Since its launch earlier this year, Donald Trump’s campaign has been peppered with controversy about his habit of accidentally – or at times quite intentionally – offending entire groups of people.
When he kicked off his campaign in June, Trump offended Mexicans as well as advocates for immigrants when he described some Mexicans crossing the U.S.’s southern border as “rapists.”
He’s been starting similar fires with different groups ever since, and Thanksgiving week he found himself embroiled in yet another dust-up.
Here’s a look at the groups Trump has directly insulted or inadvertently offended this season.
1.The disabled
Trump’s most recent offense came this week as he apparently mocked a reporter with a disability. At a rally Tuesday night, Trump waved his arms in a way that evoked the disability of New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski. Kovaleski has a chronic condition called arthrogryposis, which limits the movement of his arms. Trump was talking about comments made by Kovaleski at the time he moved his arms and bent his hands mockingly. Amid calls to apologize, Trump denied even knowing who Kavelski was, but Kovaleski says he covered Trump closely for years – interviewing him at least 12 times –and that they were, at one point, on a first-name basis.
2. Reporters
The mogul has made a habit of calling out reporters with professional and personal insults. His feud with Fox News host Megyn Kelly has been going on for months. He publicly sparred with Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, and he has directed insults towards reporters by name both on Twitter and in interviews (see above). He also has attacked the media more broadly, and has taken on entire editorial boards, calling The Wall Street Journal “dummies.”
3. Iowans
Despite actively campaigning in the crucial early caucus state, Trump has twice this fall insulted Iowans. The first occurence was a retweet putting down Iowans’ intelligence after polls showed opponent Ben Carson’s rise above Trump in Iowa polls. Trump tweeted to his millions of followers in quotes citing another user, “@mygreenhippo #BenCarson is now leading in the #polls in #Iowa. Too much #Monsanto in the #corn creates issues in the brain? #Trump #GOP.” Trump blamed the tweet on a “young intern who accidentally did a retweet” and said that individual had apologized.
But Trump again had concerns about the intelligence of Iowa voters during a tirade about Carson in the state earlier this month. “How stupid are the people of Iowa? How stupid are the people of the country to believe this crap?” he asked, referring to Carson’s life story and his accounts of a history of violent outbursts.
4. Muslims
Since the Paris attacks, Trump has made a number of statements that have dismayed Muslims. He made widely discredited claims that American Muslims celebrated on Sept. 11, 2001, in New Jersey, said he would consider surveillance of mosques and shutting some down, and suggested establishing a national database to register Muslims. The New York Police Department Muslim Society has called out Trump and similar statements from Carson on Facebook, highlighting to those who “incite hate” that Muslim-Americans are respectable, honorable citizens.
5. Seventh-day Adventists
Trump disparaged Ben Carson’s faith earlier this month, after facing scrutiny about his own. Carson, who is Seventh-day Adventist, is very popular with conservative evangelicals. At a Florida rally, Trump said: “I’m Presbyterian. Boy, that’s down the middle of the road folks, in all fairness. I mean, Seventh-day Adventist, I don’t know about. I just don’t know about.”
6. African-Americans
In another retweet incident, Trump late last week retweeted a follower to highlight a photograph featuring a dark-skinned man wearing a bandana, a dark shirt and military-style pants and holding a handgun sideways and claiming to list “USA CRIME STATISTICS - 2015.” The statistics, which falsely implied African-Americans kill more members of any race than any other group, contained inaccurate statistics and cited a non-existent agency as the source. Trump defended himself in a Fox News interview, saying, “This was a retweet, and it came from sources that weren’t very credible, what can I tell you.”
7. Asians
Trump has long boasted about his ability to negotiate on the trail, and has said he’d use his deal-making ability to renegotiate trade deals with China and East Asia. He made that claim again in late August – but also used broken English to impersonate Asian negotiators. “When these people walk into the room, they don’t say, ‘Oh hello, how’s the weather? It’s so beautiful outside. How are the Yankees doing? They’re doing wonderful, that’s great,” Trump said at an event in Iowa. “They say, ‘We want deal!’”
8. Women
The front-runner has made a number of disparaging remarks toward women during the campaign, including calling Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton “shrill.” One of his more memorable insults toward a woman was directed at his GOP opponent, Carly Fiorina, when he was quoted in a Rolling Stone article as having a negative reaction when she appeared on TV. “Look at that face!” he exclaimed. Fiorina got the upper hand, when she turned his insult into a winning line on the trail, telling a room full of Republican women: “Look at this face.” He changed his tune when he was asked about the exchange during a GOP presidential debate in September.
9. POWs
Trump ruffled the feathers of veterans in July when he refused to call Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, a war hero. McCain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam and was tortured during his stay in the notorious “Hanoi Hilton.” But Trump said at a question and answer event in Iowa, “He is not a war hero.”
“He is a war hero because he was captured,” Trump said. “I like people that weren’t captured, OK? I hate to tell you. He is a war hero because he was captured. OK, you can have – I believe perhaps he is a war hero.” Trump stood by the remarks in later questioning, saying people who were not captured do not get accolades. McCain said Trump owed POW families an apology.
10. His competitors
Trump’s insults for his opponents in the presidential race are almost too many to count. On the Republican side, he has famously dubbed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush “low energy,” has called Florida Sen. Marco Rubio a “clown” and repeatedly referenced him sweating, disparaged Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s looks, mocked Carson and slammed Fiorina’s business record in addition to his comments about her appearance. On the Democratic side, Trump accused Clinton of having fake hair and called Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders a “socialist slash communist” and “maniac.”
