Former President Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis, announced Friday, May 16, raised eyebrows across the political media spectrum. Biden’s personal office issued a statement saying the former president has aggressive prostate cancer that has metastasized to the bone. The timing of the announcement led to divergent theories and questions in the press.
Prior to the announcement, several negative headlines circulated about Biden’s mental fitness. CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s new book ‘Original Sin,’ released on Tuesday, May 20, was the latest in a recent wave of books critical of Biden’s mental acuity. Compounding the issue, on Friday, audio from Biden’s 2023 interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur was leaked.
Right and left media split over interpretation of timing
Media on the left and right are aligned in sharing skepticism over the timing of the announcement, but they diverge on the bigger takeaway. Right-leaning media are calling it part of a “Biden coverup” while left-leaning media dismiss this allegation as a “conspiracy theory.”
Some conservative commentators and media outlets argue the cancer announcement may be part of a larger effort to deflect from Biden’s perceived cognitive decline.
Right outlets say ‘cover-up’
“It’s fair to speculate that Biden’s doctors aren’t telling the truth,” Jesse Watters, a Fox News host, said. “Could have been medical malpractice, a fluke, or a medical cover-up.”
“This narrative from the legacy media today that we should somehow drop the conversation about Joe Biden’s health and the cover-up and the lies is completely ridiculous,” Rob Finnerty, a Newsmax host, said.
Left outlets dismiss it as a ‘conspiracy theory’
“What this cancer diagnosis has done on the right is it has renewed conspiracy theories about what was going on in the Biden White House as well,” Leigh Ann Caldwell, a CNN political analyst, said.
“The conspiracy theories are sick,” CNN anchor Symone Sanders said. “The people who are trafficking in them are words I will not use on TV. And I think everybody needs to take a beat and a breath.”
Many questions being asked across the political aisle
Biden’s personal office released a media statement explaining he was “seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms.” Doctors diagnosed him with stage four prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 and metastasis to the bone.
The advanced stage of the cancer and the absence of earlier detection sparked bipartisan skepticism from medical experts who appeared on left- and right-leaning networks.
“He didn’t develop it in the last 100–200 days,” Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, former Obama White House advisor for health policy, said during an appearance on MSNBC. “He had it while he was president. He probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021.”
“In my professional opinion, to me, it was probably diagnosed earlier, and then this is just a recurrence of prior cancer after treatment,” urologist Dr. David Shusterman told Fox News. “He’s probably had it for at least five years, if not 10 years.”
PSA blood tests, a common test taken to detect prostate cancer, seemed to be routine for President Donald Trump during his first term, along with former presidents Obama and Bush. Those records were made publicly available.
Divergences from within the Democratic Party
The diagnosis also shifted dynamics within the Democratic Party. Former Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., who ran against Biden during the 2024 primaries, said he did not believe the timing of the cancer announcement was coincidental. The New York Times reported Phillips “suggested that the former president had timed the announcement of his diagnosis to deflect the growing wave of criticism from within the party.”
“I don’t think it’s coincidental that this was announced this week,” he told the Times.
Some on the left have suggested scrutiny of Biden’s health should now be “muted” out of respect.
“I think those conversations are going to happen, but they should be more muted and set aside for now as he’s struggling through this,” David Axelrod, a CNN political analyst and Chief Strategist for Former President Obama, said.
House Oversight eyes Biden’s medical transparency
This isn’t the first time Biden’s medical transparency has come under scrutiny. The House Oversight Committee previously sought interviews with Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s physician, and other former White House aides to determine whether there was a deliberate lack of disclosure about Biden’s cognitive condition.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said on May 16 in a press release that the investigation will continue.
While those interviews never took place, renewed interest in Biden’s cancer diagnosis may bring the issue back into focus. Republican members of the committee could move to subpoena Dr. O’Connor, though no official steps have been taken as of this publication.
Media framing over Biden’s diagnosis
Despite moments of shared skepticism, left- and right-leaning media continue to frame the story differently.
Right-wing coverage suggests the lack of transparency is part of a broader pattern to conceal Biden’s condition, particularly in the face of mounting evidence from books and audio tapes describing mental lapses.
Left-leaning media insist there’s no evidence of a coordinated and intentional cover-up and suggest any allegations of one are conspiracy theories.
For now, the country is left with limited official information over Biden’s cancer diagnosis, a wave of unanswered questions, and a polarized press criticizing each other over drawn conclusions.
