Did Biden know all along?
The era of heightened cynicism is still upon us.
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I’ve spent the past few weeks feeling nauseous over the discussions surrounding the book by Axios reporter Alex Thompson and CNN anchor Jake Tapper, Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. The title alone tells you everything you need to know about the scandal.
The news of Biden’s prostate cancer diagnosis was expected to generate an outpouring of support for the former president (naiveté at its height). While some of that did happen, nothing in today’s media climate escapes being absorbed into the conspiratorial machinery of those already distrustful of the press—go figure. So, when Biden’s announcement came, so did the conspiracies.
A perfect example of how quickly Americans leap to cynical assumptions can be seen in Vice President JD Vance’s immediate response when asked about Biden’s diagnosis. Sure, he started by wishing Biden well, but before that sympathy could sink in, he pivoted to asking why Biden’s doctors and staff didn’t force him out sooner, implying they knew about the cancer and kept it hidden from the public.
It’s true that government officials sometimes keep things from the American people. And sometimes that’s justifiable—like classified intelligence or plans to prevent domestic terrorism. Other times, not so much. For instance, when Donald Trump downplayed the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, or when he misled the public about how intertwined the Project 2025 playbook was to his incoming Admin. That kind of deception should absolutely be exposed. If Biden had actively misled the public for years about his cancer, that would be wrong.
But he didn’t.
Having clear and specific ideas is better than not
I’ve been arguing for months now that Democrats who focus all their criticism on Biden are ignoring a more important conversation they should be having with themselves and fellow voters.
Criticizing Biden for not stepping aside sooner, or for not following through on his earlier promise to be a bridge to the next generation of leaders, is totally valid. What’s not valid is what people like Vance, Trump, and many others are doing now: suggesting they possess some secret knowledge of Biden’s health being deliberately hidden and protected by an airtight wall of secrecy.
Here’s a more realistic version of events: Biden is old. His team knew he was old, but they supported his policies and saw him operating well—at least occasionally. They told the press and public that he was capable, which can be true while also acknowledging that he wasn’t the sharpest, the most articulate, or the youngest president to hold the office. Even so, I think he was healthy for an 80-year-old in one of the most stressful jobs in the world. He could still negotiate, somewhat explain major policy achievements—yes, even if he stuttered and mumbled through speeches. He golfed, swam, rode bikes, and managed long travel days and full schedules. That doesn’t mean he was fit, but it does mean he was functional—arguably more active than the current president—which likely helped reassure his team that he still had something. Eventually, he started dealing with more serious health issues and has subsequent colon surgery that went well. He asked for the debate and then stepped out of the race, and was recently diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of cancer.
Now, maybe he knew about it before the election. But if he did, why wouldn’t he have used that to his or the party’s advantage? Why would he fight to stay in the race while knowing the cancer was progressing? Why wouldn’t he announce it earlier to receive sympathy or at least address health concerns transparently, to gain trust with voters?
These are tough questions. And one must answer them in a way that adds clarity. Conspiracies are known for never adding insight—only ever asking questions.
Whatever you think of Biden politically, he’s mostly harmless. At worst, he’s a kind of 1950s-style greaser-bully—not someone who would descend into Trump or MAGA levels of depravity. So why are we rushing to believe the worst possible version of events? Seriously—is there a darker theory than the idea that the former president had cancer, knew it, was treating it, publicly insisted he was fine, demanded debates, and then acted stunned when top Democrats begged him to step aside? Is he really that villainous? Or are you just that cynical?
My very own breaking point
I had a minor spat with Emily Jashinsky on Twitter over claims that “legacy media” helped cover up the Biden “scandal.” My point in that thread was less about Biden and more about the lack of specificity in her and her followers' criticisms of the media. But with conspiracists, specificity is never the goal. Everything fits the theory they already believe. The only antidote is criticism and questioning.
Jashinsky’s argument hinged on Thompson receiving an award for his reporting on Biden’s health and withdrawal from the race. But Thompson reported and published those stories as they were happening. Her claim that the White House Correspondents' Association awarding him somehow proves there was a cover-up just doesn’t make sense.
I also pointed out that if people like Jashinsky think Biden and his team orchestrated a total information blackout, then how could she possibly know about it? If the deception worked, how did it reach the fringes of the alternative media first?
The people convinced Biden was sicker than he let on after the diagnosis are the same ones who already believed he was some manipulative, puppet figure hiding behind the media lens. In other words, they see the cancer diagnosis not as new information, but as validation of what they believed all along. That’s how the alternative media space works, after all!
Sure, it’s technically possible that Biden orchestrated this entire thing, hiding a serious diagnosis since 2020 and never letting it leak. I can’t say for say certain that didn’t happen. But anyone who claims that is what happened needs to offer better arguments—and answer a lot more questions—before expecting to be taken seriously. You don’t get to say “I knew it all along” without being able to reason your way there. If you knew all along, you must’ve been able to explain it.
Biden's last known PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen test) was in 2014. It is recommended that one over the age of 70 not receive them. And there’s even some argument that taking PSA at all is not a great choice. All that to say: Biden didn’t know and probably made the right choice in not testing himself every year.
It’s not about being vindicated. It’s about being reasonable. And the people claiming Biden knew all along and lied about it aren’t even trying to be reasonable. They’re trying to play politics with a sick statesman.