--- title: Capt. 'Sully' Defends Biden Against Stuttering Attacks in Op-Ed description: Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger opened up about his past struggles with stuttering in defending Biden and his speech. canonical: https://time.com/5768087/sully-defends-biden-stutter-op-ed/ author: Sanya Mansoor article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-01-19T21:18:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:06.441Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'I Dare You to Mock Me.' Capt. 'Sully' Sullenberger Defends Joe Biden Against Attacks on His Speech in New York Times Op-Ed og:description: Sullenberger opened up about his own struggles with stuttering in a NYT Op-Ed og:url: https://time.com/5768087/sully-defends-biden-stutter-op-ed/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6bc5e96d87f239ed/698a090fdb298770c2264d0e/sullenberger.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'I Dare You to Mock Me.' Capt. 'Sully' Sullenberger Defends Joe Biden Against Attacks on His Speech in New York Times Op-Ed twitter:description: Sullenberger opened up about his own struggles with stuttering in a NYT Op-Ed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6bc5e96d87f239ed/698a090fdb298770c2264d0e/sullenberger.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'I Dare You to Mock Me.' Capt. 'Sully' Sullenberger Defends Joe Biden Against Attacks on His Speech in New York _Times_ Op-Ed ## Video: Joe Biden Makes Comments About Impeachment During His Campaign Trip in Iowa [Watch (HLS stream): Joe Biden Makes Comments About Impeachment During His Campaign Trip in Iowa](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/o0dC7e14.m3u8) (0:54)  _Published 2019-12-23. As Biden’s campaign pivots to its final chapter leading into Iowa, his team is confident that it has a shot — if not at winning Iowa, then at least the nomination after a protracted fight._  by [Sanya Mansoor](https://time.com/author/sanya-mansoor/)  ## Sanya Mansoor Jan 19, 2020 9:18 PM UTC  Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, a retired airline captain famous for landing a commercial jet on the Hudson River, celebrates the five-year anniversary of "The Miracle on the Hudson" in New York City, on Jan. 15, 2014. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, a retired airline captain famous for landing a commercial jet on the Hudson River, celebrates the five-year anniversary of "The Miracle on the Hudson" in New York City, on Jan. 15, 2014.Andrew Burton—Getty Images  by [Sanya Mansoor](https://time.com/author/sanya-mansoor/)  ## Sanya Mansoor Jan 19, 2020 9:18 PM UTC Retired airline captain [Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1946375%5F1946333%5F1946307,00.html) opened up about his history with stuttering in a response to the “cruel remarks” from President Trump’s daughter-in-law [mocking Joe Biden](https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1218027069990412288?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1218027069990412288&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fhomenews%2Fcampaign%2F478815-lara-trump-mocks-biden-lets-get-the-words-out-joe)‘s speech. Sullenberger, a former pilot best known for [landing a commercial jet on the Hudson river](http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1872150,00.html) in what came to be known as “The Miracle on the Hudson,” [authored a New York _Times_ op-ed](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/18/opinion/sully-biden-stutter-lara-trump.html) on Saturday about his experiences wrestling with speech. He recalled the “anguish” of being called on in grade school. “My neck and face would quickly begin to flush a bright red, the searing heat rising all the way to the top of my head; every eye in the room on me; the intense and painful humiliation, and bullying that would follow, all because of my inability to get the words out,” Sullenberger wrote. It’s these same feelings that Sullenberger says “came rushing back” upon hearing Lara Trump’s recent comments she made about the former Vice President at a Trump campaign event on Friday. She said she feels “kind of sad for Joe Biden” when he speaks, and prompted, “Joe, can you get it out? Let’s get the words out, Joe.” Biden has long admitted to overcoming a stutter. In a [profile by _The Atlantic_](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/01/joe-biden-stutter-profile/602401/) published last November, Biden said, “Stuttering gave me an insight I don’t think I ever would have had into other people’s pain.” The former Vice President also acknowledged it when [Sarah Huckabee Sanders jabbed him on Twitter](https://time.com/5753754/sarah-huckabee-sanders-biden-stuttering-tweet/) last month when he told a story during the sixth Democratic primary debate about mentoring a child with a stutter. > [](https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1207868810247757824) Sullenberger wrote in the _Times_ about how he learned to enunciate words slowly and overcome bullying. He expressed concerns about how Lara Trump’s message might affect children who have similar experiences to him. “What might a child who stutters, as I did, feel when they hear a grown-up on a public stage trying to make a bunch of other adults laugh by ridiculing a public figure who also stutters?” He wrote. He had a message for children who may be affected by such a “culture of cruelty:” “You are fine, just as you are. You can do any job you dream of when you grow up.” He pointed to his own success as a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, airline pilot and public speaker. “A speech disorder is a lot easier to treat than a character defect,” Sullenberger wrote in his op-ed. “You become a true leader, not because of how you speak, but because of what you have to say — and the challenges you have overcome to help others.” Sullenberger also praised Biden’s decision to be open and and [speak “courageously”](https://www.stutteringhelp.org/content/joe-biden) about the difficulty of dealing with his stutter. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5768087/sully-defends-biden-stutter-op-ed/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5768087/sully-defends-biden-stutter-op-ed/"},"headline":"'I Dare You to Mock Me.' Capt. 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