President Donald Trump’s direct and often critical remarks are familiar to those who follow international politics.
He has publicly criticized a wide range of individuals, including critics and members of his own cabinet, through public speeches, social media posts and media interviews.
Recently, journalist and media personality Anderson Cooper slammed Donald Trump after the 79-year-old mocked California Governor Gavin Newsom for his dyslexia.
Speaking on CNN, Cooper shared that he had a mild form of dyslexia as a child, which made reading difficult and still causes him to mix up words and letters occasionally. He previously discussed his dyslexia in a 2008 interview with Oprah Winfrey for the first time in his career.
“For the record, I’m one of them,” Cooper said. “I had a mild form of dyslexia as a child. Reading did not come easy for me, and I still occasionally mix up Bs and Ds.”
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According to the BBC, the Yale University alumni’s comments came after Trump labeled dyslexia a “mental disability” and mocked his Democratic rival and California Governor, Gavin Newsom. He also said the potential White House contender was “dumb” and mocked his struggles with reading and spelling.
“With a low IQ person, you know, because Gavin Newscum [sic] has admitted that he is a, that he has learning disabilities,” Trump said as he spoke to the media at the Oval Office on Monday.
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“Honestly, I’m all for people with learning disabilities, but not for my president. I don’t want. I think a president should not have learning disabilities, OK? And I know it’s highly controversial to say such a horrible thing.” Donald Trump added.
The California governor, who has publicly spoken about his dyslexia, fired back, calling Donald Trump a “brain-dead moron.” This is not the first time Newsom has responded to the Republican candidate.
Earlier, he referred to Trump as “son of a B-tch” on The Shawn Ryan Show while talking about his political stints and apologized for it.
Meanwhile, Anderson Cooper supported Gavin Newsom and highlighted examples of Trump’s hypocrisy.
According to Raw Star, Cooper pointed out that the president’s chief of staff from the first term, Gary Cohn, was heavily dyslexic and that the Trump administration claimed his appointment was inspiring.
Anderson Cooper also pointed out that Woodrow Wilson, who reportedly struggled to read at age 10, went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He added that mocking dyslexia “has got to sting,” especially when Trump, who was desperate for a Nobel Prize, had to borrow it.
The journalist who has a career in the media spanning decades has openly spoken about sensitive issues, including LGBTQ+ rights, since he came out as a homosexual in 2012, a stance Republicans highly oppose.
Anderson Cooper then played a montage of Donald Trump stumbling over teleprompter lines, highlighting repeated mispronunciations of words like “origins,” “Yosemite,” “Azerbaijan,” and “acetaminophen.”
“There are countless ways to challenge a political rival,” he said, condemning Trump’s generalization of a lifelong neurological learning disability, which he described as “may be the cruelest approach of all.”
In February, on The Daily Beast podcast, psychologist and psychotherapist Dr. John Gartner claimed that Donald Trump has been unwell for many years and his abrupt way of shifting from one topic to another clearly lacks logical progression.
To every kid with a learning disability: don’t let anyone — not even the President of the United States — bully you.
Dyslexia isn’t a weakness.
It’s your strength.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 17, 2026
He allegedly claimed these linguistic slips, known as “phonemic paraphasia”, are not ordinary mistakes but major signs of neurological decline.
Often genetic, dyslexia is usually diagnosed during childhood but persists through adulthood. There are two types: primary developmental dyslexia, which is usually present from birth, and acquired dyslexia caused by external factors like brain injury, though it is less common.
The National Center for Learning Disabilities spoke to the BBC and claimed that it strongly condemned Trump’s comments.
According to Cross River Therapy, more than 40 million US adults have dyslexia, with only 2 million of them receiving a diagnosis. NIH research has shown that dyslexia affects 1 in every 5 people in the U.S.
