Former President Trump sparked a new furor with comments over the weekend in which he disparaged Vice President Harris as “mentally impaired” and “mentally disabled.”

The remarks — coming initially at a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday and repeated in broad terms the following day in Pennsylvania — have thrown Republicans onto the defensive, outraged Democrats and sparked condemnation from disability advocacy groups.

But they also draw puzzlement from political insiders who believe Trump’s penchant for personal invective does him no favors electorally, serving only to turn off some of the undecided voters he needs to win over this November if he is avenge his 2020 loss to President Biden.

The sensitivities around Trump’s hyper-aggressive rhetoric are particularly sharp when his opponent is female, Black and of South Asian descent.

“I’m not sure how many people are really undecided at this point,” said John ‘Mac’ Stipanovich, a veteran GOP operative based in Florida and a Trump critic. “But if there are any undecideds out there — making fun of the mentally handicapped? ‘Slagging’ women? I just don’t see how that helps you.”

The Harris campaign hit out at the Saturday speech as emblematic of a bleakness they say often characterizes the former president’s speeches — even as the vice president’s aides did not directly reference the former president’s attack regarding mental........

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