stutter. Trump continued the impression, slurring his words together and saying, “I’m going to bring it together.”
The Washington Post noted transcripts of the original speech revealed that Biden did not actually say that in his speech Thursday. Still, the insult set off an online backlash from Trump critics as well as disability advocates.
Biden opened up about his lifelong struggle with a stutter during the 2020 campaign. An Atlantic profile catapulted the issue to the center of the national debate.
Biden and Trump are the sole candidates remaining in their respective parties, and the presumptive nominees headed into the general election in 2024. According to Decision Desk HQ/The Hill’s national polling average in head-to-head match-ups between Trump and Biden, Trump leads by 1.5 percentage points.