Trump Drops Vile Slur About Oval Office Predecessor
The president has repeatedly used the slur.
President Donald Trump crassly referred to former president Joe Biden as “mentally re---ded” twice on Monday.
During a press conference that was supposed to offer additional details on the rescue of two American airmen shot down over Iran last week, the 79-year-old president veered into gloating over North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s apparent affinity for him.
“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 asked a jam-packed White House briefing room.
Trump rambled on about his predecessor.
Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS
“He used to call Joe Biden a mentally re---ded person,” Trump went on. The president then doubled down on his use of the slur, repeating: “Joe Biden, he said he’s a mentally re---ded person.”
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“But to me, he likes Trump,” the president bragged. “And do you notice how nice things are with North Korea?”

Trump had repeatedly gone after Biden.
Melina Mara/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
During Trump’s first term, senior North Korean official and former nuclear negotiator Kim Yong-chol referred to him as a “heedless and erratic old man.” Kim, for his part, referred to Trump as a “dotard,” or a senile person, who was “mentally deranged.”

Trump and the North Korean dictator have traded their fair share of insults.
Dong-A Ilbo via Getty Images/Getty Images
This isn’t the first time Trump has referred to his political enemies as the “r-word.” In November 2024, The New York Times reported that Trump had referred to then–Vice President Kamala Harris as “r-----ed” during a Republican donor event at Trump Tower months earlier.
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Last November, Trump also took aim at Harris’ former running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, writing in a Thanksgiving message on Truth Social: “The seriously ret----ed Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, does nothing, either through fear, incompetence, or both.”
Trump's insults are deeply personal to Walz, who has a son with learning disabilities.
Ken Cedeno/REUTERS
Biden, 83, seemed to be present in Trump’s head throughout much of the day. Hours earlier, as Trump wandered around the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll, he sat at a table with a group of young children and started signing autographs.
“Biden would use the autopen,” he told the kids.
“What?” one confused kid could be heard responding. It wasn’t clear whether he was too young to know about the former president or didn’t know what an autopen was.
“He’d have an autopen follow him, Joe Biden,” Trump told the group. “He didn’t sign. He was incapable of signing things, so they’d follow him around with a big machine. You know what it was called? An autopen.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
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