While President Donald Trump can be as vicious as anyone when it comes to his political foes, he has also shown a remarkably human side when it comes to treating those same ideological rivals with dignity upon tragic news.
(See: Trump’s heartfelt response to the news of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing in 2020.)
Trump extended that grace to former President Joe Biden — the same man who once called Trump a “f***ing a**hole” — on Sunday, when the latter revealed a devastating cancer diagnosis.
“Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis,” Trump posted to Truth Social “We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.”
In short, Biden has an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has metastasized to his bones.
The prognoses for these types of diagnoses are typically grim.
Given that, even Biden’s fiercest critics have been gracious and respectful when discussing this new development.
But that hasn’t meant there wasn’t outrage over it — mostly in the form of questions about just how much Biden’s inner circle knew and how late into his failed re-election bid they were still trying to obfuscate the general public.
Trump made it clear Monday that any attempts to misguide the public about Biden’s health are incredibly “dangerous.”
“I’m surprised the public wasn’t notified a long time ago,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, according to the New York Post.
“To get to stage nine, that’s a long time,” Trump added, referring to Biden’s cancer scoring a 9 on the Gleason Scale.
The Washington Examiner noted that Trump then discussed how he had taken the same medical exam that most incoming U.S. president takes at Walter Reed Medical Center — meaning Biden very likely took the same test.
And that test, almost unilaterally, involves a prostate exam.
“As a male, that test is very standard,” Trump said. “I don’t know if it’s given to everybody, but it’s given just about, and it takes a long time to get to that situation.
“If you take a look, it’s the same doctor that said that Joe was cognitively fine, there was nothing wrong with him.”
Trump was referring to Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s physician, who largely defended Biden’s cognitive function — though he did note other concerns about the former president.
“In other words, there are things going on that the public wasn’t informed of,” Trump continued, per the Examiner. “I think somebody is going to have to speak to his doctor if it’s the same or even if it’s two separate doctors. Why wasn’t the cognitive ability? Why wasn’t that discussed? And I think the doctor said he’s just fine, and it’s turned out that’s not. So it’s very dangerous.”
“This is dangerous for our country,” Trump added. “The other thing is, you have to say, ‘Why did it take so long?’ This takes a long time — it can take years to get to this level of danger.”
Trump finished: “Look, it’s a very, very sad situation. I feel very badly about it, and I think people should try to find out what happened.
“Maybe it was the same doctor, and somebody is not telling the facts.
“That’s a big problem.”
