Trump's Awkward Slip-Up During Shady Biden Health Rant Has Everyone Calling Him Out The List
Donald Trump was uncharacteristically kind when he posted on social media about Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis, but a public comment was much more on-brand.
By May 20, 2025 2:30 pm EST
Donald Trump addressed reporters in the White House on May 19, and delivered yet another rambling speech about former president Joe Biden that left many confused and taken aback. Trump fielded a question about Biden's recent diagnosis with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, and managed to not only deliver an impressive gaffe, but he also turned the whole thing back around to praise himself. This is what people in the industry should start calling a "Trump Twofer."
Speaking in a remarkably different tone than the insincere well wishes he released after the news of Biden's diagnosis first broke, Trump instead went on the attack. Trump raised vague concerns and insinuations about Biden's administration keeping secrets from the American public, and managed to misspeak so badly that people couldn't help but drag him on social media. "I think it's very sad, actually. I'm surprised that the public wasn't notified a long time ago," Trump said. "Because to get to Stage 9, that's a long time."
Many took to Twitter to ask the obvious question: What is stage 9 cancer? In terms of stages, cancer only goes to stage 4, meaning the cancer has metastasized, or spread from its original location to other parts of the body. Several commenters on X (formerly Twitter) used the gaffe to poke fun at Trump, with one user sharing a video of one of Trump's more confusing public speeches, which he captioned, "This is what stage 9 dementia looks like."
While Donald Trump has repeatedly shown that Joe Biden lives rent free in his head at all times, some X users tried to make sense of the remark. What they discovered was that it's likely Trump got confused and conflated two bits of information about Biden's diagnosis. Biden was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which has metastasized to his bones. Prostate cancer specifically is also graded with something called a Gleason score, used to indicate the likelihood and possibility of it spreading.
Biden's prostate cancer has a score of 9 on that scale, and is in Group 5. According to USA Today, a score of 9 (out of a possible 10) indicates it will likely grow aggressively. The groups, graded from 1 to 5, indicate the speed of the cancer's spread. Some on X argue that it's possible Trump heard that Biden had a score of 9 on the Gleason scale and simply didn't understand what that meant, or got confused.
However, Trump made sure to change the subject back to himself to brag about his own competence. "I did a very complete physical, including cognitive tests. I'm proud to announce I aced it. I got them all right," Trump said. "I think, frankly, anybody running for president should take a cognitive test." It's unclear if one of the questions on that test is, "Do you think stage 9 cancer exists, and if so, why do you think that?"