Former American president Joe Biden is suffering from an "aggressive" form of prostate cancer. This announcement, made by his office on Sunday, May 18, immediately hit the headlines of newspapers and news channels in the United States. According to the statement, the 82-year-old Democrat has "metastasis to the bone," but "the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive, which allows for effective management" of the disease. According to the official account, Biden consulted a doctor last week due to urinary symptoms. The diagnosis was made on Friday.
This announcement comes at a time when Biden's physical and cognitive health is a hotly debated topic, particularly among Democrats. For years, the Trump administration and its conservative allies have claimed that the concealment of his true condition was a conspiracy, with the complicity of mainstream media, and now, an investigative book is reigniting this accusation. Written by CNN anchor, Jack Tapper, and Alex Thompson, a Axios journalist, Original Sin examines how Biden's entourage did not attempt to dissuade him from running again in 2023 and then placed him in a protective cocoon.
To this day, some of his close allies refute this theory. Speaking on May 16 at a conference organized by Politico in Washington, Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser throughout his term, said that his downfall during the TV debate with Donald Trump in late June 2024 was an unexpected "shock" to him. "I sat with President Biden in the Oval Office, I sat with him in the situation room, from the beginning of my time to the end of my time. I saw him operating, decision making, executing as commander in chief during all that time. (...) And I think when the history of each of these major issues is written – Ukraine, Gaza, China, you name it – you will see President Biden's decision-making, his instincts, his leadership on those issues will come through all of them," said Sullivan.
Also on Friday evening, an audio excerpt from Biden's 2023 questioning by Special Counsel Robert Hur, revealed by Axios, chillingly confirmed his memory lapses on facts and dates that were nonetheless essential. For example, the fate of his son Beau, who died of cancer in 2015. At the end of his investigation into the handling of classified documents found notably at Biden's home, Special Counsel Hur did not press charges against him. However, he described the then president as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." The White House then attacked Hur for his supposedly inappropriate and political comments.
Biden's Vice President, Kamala Harris, who became the Democratic candidate in late July 2024 after his abrupt withdrawal, sent him her heartfelt thoughts on X on Sunday: "Joe is a fighter – and I know he will face this challenge with the same strength, resilience and optimism that have always defined his life and leadership."
This revelation also inspired a brief moment of empathy from Trump. The president posted a kind message on his Truth Social network: "Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden's recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery."
Other voices in the MAGA ("Make America Great Again") world, such as conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, highly regarded by the president, denounced what they claim is a medical lie, asserting that Biden is actually suffering from a long-standing cancer..
Trump's kind words are all the more notable as they come after months of relentless attacks on Biden, a favorite subject of mockery and scapegoating. During his May 13 speech in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Trump claimed that his predecessor had led "the worst administration in history." According to Trump, "The Biden administration's extreme weakness and gross incompetence derailed progress toward peace, destabilized the region and put at risk everything we had worked so hard to build together."
Similarly, on the domestic front, Trump consistently paints a caricatured picture of Biden and the deplorable state in which he allegedly left the United States, as if personal decline led to that of the country. The billionaire has claimed, from podiums to interviews, that his predecessor was unaware of everything at the White House, as evidenced by the use of the autopen, the automatic signature computer. He allegedly left an "inflation nightmare" and an "economic disaster."" This is false. The unemployment rate was historically low, at 4.1%, and inflation had been reduced to 2.9% after a long period of feverish growth 9%. Growth in 2024 reached the impressive figure of 3.1%.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.