President Donald Trump on Sunday defended his use of the word “retarded” to describe Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a remark that has drawn condemnation across the political spectrum but which Trump insisted was justified, claiming there is “something wrong” with the Democratic governor.

The exchange unfolded aboard Air Force One during a press Q&A, after a reporter asked the president whether he stood by his widely criticized Thanksgiving message in which he labeled Walz “seriously retarded.”

“Yeah, I think there’s something wrong with him,” Trump said. “Absolutely. Sure. You have a problem with it?”

Trump then launched into a renewed attack on Walz’s handling of immigration and refugee resettlement in Minnesota, centering on the state’s Somali community.

“Anybody that would do what he did, anybody that would allow those people into his state and pay billions of dollars out to Somalia—We give billions of dollars to Somalia. It’s not even a country because it doesn’t function like a country,” Trump said. “Yeah, there’s something wrong with Walz.”

The controversy erupted Thursday when Trump used his Thanksgiving post on Truth Social to lash out at Walz, accusing him of allowing Minnesota to be “taken over” by Somali refugees and claiming that “Somalian gangs are roving the streets looking for ‘prey.’”

“The seriously retarded Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, does nothing, either through fear, incompetence, or both.”

Numerous advocacy groups condemned the remarks as reckless and dehumanizing, while disability advocates blasted Trump for using a slur.

Gov. Walz responded briefly: “Release your MRI results,” Walz wrote – something which Trump has pledged to do.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)