A GOP Congressman Ronny Jackson, a doctor, compares Joe Biden to cancer: Reacting to the news that the president had a cancerous lesion removed from his chest, the former White House physician made a shocking comment on Fox News.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) is a physician, one of the few in Congress. He was a White House doctor under three presidents, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, and was the top Physician to the President under both Obama and Trump.
At one point in 2018, Trump nominated Jackson to serve as head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, but Jackson later withdrew, “amid allegations he had fostered a hostile work environment and behaved improperly while serving as the top doctor.”
For years Jackson, a Naval veteran, was not a controversial figure. But he raised eyebrows, earlier in 2018, when as the White House physician he gave Trump a glowingly over-the-top physical assessment.
“Some people have just great genes. I told the president that if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years, he might live to be 200 years old,” Jackson said at the time. He added that the then-president had “absolutely no cognitive or mental issues whatsoever.”
In 2020, Jackson ran for Congress in Texas and was ultimately elected. He became a frequent critic of President Biden and other Democrats, at one point citing that cognitive test and implying that Biden wouldn’t be able to pass it. Jackson has also embraced numerous conspiracy theories over the years, including Trump’s stolen election lies.
Two years later, it was revealed that Obama had written a critical email to Jackson.
“I have made a point of not commenting on your service in my successor’s administration and have always spoken highly of you both in public and in private. You always served me and my family well, and I have considered you not only a fine doctor and service member but also a friend,” the 44th president said in that email.
“That’s why I have to express my disappointment at the cheap shot you took at Joe Biden via Twitter. It was unprofessional and beneath the office that you once held. It was also disrespectful to me and the many friends you had in our administration. You were the personal physician to the President of the United States as well as an admiral in the U.S. Navy. I expect better, and I hope upon reflection that you will expect more of yourself in the future.”
It does not appear that Jackson has taken that advice.
This weekend, the Congressman appeared on Maria Bartiromo’s Fox Business show, when Bartiromo brought up the news that President Biden had had a cancerous lesion removed from his chest. After stating that Biden is “okay,” Bartiromo pivoted to “the conversation about the president’s capacity,” and Jackson’s previously stated belief that Biden’s cognitive abilities are “a national security risk.”
Jackson’s reply?
“I’ll start by saying that Biden is the cancer. He’s what needs to be removed, not the lesion they found.”
Certainly, a callous remark, even if Jackson weren’t a doctor, and even if Biden hadn’t lost a son to cancer and worked aggressively to try to find a cure for that disease.
Jackson was roundly criticized for comparing the president of the United States to cancer.
“Remarkable the kind of moral degenerate this guy turned out to be,” journalist Josh Marshall said on Twitter.
“Setting aside the classlessness, this comment shows how crazy the hard right’s view of politics has become. Joe Biden is a totally ordinary American president. Even if you disagree with his politics and think he’s doing a bad job, it’s nuts to refer to him as a ‘cancer,’ writer James Surowiecki said, also on Twitter.
“It really is wild how much every GOP politician sounds like clubber lang taunting Rocky in Rocky III,” Dan Solomon of Texas Monthly tweeted.
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Expertise and Experience: Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
