Joe Biden’s prostate cancer is a teaching moment, a time when men should be learning that periodic checkups—usually annually—should include prostate examinations. Similar to when First Lady Betty Ford revealed her mastectomy in 1974 and prompted countless women to have their own breast examinations, the former president’s illness should be a national, if not global, wake up call for men.
This opportunity, however, has been shamefully dismissed by Vice President JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr. and many other MAGA-heads who are heartless in their desire to exploit any weakness in their opposition, even if such vulnerability could be life-threatening.
At least for now, Donald Sr. has conveyed appropriate well-wishes to his predecessor, though the clock probably won’t tick too many tocks before Trump renews his verbal assault on a president who, compared to him, oversaw an economy that was the envy of the world with stock market indices at record highs along with unparalleled job growth, who expanded healthcare coverage, who engineered an infrastructure program Trump could never get passed despite his repeated messages about “infrastructure weeks,” and who marshaled global democratic nation support for Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression.
Then again, perhaps Vance and Junior have provided a teaching moment—how not to behave toward a person with cancer.
Acceptance of Biden’s politics is not required; decency toward Biden’s condition that had no bearing on his functioning as president should be a given response.
Their actions are yet more examples of the tone-death attitudes Trumpers have displayed toward people who have experienced extraordinary catastrophes.
