On Sunday, May 18th, the office of Joe Biden announced the former president’s prostate cancer diagnosis. The cancer is Stage IV and characterized with a Gleason score of nine, which means it is highly aggressive and has already metastasized to the bone. Since it has progressed this far, the cancer can be managed, but it cannot be cured. While in earlier times, the prognosis for the cancer would have been measured in months, recent advancements in cancer technology have significantly bettered Biden’s chances with a prognosis of five to ten years.
After the diagnosis, world leaders and public figures expressed an outpour of support. President Donald Trump said that he was “saddened” to hear about the diagnosis, and in a Truth Social post wished Biden a “fast and successful recovery.” Kamala Harris, Biden’s former vice president and presidential candidate during the 2024 election, posted on Twitter that “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.”
But along with the support for the former president, there were also accusations of a cover up, both of the cancer and the president’s previous mental decline. In a statement, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee James Comer (R. KY) called on President Biden’s physician and former advisors to participate in transcribed interviews in order to “uncover the truth.” And Trump, despite his initial sympathy, posted again on Truth Social that Democrats “stole the 2020 election and hijacked the country using a decrepit corpse as a frontman.” These accusations comment on Biden’s drop out of last year’s presidential race following disappointing debate performances and insider reports of a mental decline.
But there is not only talk of a “cover-up” on the right side of the aisle here. Biden’s fellow democrats have recently started questioning whether Biden and those near to him behaved unethically to prop up an ailing president. The cancer diagnosis coincided closely with the release of CNN journalist Jake Tapper’s book “Original Sin,” which explicitly calls out a cover-up of Biden’s mental state late in his term. The book includes many concerning anecdotes about Biden’s mental and physical state.
So, the question remains: what does this mean for the democrats? After a devastating loss in 2024, the party has grown more and more unpopular with voters. And while Biden’s cancer diagnosis is tragic on the individual level, it is also indicative of a widespread phenomenon in American politics: politicians are getting older. Biden was the oldest president ever to be elected in 2020—a record that Trump broke again in 2024. The average ages of the Senate and the House of 63.8 years and 57.7 years, respectively, are both the third highest in the history of Congress. And, the average age in both Chambers has been progressively rising since the 1980s. Less than a year after his first term, Biden’s cancer diagnosis signals that politicians are getting older, and it’s not stopping anytime soon.
This article also appears in our June 2025 print edition.
