White House Echoes Trump’s Oval Office Slur, Sparking Outrage Over Offensive Language

On Tuesday afternoon the atmosphere in the Oval Office grew noticeably tense when President Donald Trump turned his ire toward Independent reporter Andrew Feinberg. The journalist, trying to ask about a proposed golf‑course at East Potomac Park, was met with a snarling, “What’s wrong with you? Are you a sick person?” from the president.

Trump didn’t stop there. After the initial jab he added, “No, I actually think there’s something wrong with you,” a line that set the tone for what followed. The exchange was captured on video and quickly spread across social media, prompting a flurry of commentary.

What raised eyebrows, however, was what happened next on the White House’s own “Rapid Response” X account. The anonymous handle reposted Trump’s outburst and, in a disturbing twist, attached a slur historically used to denigrate people with Down syndrome—a term that the World Health Organization officially expunged in the 1960s. The post read: “@POTUS absolutely roasts Mongoloid Moron @AndrewFeinberg for his disgraceful behavior.”

That phrasing is especially jarring because the incident unfolded during Down Syndrome Awareness Month, a period the Trump administration had formally recognized with a presidential proclamation just weeks earlier. It also came on the heels of a separate antisemitic remark Trump made at a rally, and amid a wave of political mud‑slinging that included Ohio’s MAGA gubernatorial hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy.

Vice President JD Vance, a devout Catholic convert, added fuel to the fire from his own X account, calling the reporter an “imbecile ‘journalist’” and urging followers to tag him. Feinberg, unsurprised by the political theater, replied, “Mr. Vice President, if you’re going to insult me at least have the guts to tag my account.”

The slur didn’t originate with the rapid‑response team; it had been used before by White House Communications Director Steven Cheung. Back in March, Cheung referenced Feinberg with the same offensive term, a fact that resurfaced as journalists dug into the account’s history.

Cheung’s track record with the press has been anything but gentle. Last January, a Daily Beast reporter questioning Trump’s health was called “mentally ill.” Spokesperson Davis Ingle has peppered responses with derisive phrases like “lightweight, glue‑sniffing reporters” and even labeled the publication itself a “mentally challenged, lightweight operation.”

The use of a Down‑syndrome slur by a White House account feels especially contradictory given that the Trump administration previously highlighted the cause. In 2025, President Trump posed in the Oval Office with Valentina Duffy, a young woman with Down syndrome whose father, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, works in his cabinet. The image was meant to showcase inclusion, not contempt.

Feinberg later posted his own account of the encounter, noting, “For doing my job, I became the target of Trump and his team.” He added a health update—he’d had a recent physical and was in “perfect health”—perhaps a subtle jab at the president’s insinuations.

When asked who ordered the slur on the anonymous account, no White House official stepped forward, instead directing reporters back to Trump’s original comments. The episode, meanwhile, adds another chapter to an increasingly fraught relationship between the administration and the press, a dynamic that seems only to worsen with each new controversy.