In one of the latest “scandals” of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is a South Carolina rally during which he allegedly mocked disabled New York Time’s reporter, Serge Kovaleski. This obviously horrified and embarrassed the public and Democrats attacked full force against Trump’s “bigotry.” And, if he truly had mocked him, it would be inexcusable. However, what if that’s not the entire story? Let’s look at the facts.
Donald Trump recalled seeing reports of people celebrating on rooftops during the September 11th terrorist attacks saying, “There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down. I know it might be not politically correct for you to talk about it, but there were people cheering…as those buildings came down. And that tells you something…”
Major news networks, including The Washington Post, immediately “fact-checked” Trump’s claims and declared them false saying that no one had reported anything of the kind. However, soon after, Trump came forward with an article published in The Washington Post itself that supported his claim. This article was written by Serge Kovaleski.
In the wake of this discovery, and consequential pressure from the news outlet, Kovaleski retracted his earlier claims saying, “I certainly do not remember anyone saying that thousands or even hundreds of people were celebrating. That was not the case, as best as I can remember.” So, Trump called Kovaleski out for lying and groveling at the feet of the news outlets instead of standing by the unpopular truth.
Kovaleski retracted his earlier claims…
The evidence being used as evidence of Trump’s mockery of Kovaleski shows Trump flailing his arms wildly about. This leads viewers to believe that Kovaleski’s disability must be something similar to cerebral palsy or another condition that would cause him to not have control of his limbs. Kovaleski suffers from arthrogryposis, a congenital defect that causes his right hand to be permanently flexed and close to his body. However, the mainstream media consistently uses a still of Kovaleski that clearly shows his hand curled up in front of him. Why wouldn’t they use a video?
Perhaps the reason is because they know that Trump was not actually mocking him. Serge Kovaleski reported on the September 11th attacks as a writer for The Washington Post. In his September 18th, 2001 article, entitled “Northern New Jersey Draws Probers’ Eyes”, Kovaleski writes, “In Jersey City, within hours of two jetliners’ plowing into the World Trade Center, law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river.”
Perhaps the reason is because they know that Trump was not actually mocking him.
Not only that, but a CBS News station also reported on the “swarms” of people celebrating on rooftops during the attacks in this September 16th, 2001 televised news report.
However, although this may prove that Trump wasn’t making things up, it doesn’t do much to negate that he was mocking the disabled reporter that had retracted his story. The other thing that the media doesn’t want to acknowledge is that the way that Trump “mocked” Sovaleski is the same way that he mocks nearly everyone that he thinks is in a flustered state or wrong, even himself. Here a sampling of videos showing him in a variety of scenarios using the same facial expressions and gestures:
