Sarah Sanders pked fun at Joe Biden’s verbal stumbles but was forced to apologise after meeting a significant backlash online.
Trump’s former chief spokeswoman, 37, tweeted on Thursday: “I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I hhhave absolutely no idea what Biden is talking about. #DemDebate.”
The tweet was put up during the Democratic presidential primary debate at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. At the close of the debate, the front-runner mentioned a “call list of somewhere between 20 and 100 people” who have his personal number. He referenced a kid who once approached him and said, “I can’t talk, what do I do?’” In describing the conversation, he appeared to imitate the child’s stutter.
Sanders, who is now eyeing a 2023 run for governor of her home state of Arkansas, faced plenty of angry reactions and rushed to defend her initial mockery, saying that she “was not trying to make fun of anyone with a speech impediment” but was pointing out how she couldn’t follow what Biden was talking about.
However, after Biden quote-tweeted her post and shamed her for a lack of empathy, she took down the initial tweet and wrote: “I actually didn’t know that about you and that is commendable. I apologise and should have made my point respectfully.”
Biden has been open about his life-long struggling with the disorder. The former Vice President is known for his gaffe-filled public appearances and sometimes losing his train of thought, but his recent interview with The Atlantic suggested that he may have trouble expressing his thoughts because he tries to avoid stuttering.
In that interview, he said his moniker at high school was “Dash” because of that disability. “It was like Morse code—dot dot dot, dash dash dash dash,” Biden recalled.
However, he described stuttering as “the best thing that ever happened” to him because it gave him an “insight” into other people’s issues.