Alabama state Rep. John Rogers blasted Donald Trump Jr. as “evidently retarded” on Thursday after the president’s son condemned him for controversial comments he made defending abortion.
Mr. Rogers, a Democrat, sparked a backlash Wednesday after he told lawmakers during a filibuster against an abortion ban that “some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or you kill them later.
“You bring them in the world unwanted, unloved, and you send them to the electric chair. So, you kill them now or you kill them later,” Mr. Rogers said in opposing House Bill 314, which passed the House later Wednesday.
Mr. Trump Jr., President Trump’s eldest son, called Mr. Rogers’ remarks “truly sickening” in a tweet Wednesday evening, writing, “This is stomach curling and makes Ralph Northam look like a moderate on abortion. Every Democrat running for President needs to be asked where they stand on this. The extreme turn we’ve seen from Dems on abortion recently is truly sickening.”
Mr. Rogers responded to the criticism Thursday, saying he considered it “an honor” to be rebuked by the first son.
“His mother should’ve aborted him when he was born or he wouldn’t have made that stupid statement, right?” the state lawmaker told reporters.
Mr. Rogers went on to say that Mr. Trump Jr. was “the best defense I got for abortion right there — looking at him.”
“He’s evidently retarded. Uh, crazy,” he said. “Donald Trump’s son, I know there’s something wrong with that boy.”
It’s the second time this week that Mr. Rogers has publicly used the word “retarded.”
He used the word Wednesday when arguing for the right for women to terminate their pregnancies if they learn their babies will be born with physical or mental disabilities.
“Some parents can’t handle a child with problems,” he said, according to The Alabama Reporter. “It could be retarded. It might have no arms and no legs.”
Andrew Surabian, a spokesman for Mr. Trump Jr., responded to Mr. Rogers’ “vile” comments in a statement provided to The Washington Times.
“Sadly, vile comments like this have become par for the course for the Democrat Party,” the statement read. “They’ve become so deranged by President Trump’s victory that celebrating late-term abortion, support for eugenics and even calling for the death of political opponents is becoming their standard operating procedure. I hope every elected Democrat in the country has the common decency and moral courage to disavow these types of grotesque statements from members of their party.”
