President Donald Trump responded to former President Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis on Monday, using it as an opportunity to tout "acing" a cognitive exam earlier in the year — but the president's repeated reference to Biden's cancer as "Stage 9" cast doubt over his cognitive ability.
Trump on Biden's cancer diagnosis: "I'm surprised that the public wasn't notified a long time ago, because to get to stage 9, that's a long time ... I did a very complete physical, including cognitive tests. I'm proud to announced I aced it." pic.twitter.com/6mk3bGszAm
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 19, 2025
"I'm surprised that the public wasn't notified a long time ago, because to get to stage 9, that's a long time," Trump said of Biden's newly announced prostate cancer diagnosis.
"I just had my physical, you saw the results...including cognitive tests. I'm proud to announce I aced it. I got them all right," Trump bragged.
Online, the president was quickly called out for the inaccuracy.
DJT is a "Stage 9 Cancer" on our country.
— Frank Ojeda (@UCLADodgerFrank) May 19, 2025
"Proof that DonOLD failed his cognitive test," one response read.
Some were confused. "WTF? Did he just say Stage 9?" an X user asked.
"Trump's cognitive decline is accelerating," a post read, with another insisting, "Trump needs his f---ing head checked."
Once again, he proves how incredibly inept he is with his 'stage 9' comment. And once again he makes President Biden's diagnosis all about himself.
— Jacob R. Adkins (@JacobRAdkins3) May 19, 2025
"No empathy—just lies, self-obsession, and crap about 'Stage 9' cancer (which doesn't exist)," wrote another. "He's not just unfit for office—he's unfit for human company."
In a case of the apple falling near the tree, the eldest Trump son weighed in on the news as well, alluding to a cover-up, asking, "How did Dr. Jill Biden miss stage five metastatic cancer...???" in an X post. Notably, the former first lady holds a doctorate degree in education, not medicine.
BREAKING: Donald Trump Jr. is not only a disgusting human being but he is also an imbecile :
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) May 19, 2025
#1 There is no such thing as "stage 5 cancer".
#2 Around 20–35% of men diagnosed with Gleason 9 prostate cancer, like Biden, already have metastatic disease at diagnosis. pic.twitter.com/6SviexYgMT
Biden's office shared on Sunday that the former president was diagnosed on Friday with an "aggressive" prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, qualifying it as Stage 4. The statement revealed that Biden's cancer scored a nine out of 10 on the Gleason score grading system. Gleason scores range from 6 to 10 and correlate to how quickly the cancer is likely to spread.
It's likely that Trump confused Biden's Gleason score with the Stage of his cancer, but the terms are not interchangeable. Trump's claim that it takes a "long time" to get to Stage 9 would be inaccurate even if he had used the correct term, because a Gleason score of 9 indicates a fast-spreading cancer.
Prostate cancer is the second most common form of cancer among men in the US, and is typically slow-growing and caught in time to treat effectively. All provided information indicates that Biden's cancer is among the rarer cases that metastasizes quickly. A professor of urology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Dr. Ben Davies, told NPR that Biden's cancer is "a very bad version of it, probably the worst you can get."
Trump's blunder follows existing concerns about his own cognitive ability. He recently became agitated when a journalist referred to a doctored photo of MS-13 written above tattoos on the hand of the wrongly-deported Kilmar Abrego-Garcia, insisting the image was unedited. Last week, he had to be reminded to sign an executive order before leaving the Oval Office during a press conference about the executive order.
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