Trump Says Gavin Newsom Has 'Cognitive Deficiency' That Disqualifies Him from Presidency After Governor Talks Dyslexia

Donald Trump implied that Gavin Newsom wasn’t qualified for the presidency after the California governor made some recent comments about his experience with dyslexia.

The 79-year-old president has been engaged in a long-standing war of words and social media posts with the 58-year-old Democrat.

In a new series of attacks this week, Trump blasted Newsom as “dumb,” saying “He has a lack of mental ability.”

The comments were seemingly made in regards to Newsom discussing his dyslexia diagnosis. They also prompted the governor to respond with his own blistering attacks.

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While addressing an audience at a rally in Kentucky on Wednesday (March 11), Trump went off the teleprompter for an unexpected attack on his political rival.

“We’re talking about Gavin Newscum,” he said, using a nickname he developed for the California governor. “Anyway, he admitted he has mental problems. That he’s not a smart person, that he has a lack of mental ability.”

Trump continued, alleging, “He’s unable to read a speech. He can’t read. And all of the others things he said, he said he has a lot of mental problems.”

The president said that he thought Newsom discussing the topic had “lost” him the Democratic nomination for the 2028 presidential election.

The attack was seemingly directed at Newsom’s dyslexia, which he recently discussed in a post shared on Facebook.

“It’s not something you get rid of. It’s just something you work around,” he said, “And it turned out I am literally sitting here because of it. It’s a gift because it literally forces you to develop other skills.”

In the caption, he wrote, “Dyslexia made me the person I am. And I’m proud of that.”

During his speech, Trump said that a reporter pushed back at his insulting comments about Newsom.

“I was attacked by a reporter that said, ‘Well, what’s wrong with that?’ I said, ‘Nothing’s wrong with it, but I don’t want the president of the United States to have cognitive deficiency,’ ” he said.

He added, “What do I know? But you know what? I’m for everybody. But, you know, when it comes to president, you’ve got to be sharp. You’ve got to be sharp as hell.”

Trump made a similar remark in a post on Truth Social, where he wrote, “While we all want to be politically correct, having a mental disorder is not a positive campaign event. Also, this was a politically suicidal act. The only thing he didn’t say is he is losing his look, but nobody wants to say that about one’s self. He is no longer a viable Presidential Candidate!”

New fired back at the president in posts on X, calling him a “brain-dead moron” and saying that Trump was “talking about himself in third person again” in response to a clip of the Republican saying that Newsom can’t read.