Yesterday Joe Biden confirmed that he’s been diagnosed with prostate cancer that’s spread to his bones. His office has confirmed that this is an aggressive form of cancer and that they’re exploring options for treatment.
For a brief moment, there was an outpouring of sympathy. Donald Trump (or, at least, his social media team) took to TruthSocial to wish Biden a full and rapid recovery, with other world leaders sending similar positive messages to the former president. Even Donald Trump Jr joined the chorus, reposting a message saying, “politics aside, we wish him a speedy recovery“. But that empathy doesn’t seem to have lasted long.
Just a few hours later, Don Jr reposted a tweet and alleged that we’re not being told the full story about Biden’s cancer. He reposted a tweet by a Dr Steven Quay that explains prostate cancer is generally a “5-7 year journey”, that it’s would be “malpractice” for a patient to get a first diagnosis of “metastatic disease in May 2025, ad the “it is highly likely that he was carrying a diagnosis of prostate cancer throughout his White House tenure and the American public were uninformed”:
In a heartless move, Don Jr said either his wife Jill Biden is to blame for missing the cancer or, alternatively, that this is “another coverup???”:
What I want to know is how did Dr. Jill Biden miss stage five metastatic cancer or is this yet another coverup??? pic.twitter.com/fSqtDmcX4p
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 18, 2025
Is there any basis for this?
First up, the original post has been community noted, as Don Jr is incorrect that Biden is suffering from “stage five metastatic cancer”. However, his other claim that there’s been a cover-up is a little harder to disprove.
Dr Quay’s X post references his article in The Spectator, which details his suspicions. He points out that “Prostate cancer is the easiest cancer to diagnose” and that only “10-15 percent of prostate cancers are diagnosed first at stage IV, when it is in the bones like this is.” Then he turns to “the uncomfortable question” of whether Biden and his team knew he had cancer and covered it up for political reasons. He concludes:
“The highest probability is that the diagnosis has been known for many years but a calculated decision was made to not announce it, not treat it, and hope after the re-election the treatment could be done when it was still a local disease. An unfortunate turn of events.”
Sadly, there’s also some evidence that this may be the case. Back in 2022 Biden casually said during a speech: “That’s why I and so damn many other people I grew up with have cancer”. The White House rushed to dismiss this as a “gaffe”, explaining that Biden was simply referring to “non-melanoma skin cancers” he’d had removed before he took office.
Here’s hoping we get some clarity on this, as if there was a cover-up that the president had cancer, it’ll be a terrible look for the Democrats. In the meantime, while Don Jr may have some kind of point, it’s simply classless and cruel to implicate Jill Biden in her husband’s condition.
