Trump will never escape the shadow of Biden's character
Biden posted on social media May 26: "On Memorial Day, let us pause to remember and honor the brave women and men who made the ultimate sacrifice so we could live our lives in peace and possibility. Today we also honor the families they left behind whose hearts still carry the weight of absence."
Trump, on that same day, shared a post that described Biden, recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, as "a decrepit corpse."
Classy.
Trump's Memorial Day post was the stuff of nightmares
Trump's own message on Memorial Day, a day meant to honor and mourn military men and women who died serving their country, was this:
"HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY THROUGH WARPED RADICAL LEFT MINDS, WHO ALLOWED 21,000,000 MILLION PEOPLE TO ILLEGALLY ENTER OUR COUNTRY, MANY OF THEM BEING CRIMINALS AND THE MENTALLY INSANE,THROUGH AN OPEN BORDER THAT ONLY AN INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT WOULD APPROVE, AND THROUGH JUDGES WHO ARE ON A MISSION TO KEEP MURDERERS, DRUG DEALERS, RAPISTS, GANG MEMBERS, AND RELEASED PRISONERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, IN OUR COUNTRY SO THEY CAN ROB, MURDER, AND RAPE AGAIN -- ALL PROTECTED BY THESE USA HATING JUDGES WHO SUFFER FROM AN IDEOLOGY THAT IS SICK, AND VERY DANGEROUS FOR OUR COUNTRY. HOPEFULLY THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, AND OTHER GOOD AND COMPASSIONATE JUDGES THROUGHOUT THE LAND, WILL SAVE US FROM THE DECISIONS OF THE MONSTERS WHO WANT OUR COUNTRY TO GO TO HELL. BUT FEAR NOT, WE HAVE MADE GREAT PROGRESS OVER THE LAST 4 MONTHS, AND AMERICA WILL SOON BE SAFE AND GREAT AGAIN! AGAIN, HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY, AND GOD BLESS AMERICA!"
OK. That's ... a lot. That's a whole lot, in fact. None of it is good.
Biden, unlike Trump, spoke of veterans with reverence
And if that weren't enough, the disparity between the characters of the two men was made clearer later in the week.
Biden spoke to veterans on May 30 at a Memorial Day service in Delaware, his first speech since the cancer diagnosis.
Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store.
"Folks, you know, for generation after generation, that profound idea has been defended by ordinary citizens who stepped up and answered the call," Biden said. "Because of them, American democracy has endured for nearly 250 years. Every generation - every generation - every generation - has to fight to maintain that democracy. Every time, every generation. Because of them, our government is still of the people, by the people and for the people. They are we. And we are still free. And now, we must make sure that sacrifice has never been in vain."
'I really don't feel sorry for him'
That same day, Trump spoke to reporters in the Oval Office. He made false claims that the economy is now better under him than it was under Biden. And during a lengthy bit of rambling, he said this of his predecessor:
"Look, he's been a sort of a moderate person over his lifetime. Not a smart person. But a somewhat vicious person, I will say. If you feel sorry for him, don't feel so sorry, because he's vicious, what he did with his political opponent and all of the people that he hurt. He hurt a lot of people. And so, I really don't feel sorry for him."
Opinion: TACO Trump? President lashes out at 'Trump Always Chickens Out' talk. Hilarious.
Because Trump rarely makes sense, it wasn't clear if he was saying not to feel sorry for Biden because of the cancer diagnosis or if Trump was making reference to his usual spurious claims about the former president's mental capacity.
Regardless, "I really don't feel sorry for him" is a generally crappy thing to say about anyone with cancer - period. And calling the person dumb and "vicious" isn't great, either.
Character differences between Biden and Trump remain stark
Biden, as president, was not perfect, and never claimed to be. But he continues, in the face of a serious health crisis, to speak with decency and patriotism.
Trump, on the other hand, consistently claims he's perfect. Almost infallible. And he speaks like a callous jerk who wouldn't know decency if it stood in front of him.
Opinion: Russia better start listening to big, tough Donald Trump. He is SERIOUS!
With Biden having served the four years between Trump's two terms, the two will forever be bound in political history. But Biden's character will always - always - outshine Trump's.
And the person who knows that better than anyone? The ever-spiteful Donald J. Trump.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Murder investigation after death of woman in north Belfast
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Scaring Putin is the only route to a just peace
Nobody in their right mind thought Putin would come to the latest round of peace talks in Istanbul with any seriousness. And so it has proven. His demands are straight out of Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko's negotiating playbook: demand the maximum, present ultimatums and do not give one inch. Putin's terms for a final settlement are no different from his diktats from the start, including international recognition of Moscow's occupation of the four regions he considers Russian territory, and a guarantee Ukraine never joins any international alliances. Even Putin's pathways to a temporary ceasefire require withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from all of the four regions, demobilisation of the armed forces, cessation of international military aid and electing a new government. In other words: total capitulation, with Ukraine surrendering its sovereignty, partitioned, isolated, disarmed and a Russian puppet government in Kyiv. That doesn't mean negotiations shouldn't continue in the hope of achieving less punitive terms. The Ukrainian government has already signalled it would be ready to accept the temporary occupation of territory Russia has already captured. But it is hard to see how Putin will climb down from his maximalist position without significant changes on the battlefield or to the economic situation. President Trump tried a softball approach with Putin, extending the prospect of major economic benefits through a return to normalisation in US-Russia relations. Putin hasn't bought that even though he has ham-fistedly attempted to mollify Trump and encourage him to abandon Ukraine with his disingenuous ploy of engaging in negotiations. Trump obviously sees right through that. He said he was 'p----d off' by Putin's proposal that Ukraine should be placed under external administration with elections overseen by the UN. The US now needs to try a different approach. Trump can say he did everything he could to end the bloodshed in the first months of his presidency but Putin's intransigence now demands different tactics. What would those tactics be? Continue to hold out an olive branch while doubling down on US military backing to Ukraine and pressuring European allies to do the same thing. It was Biden's faltering leadership that allowed most West European countries as well as the US to do the least they could get away with. That needs to change and we've already seen how Trumpian hectoring can compel Europeans to boost their own defence spending, both in his first term and even more in his second. Renewing US commitment to Nato would also help encourage European leaders. It would send a powerful message to Putin too, whose overriding strategic objective is dividing the West. We need to move on from providing Ukraine with just enough to defend themselves but never enough to prevail. The effort required to drive Russia back out of Ukraine is probably too much to expect, but the point would be to enable Kyiv to do even more damage to Russian forces to compel Putin to reconsider his current calculation that he can grind Ukraine down and outlast the West's support. Among the most harmful constraints Biden imposed on Ukraine was forbidding use of US-supplied weapons to attack Russian sovereign territory. That was the consequence of his fear of Russian escalation, both against Ukraine and Nato countries. It allowed Putin to continue to shield the Russian population from the conflict, keeping it limited to a 'special military operation'. Kyiv didn't play ball though, firing home-made drones into Russia and even mounting the first invasion of its territory since the Second World War. The latest breathtaking drone attack on Russia, which destroyed a large chunk of its strategic air force on the ground shows what can be done. Some say the US and European countries should distance themselves from that, dreading Moscow's retaliation. But irrespective of the diplomatic position they choose to take, they should do the opposite, by giving Ukraine what it needs to carry out further strikes to undermine Russian military capability, drive the war home to the population and humiliate Putin. Trump should start to do real economic damage to Russia. Much can be achieved by more effective military action to increase weapons and equipment loss rates, potentially forcing Putin to transition the economy to a full war footing. The half-hearted sanctions against Russia have not been good enough and European countries have paid more to Russia for hydrocarbons than they have given in aid to Ukraine. We need to turn the screws by tougher measures against the Russian energy sector, finally detaching Moscow from the international banking system and disrupting the ghost tanker fleet that has allowed oil revenues to surge. A bitter blow would also be landed by seizing the entirety of Russia's $330 billion of frozen assets in Western countries to pay for the war, or at least plan to do so subject to negotiations.
NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
Elon Musk's criticism could ‘influence' Senate Republicans on Trump agenda bill
Elon Musk criticizes the Republican spending bill that would advance President Trump's agenda. NBC News White House Correspondent Vaughn Hillyard and NBC News Senior National Political Reporter Sahil Kapur discuss the responses from the White House and Republican congressional 3, 2025
