Latest news with #BidenCancer
The Guardian
3 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Trump extendss sympathy after Biden cancer diagnosis – but it doesn't last long
After Joe Biden revealed his cancer diagnosis, Donald Trump offered an uncharacteristically empathetic and simple response. '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,' Trump wrote on social media. But the compassion didn't last long. Trump soon reverted to type, dabbling in a burgeoning rightwing conspiracy theory about Biden's health and comparing the former president, who has stage four prostate cancer, to a corpse, as Trump's hangers-on and acolytes used the diagnosis to attack Biden and his wife. Trump posted his well-wishing message on 18 May, after Biden's office announced the 82-year-old had been diagnosed with an 'aggressive form' of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. The president's tone changed quickly, however. Trump spent Memorial Day – which the Department of Defense describes as being intended to 'honor all those who died in service to the US during peacetime and war', attacking his one time rival and his time in office. 'Happy Memorial Day to all,' the president wrote on Truth Social. 'Including the scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country through warped radical left minds, who allowed 21,000,000 million people to illegally enter our country, many of them being criminals and the mentally insane, through an open border that only an incompetent president would approve, and through judges who are on a mission to keep murderers, drug dealers, rapists, gang members, and released prisoners from all over the world, in our country so they can rob, murder, and rape again – all protected by these USA hating judges who suffer from an ideology that is sick, and very dangerous for our country.' It was clear that Trump's 'warmest and best wishes' to Biden had been firmly retracted, and that became even more transparent as Trump went on to promote an emerging, fact-free, theory that Biden hid the cancer diagnosis while in office. 'I'm surprised that the public wasn't notified a long time ago because to get to stage nine, that's a long time,' Trump said – seemingly conflating the Gleason score, which measures how cancerous cells look compared with normal cells, with Biden's stage four cancer. Trump's comments hinted at the growing conspiracy theory about Biden's alleged use of an 'autopen' – a device which replicates a person's signature – to sign legislation while in office. The president continued the theme when he suggested that Biden, while president, was taken advantage of by unnamed individuals who 'knew he was cognitively impaired'. It has been a growing issue on the right. This week Trump's AI czar David Sacks speculated that Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator, 'controlled the autopen during that administration', in comments seized upon by the rightwing conspiracy theory Alex Jones, among others. That set the ball rolling. Trump twice posted about the pen, in one post he claimed that the alleged use of the autopen was 'the Biggest Scandal in American History' as he suggested Biden was not of 'sound mind'. On Thursday the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt followed up in an official briefing, suggesting Jill Biden should 'speak up about what she saw' about the health of her husband, who is said to be reviewing treatment options for the aggressive cancer that was discovered less than two weeks ago. Others in Trump's orbit have also made unsavory comments, including Donald Trump Jr, who mocked Jill Biden over the diagnosis. Trump Jr posted on social media: 'What I want to know is how did Dr Jill Biden miss stage five metastatic cancer or is this yet another coverup???' It was a message that neatly managed to combine the autopen theory with a callback to Republican mocking of Jill Biden, who holds a doctorate in education and is not a medical doctor. But for all the Republican group-think about Biden's health, it was left to Trump himself to offer the bleakest take, reposting a message on Truth Social that read: 'They stole the 2020 election and hijacked the country using a decrepit corpse as a frontman They used an autopen to start wars, steal from our treasury, and pardon their friends Arrest those responsible and charge them with TREASON.' In late April, as Trump approached 100 days in office, NBC News reported that Trump had posted or commented on Biden, or his family, 580 at least 580 times since becoming president. With that little commitment, perhaps in hindsight it shouldn't be surprising that a cancer diagnosis would not stop the commander-in-chief.
The Independent
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
The week the Democrats' gerontocracy problem came home to roost
The sun rose literally and metaphorically for House Republicans on Thursday when they finally mustered the votes to pass President Donald Trump's ' One, Big, Beautiful Bill.' The vote came under the tightest of margins, with 215 Republicans voting for the bill. Two Republicans, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio, opposed it and Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, voted 'present.' While two Republicans, Dave Schweikert of Arizona and Andrew Garbarino of New York, fell asleep. All 212 Democrats voted against the bill, meaning that the final vote tally was 215-214. But had Gerry Connolly, the Virginia Democratic representative, not died of esophageal cancer earlier this week, the bill would have been deadlocked and failed on the floor. Not only that, but Connolly is the third Democratic member of Congress to die this year. It served as a bitter bookend to the week that began with former president Joe Biden announcing that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer: Democratic leadership has an age problem and not only does it prevent them from winning re-election, it prevents them from stopping Republicans. The week was always likely to be a painful reminder about Biden's age and the role it played in the 2024 election, given that Axios's Alex Thompson and CNN's Jake Tapper released their book Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. But Biden's cancer diagnosis put the former president's decision to run for re-election despite being 81 into even starker relief It showed his hubris in thinking that he could be up for a full-fledged White House campaign again when he even showed signs of aging in his 2020 presidential run that did not demand the rigor of a cross-country blitz due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Biden family and his defenders have taken to attacking Tapper and Thompson. But Biden's disastrous debate performance only cemented what people already felt: that Biden's age and frailty disqualified him from the most difficult job in the world. And Connolly's death shows this is not a one-off problem for the Democratic Party. It further solidifies how much Democratic elders refuse to hand over the reins of power to the next generation. Last year, when Jamie Raskin bumped New York Democrat Jerry Nadler to become the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threw her hat in the ring to replace him. Ocasio-Cortez had occasionally led House Democrats when Raskin underwent treatment for cancer. She had some of the toughest questions for witnesses in the Oversight Committee and is known to have one of the most professional staffs on Capitol Hill. But she was passed over for Connolly largely because it was 'his turn.' Connolly had been consistently leapfrogged to lead the committee, but Democrats have long adhered to the idea that Democrats earn chairmanships based on whose 'turn' it is. This creates a bottleneck where members can wait for years on end to earn leadership spots, only to be advanced in age when they obtain these coveted positions, thereby repeating the cycle. This was also compounded by the fact that earlier this year, two other House Democrats died. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona died of cancer, while Sylvester Turner of Texas died the day after Trump's joint address to Congress. Grijalva, who had undergone cancer treatment and missed most votes last year, was among those who told Biden he should step aside. Turner, who was 70 and had survived cancer, won his seat in Congress after Sheila Jackson Lee died in office last year. Had all three Democrats not run for office last year or had younger Democrats run for their seats, the bill likely would have been unsuccessful. More than that, in 2024, Democratic Reps. Bill Pascrell, 87, and Donald Payne of New Jersey both died. The House Democratic caucus's age problem no longer just means that the party looks out of date: it actively prevents Democrats from doing their job. Republicans' hands are, of course, not entirely clean on this. Trump will turn 79 next month and Mitch McConnell, 83, clung to power until last year. But so far, it has not prevented them from winning elections or passing legislation. Democrats don't lack young talent either in the House. They have both the youngest representative, Maxwell Frost of Florida, and the youngest senator, Jon Ossoff of Georgia. They also enjoy a bevy of young Democratic governors like Wes Moore of Maryland, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. They have no reason to continue to rely on older leaders. The Democratic Party has taken to saying they are the vanguards of democracy and the one thing preventing the rise of authoritarianism in America. But their refusal to change their leadership means they do not take the threat entirely seriously. So why should anyone else?
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Trump wants answers on Biden's cancer diagnosis
By Published: | Updated: President Donald Trump hinted that he wanted to see President Joe Biden 's medical doctor be investigated after the former president's shock cancer diagnosis. In the Oval Office on Monday, Trump was asked to react to Biden's diagnosis and was asked if he planned to call his predecessor. Trump responded by calling the news 'very sad' but then segued and suggested that there might have been a cover-up, as others on the political right have floated. 'I'm surprised that it wasn't, you know, the public wasn't notified a long time ago because to get to stage nine, that's a long time,' Trump said. After boasting about acing his own physical - and noting that he had taken a cognitive test - he suggested something was awry with Biden's White House doctor. 'I think that if you look, it's the same doctor that said that Joe was cognitively fine. There was nothing wrong with him,' Trump said. 'Maybe it was the same doctor, and somebody is not telling the facts.' He said that while he felt 'badly' about it, 'I think people should try and find out what happened,' the president added. On Sunday, Biden's post-presidential office sent out a statement saying that the former president had been diagnosed with prostate cancer on Friday, which had metastasized to his bones. Prostate cancers are graded on aggressiveness by using what's called the Gleason score. In the 82-year-old ex-commander-in-chief's case, his Gleason score is a 9 - making it one of the most aggressive. 'While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,' Biden's office said. 'The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.' The former president received an outpouring of support, including from Trump and the first lady. 'Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden's recent medical diagnosis,' Trump posted to Truth Social. 'We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.' However Donald Trump Jr. and other members of the online MAGAverse started stirring the pot over whether a cover-up was afoot. 'What I want to know is how did Dr. Jill Biden miss stage five metastatic cancer or is this yet another cover-up???' Trump Jr. mused. Dr. Biden, the former first lady, is not a medical doctor. She has a Ph.D in education. After Biden bombed his late June debate against Trump, questions about his fitness for office got even louder. Then White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre initially bungled a response when asked why a Parkinson's disease expert had visited the White House multiple times. Additionally, Biden's White House physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, never took questions from the press, unlike Trump's original White House physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson, now a MAGA-aligned Republican representing Texas in Congress. Trump's second White House doctor, Dr. Sean Conley, addressed the press when Trump contracted COVID-19 just weeks before the 2020 election. Conley was criticized, however, for painting a much-too-rosy picture of Trump's battle with the disease, which could have turned deadly. Author Chris Whipple, who wrote Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History, said on CNN last month that 'this was different from a cover-up.' 'It wasn't a Watergate-style cover-up. It wasn't a grand conspiracy as Karl Rove has described it,' Whipple said. 'The closest advisers to Biden believed, despite all the evidence, that Joe Biden was capable of running for reelection, of winning and of serving another four years,' Whipple said. 'Now it was really delusional.' Want more stories like this from the Daily Mail? Visit our profile page and hit the follow button above for more of the news you need.
Fox News
20-05-2025
- Health
- Fox News
'THEY LIED ABOUT EVERYTHING': Rep. Jim Jordan SLAMS Dems for Biden Health Coverup
Congressman Jim Jordan, who represents Ohio's 4th Congressional District and serves as House Judiciary Committee Chairman, joined The Guy Benson Show today to discuss the breaking news of President Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis, and the alarming implications of what appears to be a coverup by both the White House and Democratic leadership. Jordan also shared updates on Trump's 'big, beautiful' bill and the latest House GOP budget, emphasizing the urgency of wrapping up negotiations. He reiterated why cutting taxes remains a core Republican principle as the legislative clock winds down. Listen to the full interview below! Listen to the full interview below: Listen to the full podcast below:
Fox News
20-05-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Does the Biden Coverup Continue?
Was Biden's cancer diagnosis part of the big coverup too? I'm Tomi Lahren, more next. I am sorry to hear of former President Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis. That being said, it does not mean the public will entirely avoid the conversation surrounding his mental and physical decline while president. As a concerned citizen, I'm also not going to shy away from saying what many of us are thinking, how did a former president with arguably the best medical care and team in the world, get taken by surprise at this advanced diagnosis? Many of us are questioning it, and it's not because we're mean, it's because we've been lied to for YEARS about Joe's physical and mental state. For his medical team to really have missed the signs and symptoms of prostate cancer until it got to this advanced point, is hard to fathom. Was this part of the coverup, too? The timing of this announcement comes just as the Biden White House tell all books are coming out and those in his inner circle as well as powerful Democrats are being needled about what they knew, and when they knew it. This announcement seems like it was meant to chill the discussion. But it's not going to work! I'm Tomi Lahren and you watch my show 'Tomi Lahren is Fearless' at Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
