Joe Biden's decency will always outshine Donald Trump's cruelty | Opinion

This past week showed Americans once again that President Donald Trump’s callousness and casual cruelty will never escape the shadow of former President Joe Biden’s decency.

Let’s look at each president’s Memorial Day message.

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.

“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.”

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.

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