President Donald Trump called former President Joe Biden “mentally retarded” twice.
Speaking at a press conference Monday, Trump repeatedly threw around the slur while bragging about his relationship with Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s reclusive authoritarian leader.
“Do you notice, he said very nice things about me. He used to call Joe Biden a mentally retarded person, OK? So, don’t tell me about your stuff,” the president said. “[Of] Joe Biden, he said, ‘He’s a mentally retarded person.’ He was so nasty to Joe Biden, it was terrible. But to me—he likes Trump.”
Trump: “You know who else didn’t help us? South Korea didn’t help us. We’ve got 45,000 soldiers in South Korea to protect them from Kim Jong Un, who I get along with very well. He said very nice things about me. He used to call Joe Biden a mentally retarded person.” pic.twitter.com/l7BqskXLu0
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 6, 2026
It doesn’t appear that Kim Jong Un ever referred to Biden as “mentally retarded.”
In 2019, North Korean state media labeled Biden an “imbecile” and a “fool of low IQ” after the former president criticized Kim as a “tyrant.”
But Trump has not been immune to North Korea’s name-calling, either: He was previously labeled a “dotard,” meaning someone who is slow and old. His supposedly cozy relationship with Kim has only become more strained since he reentered office.
Trump’s comments came amid a winding rant complaining that other countries had not helped to reopen the Strait of Hormuz (which only closed because of Trump’s decision to attack Iran).
Trump’s inability to stay on topic, or recall specific details, speaks to his increasingly apparent cognitive decline. The president’s retreat to childish attacks against his former political rival mirrors his ongoing temper tantrum meant to threaten Iran into allowing trade to resume through the region.
