Corey Lewandowski says 'womp womp' in response to Zac Petkanas' story about a girl with Down syndrome separated from her parents.

passantino/Twitter

Corey Lewandowski mocks 10-year-old immigrant with Down syndrome: ‘Womp, womp’

The internet wants to 'womp, womp' on the former Trump campaign chief.

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Samantha Grasso

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Posted on Jun 20, 2018   Updated on May 21, 2021, 1:05 pm CDT

People across the internet are enraged after Trump’s former campaign chief Corey Lewandowski went on Fox News and mocked a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome who was separated from her parents.

Lewandowski appeared on Fox News on Tuesday evening to debate Democratic strategist Zac Petkanas on the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy to prosecute all adults coming into the U.S. unauthorized, separating children from their parents as a result.

During the conversation, Petkanas recalled the story of one of the children separated from her mother at the border. According to BuzzFeed News, a 10-year-old with Down syndrome was being held in a McAllen, Texas, detention facility, separated from her mother, despite her father being a legal permanent resident in the U.S.

“I read about a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome who was taken from her mother and put in a cage,” Petkanas said, before being interrupted by a mocking jeer from Lewandowski.

“Womp, womp,” the former Trump campaign lead said in response.

“Did you say ‘womp, womp’ to a 10-year-old with Down syndrome being taken from her mother? How dare you,” Petkanas replied, repeating the last phrase several times at his opponent.

“What I said is you can pick anything you [unclear] but the bottom line is when you cross the border illegally you have given up the rights of this country,” Lewandowski said.

The two continued to crosstalk, Lewandowski defending the family separation practice and Petkanas grilling Lewandowski on his crass “womp, womp” response.

https://twitter.com/passantino/status/1009220051172495361

Interestingly enough, as Reveal’s (and former Daily Dot reporter) Aaron Sankin pointed out on Twitter, Lewandowski works for the Great America Committee PAC, which gets donations from the GEO Group, a company that owns private immigration detention facilities. (The Great America Committee is registered by Vice President Mike Pence.) In other words, not only did Lewandowski dismiss the concern over detained immigrant children, let alone immigrant children with Down syndrome, but he also profits off the detention of such children, and jeers “womp, womp” on the way to the bank.

On Twitter, critics of Lewandowski’s mocking have attempted to turn his insulting, insensitive phrase on himself, using “womp, womp” to celebrate physical harm against him, the potential downfall of his career, and his eventual death.

https://twitter.com/PoliticalEmilia/status/1009239491716923392

https://twitter.com/freedarko/status/1009238556617760768

READ MORE:

While mocking a rich white man with political power who has nothing better to say about children with Down syndrome might be fun and games, perhaps death jokes go too far. There are many other ways to blast him.

This morning, Lewandowski responded to the backlash in his trademark way of calling it “fake news” and blaming Obama.

H/T Slate

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*First Published: Jun 20, 2018, 8:52 am CDT

Samantha Grasso

Samantha Grasso is a former IRL staff writer for the Daily Dot with a reporting emphasis on immigration. Her work has appeared on AJ+, Vox, Splinter, Los Angeles Magazine, and Austin Monthly.

Samantha Grasso