In late November, Donald Trump publicly referred to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as “seriously retarded” while attacking Walz’s leadership. When questioned afterward, Trump did not retract the slur. He doubled down, saying there was “something wrong with him.” This was not a stray insult or an offhand remark. It was a deliberate statement, delivered through the megaphone of presidential power, reviving a word long recognized as dehumanizing toward people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.