Donald Trump defends using the R-word slur after being called out by his nephew

Warning: This article contains discussion of discrimination against the disabled community which some readers may find distressing.

After facing backlash for using the R-word slur while taking aim at the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, in a Truth Social post, Donald Trump has defended his controversial choice of words.

The American president, 79, issued a lengthy rant on the social media platform last week about America’s 'refugee burden', in which he particularly attacked Walz, blaming him 'the hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia' taking over 'the once great State of Minnesota'.

Within the long post, he wrote: "The seriously ret****d Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, does nothing, either through fear, incompetence."

Understandably, using the offensive word sparked an outcry of anger on social media, including from Trump's own nephew, Fred Trump III, whose own son is disabled.

Fred is the son of Trump's late older brother, Fred Trump Jr., who died in 1981 at 42.

Donald Trump is under fire for using an ableist slur (Pete Marovich/Getty Images)

Taking to Twitter following the shocking remarks, Fred wrote: "As the parent of a young adult with severe disabilities, the use of the 'R' word is never acceptable and is very hurtful. Where has this country gone that we even have to discuss this?"

While another social media users penned: "It's absurd that this kind of rhetoric is normalised in politics now."

Someone else wrote: "Trump just detonated online and used a derogatory disability slur to describe Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, in a public Thanksgiving message, no less. This isn’t “tough talk.”

"It’s the president of the United States calling Minnesota Governor Tim Walz “seriously ret****d” in an official holiday message, a direct use of demeaning language to attack a sitting governor."

The Republican leader doubled down on the comment when he was asked about using the word by a reporter on Sunday (30 November), in a clip shared by the White House.

She asked: "You mentioned Tim Walz and you called him - what many Americans do find an offensive word - ret****d," before quizzing Trump on whether he 'stands by the claim'.

He responded: "Yeah, I think there’s something wrong with him, absolutely, sure, I think there’s something wrong with him."

Donald Trump's nephew, Fred Trump III, also hit out at the American President (Instagram/@fredtrump_)

"Anybody that would do what he did, anybody that would allow those people into a state and pay billions of dollars [to] Somalia - we give billions of dollars to Somalia."

Taking aim at Somalia, he continued: "It’s not even a country, because it doesn’t function like a country. It’s got a name, but it doesn’t function like a country. Yeah, there’s something wrong with Walz."

On the same day, Trump also called Walz 'incompetent' after he responded to Trump's initial Truth Social rant by telling the President to release the results of his recent MRI scan from October.

One journalist said: "Walz called for the release of your MRI results," to which the world leader responded: "Governor Walz? You mean the incompetent Governor Walz? So if they wanna release it, it's okay with me to release it. It's perfect like my phone call where I got impeached."

He added: "You wanna have it released - I'll release it."

Tyla has contacted the White House for comment.

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