Trump offered sensitivity training after mocking disabled reporter

As reported by JTA, Jay Ruderman, president of the Boston and Israel-based Ruderman Family Foundation said to the New York Times, “It is unacceptable for a child to mock another child’s disability on the playground, never mind a presidential candidate mocking someone’s disability as part of a national political discourse”, Ruderman said.

In the aftermath of the attacks, Kovaleski published a report stating that “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”.

Trump had cited the reporter Tuesday in his speech because Kovaleski had written a story in 2001 from which he has since distanced himself.

On Thursday, Trump denied that he was making fun of Kovaleski’s disability, and said he didn’t know him.

“Despite having one of the all-time great memories, I certainly do not remember him”, Trump is quoted as saying. “I don’t remember!,'” the GOP presidential frontrunner said, jerking his arms, especially his right arm, in a manner depicting Kovaleski’s disability. Ah, I don’t remember what I said! “Perhaps that is what I said'”.

In an interview for the Times, Kovaleski said he was certain Trump remembers him from his days covering the real estate developer for the New York Daily News in the 1980s.

“I think the New York Times frankly should give me an apology”, Trump responded on Saturday, after criticizing the business sense of the newspaper’s corporate leadership. He then scrunched his arms, seemingly to mimic Kovaleski.

In South Carolina, Trump described Kovaleski as a “nice guy” before mocking his comments about the article in The Post. “If I did know, I would definitely not say anything about his appearance”.

He read over a list of recommended terminology about disabled individuals, to audience laughter, and said, “A lot of us don’t have time to be politically correct”. Other accounts from that time concluded the allegations were unfounded.

Trump reiterated that had he known, he would have respected Kovaleski’s physical limitations.

But the reporter says that’s not so.

Previously Trump tweeted that he did not know Kovaleski or “what he looks like”. Trump is atop just about every poll, but as the campaign continues, it’s questionable how long that will last. It came as trump defended his claim that he saw people in new Jersey cheering on 9/11, law enforcement and government officials now denouncing that as false but this is hardly the first time trump has come under fire for offending someone from some Mexican immigrants in that campaign kickoff speech.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the mocking incident, a Boston-based advocacy group offered sensitivity training to the Republican presidential candidate on Thursday.