Cancer and Credibility

Biden's announcement cannot be viewed in isolation

Recently, former President Joe Biden announced that he has advanced prostate cancer that has metastasized to the bones. Given his age and the fact that the cancer is “advanced” it is probably not a good prognosis for him.

The announcement was met with the usual polite statements from Democratic and Republican officials alike, up to and including President Trump. But it also began prompting questions - when did Biden know he had cancer?

On Morning Joe, the media-friendly doctor (but also oncologist) Ezekiel Emmanuel stated, based on his professional expertise, that “He’s had this for many years, maybe even a decade, growing there and spreading…He did not develop it in the last 100 to 200 days.”

Other medical officials online and on television have made similar statements - essentially saying that the way this cancer works is that you are able to detect it well before it metastasizes to the bones. And given that Joe Biden was President of the United States from 2021-2025, he was almost certainly being routinely given the kinds of medical screens that would’ve detected the cancer long ago. The implication is that Biden knew he had cancer all along, probably thought he could manage it (as is often the case with prostate cancer) and then made the decision to hide it from the public.

Some Republicans have further suggested that Biden decided to announce his diagnosis now in order to quiet down criticism of him (especially among Democrats) as Alex Thompson and Jake Tapper go around promoting their book highlighting the president’s advancing cognitive decline while in office - along with the concerted cover up of said decline.

This was denounced as “conspiratorial” by outlets like The New York Times. Here is how they describe President Trump’s initial reactions:

President Trump initially set aside his frequent attacks on Mr. Biden to “wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.” But he later sounded a more conspiratorial note.

“I’m surprised that the public wasn’t notified a long time ago,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “That test is standard to pretty much anybody getting a physical.”

Is it really conspiratorial to suggest that Biden has known about his cancer for a while now? That seems to be a common assumption, including by Democratic-aligned oncologists like Emmanuel.

The basis of the assumption is not just the fact the cancer is highly detectable and many in the medical community find it extraordinarily unlikely that it would’ve just shown up suddenly in this advanced stage. It is also the fact that Biden and those around him clearly covered up his cognitive decline for years. It is pretty widely accepted now that Biden deliberately deceived the public on that status of his mental health in order to advance his own ambitions, why would it be far fetched to assume he would do so about his physical health?

I count myself among those who believe that this cancer must have been known for some time. Which in of itself means that Biden was running for a second term knowing full well he was facing what can be (and may be) a fatal diagnosis, all the while lying to the public with pronouncements by his doctors that he had a clean bill of health.

As I’ve noted previously, Biden began his 2020 campaign under the theme that he sought to restore “the soul of America.” He basked himself in self-righteous glory, aided by allies in the media and the Democratic Party, that he was a decent, honest man who stood for all that was good in America - battling the dark forces of fascism and hate made manifest in the form of Donald Trump.

Yet this image of itself was always a charade, a manufactured image belied by his own behavior - including support of a brutal genocide still being carried out in Gaza, which could’ve been stopped at any point by Biden. He sent arms instead.

Biden is the character, as often the case with politicians, who soaked himself in his own delusions. I am sure he believes he was a good person trying to save the country - and that only he could do it. But these kinds of fantasies, egged on by the apparatchiks around him, lend themselves to an ends-justify-the-means approach to life. He surely thought it was ok to deceive the country about his own health (mental and physical) because he convinced himself that he was on the side of good. He thought it was important to double down on a second term and ensure no credible intra-party rivals arose, because it just had to be him. He was on a mission and whatever it took to get there would be moral because his mission was moral.

And then it all came crashing down. He was forced out by his own party after his senility became public. His legacy was shattered when his politically incompetent replacement crashed at the polls. His image of an honest man wilted away by the growing revelations of his lying to the American people to advance his own gain.

Now we find out he may be dying. That is sad for him and his family. But if he had actually been an honest man, he wouldn’t have run in 2020 (when his diagnosis may have already been known) and certainly not in 2024 (when his cognitive decline was well underway.) But his ambition and entitled sense of his own importance got in the way. Now he - and the country - must grapple with the consequences.