Donald Trump says Kamala Harris was born 'mentally impaired'

Despite some Republicans urging him to shift his focus from personal attacks on Harris to policy differences, Trump remains resolute.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said his Democrat rival and US vice president Kamala Harris was born “mentally impaired”, repeating his words at a weekend rally in Wisconsin, ignoring criticism from some party colleagues over similar remarks earlier.

“Joe Biden became mentally impaired; Kamala was born that way,” the former president said at a rally in Prairie du Chien on September 29, drawing a mix of gasps and applause, reports said.

“And if you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country,” he went to add, repeating the accusation of Democrats, especially Harris, allowing in undocumented foreigners to swing elections.

The comments came as Trump once again questioned Harris’ record on immigration in the state which he won in 2016 only to concede to Biden in 2020.

He also dismissed Harris's remarks on border security as “bullshit”.

“She is a disaster,” Trump said. “She is not ever going to do anything for the border, and she didn’t even want to get tough now except her poll numbers were tanking,” he said, referring to his rival’s visit to the country’ southern border.

His comments drew immediate backlash from disability advocates. According to a Business Insider report, Maria Town, CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, said Trump’s remarks "say far more about him and his inaccurate, hateful biases against disabled people than it does about Vice President Harris, or any person with a disability".

Trump later acknowledged he made a “dark speech”. “I got people sitting in the front row — they're going, 'Oh, my god.' They thought they'd be out there jumping up and down — 'make America great again.' I’m just saying, this is a dark — this a dark speech,” Trump said.

Immigration remains a hot-button issue and Trump looked to rally support by describing undocumented immigrants as "stone-cold killers" who "make our criminals look like babies", Business Insider reported.

After the rally, Trump took to his Truth Social to drive home the point. "Left Wisconsin, where illegal migrants are causing havoc. I'll take care of that situation, and fast!"