Watchdog groups say the resurgence is a result of President Trump’s return to power and MAGA allies who want to declare “Wake is dead.”
President Trump says he will release MRI test results
President Donald Trump said he would release the results of an MRI scan at the request of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
President Donald Trump’s rhetoric has taken an even more incendiary turn in recent weeks, including telling a female reporter in November to “shut up, you pig” amid declining poll numbers.
Speaking at a rally in rural Pennsylvania on Dec. 9, Trump admitted in 2018 that he had used the term “hole countries” to describe Haiti and several African countries, after initially denying the reports seven years ago.
And Trump and his allies have increasingly succeeded in reviving the use of the so-called “r-word,” a term once widely used to describe people with intellectual disabilities, which they and their supporters say has devolved into a slur.
The most recent example occurred on Thanksgiving Day, when President Trump, in a series of social media posts, criticized Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a former Democratic vice presidential candidate, for “seriously criticizing” his administration’s opposition to immigration crackdowns.
Some Trump supporters always enjoy seeing the president use offensive language to get his point across, whether to excite Make America Great Again supporters, poke opponents in the eye, or both.
“Ground zero of this cultural change is being driven by the (political) right, but I don’t think it’s limited to the (political) right at this point,” said Angelo Carusone, president of the liberal-leaning media watchdog group Media Matters for America.
“I don’t think traditional media programming is embracing it, but audiences are, and outside of conservative circles people are starting to say it more willingly.”
But the use of the term hasn’t necessarily been a win for Trump and his allies, and may have added to the president’s political losses after an Indiana Republican said Trump’s comments inspired him to vote against Trump’s redistricting plan for the 2026 election.
“Let’s be intentional. Let’s be compassionate. #ChooseToInclude and stop using the R-word today and forever,” Special Olympics, the world’s largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, said in a Dec. 4 post to X.
The R-word is back: Supporters defend its use for ‘cultural Marxism’
For some of President Trump’s most ardent supporters, the use of the term is a principled stand against what they call the “cultural Marxism” that progressives are imposing on this country.
“There are a lot of words in the English language that are no longer in use because they have been called politically incorrect,” Mark Meckler, a political activist who briefly served as CEO of Parler, a self-proclaimed conservative free speech platform, said on a Dec. 9 livestream show in response to the controversy.
“The word r—-d, you know what it means, I know what it means, and we all know what it means,” he added. “It means someone who is stupid, lame, stupid. The left, the thought police, the speech police want to say that when we do things like this, we are insulting the mentally ill.”
Ironically, experts say the term “mental retardation” was first used by mental health professionals in the late 19th century, as a diagnostic term intended to replace more unpleasant labels such as “mentally retarded.”
As late as the 1980s, groups such as the Ark Advocating for Americans with Intellectual Disabilities still used the term in their official names and public service announcements featuring liberal celebrities.
“My next child might be killed,” singer Barbara Streisand said in a 1970s ad campaign. “Maybe you do too.”
The term has come to be used as a colloquial insult to refer to people without developmental disabilities as stupid or stupid, leading to calls to abolish it. Advocacy groups have changed their names and launched new initiatives, including “Spread the Word to End the Word.” In 2010, Congress passed Rosa’s Law, making “intellectual disability” the correct term to use under federal law, and the Supreme Court followed suit in 2014, saying it was the legally more appropriate term in a landmark death penalty case.
But Trump’s return signals a reversal of what MAGA activists and other conservatives have argued is a hyper-sensitive “cancel culture.”
Over the past year or so, the R-word has made a comeback, appearing unapologetically in places like Joe Rogan’s podcast, Elon Musk’s social media posts, and Trump’s statements.
“The word ‘r—-ed’ is back. This is one of the great cultural victories,” Logan, who supported President Trump last year, said in an April episode of his popular podcast, which has more than 20 million subscribers on YouTube.
Media Matters announced that researchers have found that the use of the words “r—-d” or “r—-ed” on Fox News has increased, from a total of eight times in 2024 to a total of 23 times so far in 2025.
The watchdog group said the most frequent offender was the show “Gutfeld!” The show, hosted by conservative political commentator and comedian Greg Gutfeld, debuted in April 2021 and averages about 3.3 million viewers, according to Late Nighter.
Gutfeld’s late-night show, which has a more humorous tone than other Fox News programs, has mentioned the word the most across the network, increasing from three times in 2024 to 17 times in 2025 so far, according to Media Matters. The next closest show was “The Five” with 3 mentions.
Earlier this year, Lee Zeldin, now President Trump’s head of the Environmental Protection Agency, appeared on his show and used the term to describe the thoughts of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D.Y.).
“I can say that now, it’s okay. I can accept it now,” Gutfeld said.
President Trump has a history of using language to describe his opponents to criticize some Republicans.
Trump’s comments toward Walz are not the first time a president has used the term to criticize his rival. It’s something he’s used against Democrats and even against Republicans.
According to the New York Times, he also mentioned former Vice President Kamala Harris in a similar vein during the 2024 presidential campaign. Prominent journalist Bob Woodward wrote in his 2018 book “Fear: Trump in the White House” that Trump used the term to mock Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a former Republican senator who was later fired.
While many pro-Trump MAGA-aligned celebrities and activists may welcome the return of the term (pro-Trump musician Kid Rock used it to describe Dr. Anthony Fauci in October), there have long been social conservatives who oppose its use.
In 2010, when President Obama’s former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel used the “R” word to describe some liberal activists, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a Republican who has a son with Down syndrome, called for his resignation. (Mr. Palin has been an enthusiastic supporter of Mr. Trump in his presidential campaign.)
Most recently, Republican lawmakers in Indiana rejected a proposed map that would have created two new red districts as part of President Trump’s larger redistricting war. One of the first Republicans to oppose the proposal was state Sen. Mike Bohacek, who noted that his daughter has Down syndrome.
“This is not the first time our president has made such an insulting and derogatory reference, and his choice of words has consequences.”
Brad Polumbo, a podcast host and right-wing political commentator, expressed support for some of the administration’s more conservative social positions, such as ending medical treatment for transgender prisoners. However, in a Dec. 1 post on X, the 27-year-old activist criticized President Trump’s derogatory language.
“I hate it when the president uses ‘r—-d’ as an insult,” Polumbo said. “For the most part, I agree with telling the ‘offended’ group to get over this. But there are thousands of special needs Americans who are really hurt by this and feel that the president is using the R-word as an insult to degrade them.”
Will Creeley, legal director of the Foundation for Individual Rights Expression (FIRE), a libertarian-leaning free speech group, told USA TODAY that discussions about the evolving nature of language often reflect changes in social norms and power relationships.
“The interesting thing about word policing is that it’s a function of power and who is wearing the proverbial boots at the time,” he said.
After the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, many conservatives, including senior Trump administration officials, were outraged by the negative comments about Kirk and wanted the criminals to lose their jobs.
Liberals argue that President Trump’s behavior toward Americans with disabilities isn’t just hurting people’s feelings. In March, the Trump administration rescinded 11 guidelines under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Disability rights advocates say this will negatively impact accessibility and services for people with disabilities.
“When they returned to power, for some reason, the word and its use again were shut down. This is obviously symbolic,” Carusone said. “This shows that the Wakes are dead, they’re coming back and they have cultural superiority. We’re dealing with it now.”
Contributor: Kinsey Crowley
