BREAKING: Trump uses slur against Biden at Iran rescue press conference
Trump shocked observers Monday when he used an ableist slur to describe former President Joe Biden, not once but twice, during a White House press conference that was originally called to provide updates on the rescue of two American airmen shot down over Iran last week.
Rather than focusing on the soldiers or the ongoing tensions with Tehran, Trump almost immediately pivoted to boasting about his personal relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, citing Kim’s past use of the same slur against Biden as some kind of endorsement. “Kim Jong Un, who I get along with very well, as you know. Do you notice he’s said very nice things about me?” Trump told the packed briefing room, before repeating the slur a second time for emphasis.
The moment was jarring even by Trump standards. A press conference meant to address a genuine national security event became a platform for petty score-settling against a predecessor who is no longer in office and personal bragging about a dictator’s approval rating
This is far from the first time Trump has reached for this kind of language. In 2024, he reportedly deployed the same slur against then-Vice President Kamala Harris at a closed-door Republican donor event. He also used it publicly against Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in a Thanksgiving message on Truth Social, a particularly cruel choice given that Walz has a son with learning disabilities.
Trump returns to this language repeatedly, against political rivals, against a sitting vice president, and now against a former president at an official White House briefing. And hours after the press conference, Trump was at the Easter Egg Roll telling a table of young children about Biden’s autopen, unable to let go of his fixation even in that setting.
The men who were rescued deserved better. The country deserved better. What it got instead was a president who cannot stay on topic, cannot resist a cheap shot, and cannot stop auditioning for the approval of authoritarian leaders