Jeb Bush campaign releases video targeting Donald Trump's apparent mocking of disabled reporter
The video featured Tim Dyar, a South Carolina diner owner whose 12-year-old son, Breylen, suffers from cerebral palsy. Dyar, citing Trump's alleged November mocking of a New York Times reporter's physical disability, said he wanted to "make sure" that Trump does not become the Republican nominee.
"It 's just not right. It 's not presidential. I have a 12-year-old son who 's handicapped. He has cerebral palsy and that just made me so angry. I told my wife I just couldn 't let that stand. I had to do something to make sure Donald Trump wasn 't the nominee," Dyar said in the video, which was shared with Business Insider.
Dyar volunteered for Bush's campaign after seeing clips of Trump impersonating Serge Kovaleski, the New York Times reporter, according to the Independent Mail newspaper, based in Anderson, South Carolina.
"Jeb - it comes across that he 's a caring man. He is sincere. Many people said he 's the steady hand, and that 's somebody we need in the White House," Dyar said in the video. "The biggest thing that you see right away is that Jeb has actual ideas. I mean, he has a plan. If you ask him about ISIS, he has a plan. Our country is looking for leadership, and he 's that leadership that we need."
Bush shared dinner with Breylen Dyar at Dyar's Diner before a Friday-night event at the establishment. Bush told the local crowd of the time he spent as Florida's governor working to expand programs to 31,000 families facing disability challenges, according to the Independent Mail.
During a November campaign rally, Trump impersonated Kovaleski supposedly retracting a report about the September 11, 2001, attacks, which mentioned allegations of American Muslims celebrating the World Trade Center attacks. Kovaleski and The New York Times both accused Trump of mocking the reporter's disability, which limits his arm movements.
At a separate campaign stop in New Hampshire last week, Bush told a town-hall questioner that he referred to Trump as a "jerk" because of his apparent mocking of Kovaleski.
"When anybody disparages people with disabilities, it sets me off," Bush said in New Hampshire. "That's why I called him a jerk. Because he disparaged a person who he knew had a disability and made fun of him."
For his part, Trump has said he would never mock someone with a disability.
"I don't mock people that have problems, believe me. Now people mock me with my hair, but it is my hair," he said at a separate November campaign rally.
Watch the Bush campaign's video below: