Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer...

 

Former President Joe Biden. NBC News. 

Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. NBC News. The cancer has already spread to his bones and is a score of 9 on the Gleason scale, which measures prostate cancer severity. Biden and his family are considering treatments, including hormone therapy. Prostate cancer is common among older men and is the 2nd leading cause of cancer death for American men. Biden was the oldest president to serve and his age and health were major concerns and were a main factor in exiting the race for the 2024 election. 

My Comment:

I have been extremely critical of Joe Biden, both as a person and as a president, but I would not wish cancer on anyone. Even though I considered Biden a political enemy for years, I am sad that he has this cancer and I do worry that he won't make it. 

His prognosis is iffy at best. It absolutely could be worse, from what it sounds the cancer has not spread to any vital organs. But the fact that it's in his bones complicates treatment and makes his chances for survival a lot lower. There are treatments that could help, though I am far from an expert on cancer treatments, so I don't know how effective they will be. 

Complicating things are Joe Biden's advanced age and, quite frankly, frail condition. Biden hasn't looked very good for years and he just came off of the most stressful job in the world. Biden is 82 years old and absolutely looks his age in his last few public appearances. It's very possible that this cancer will be too much for him. 

I do have quite a bit of sympathy for Biden here. For all his faults, the man does indeed hate cancer and he suffered the loss of his son, Beau Biden, due to it. And again, probably the one thing I did admire about Joe Biden is that he loves both his sons and I know that Beau's death hurt him personally.  It's genuinely awful that he has to go through this as well given his background and I can't say that I don't feel for him. 

I am also very glad that Joe Biden is not president right now. Having a president diagnosed with cancer would not be a good thing to say the least, let alone once he starts going through treatment. Biden would almost certainly have to resign and Kamala Harris would end up being president.  And every enemy and competitor in the world would try and take advantage of the chaos. We avoided that nightmare scenario at least. 

I do think this is a warning against electing such elderly presidents. Trump is pretty old too at 79, and though he hasn't lost a step compared to Joe Biden, I do worry that something could happen to him as well. Old men have a lot of health problems and though Trump looks pretty good for his age, you never know what could happen. 

Biden's cancer diagnosis has political implications for both the Democrats and Republicans. For the Democrats, it makes it a lot harder to criticize him for his role in losing the White House in 2024. The party absolutely needed a reckoning over that and that seems even more unlikely now that Biden is ill. 

And the Republicans? It's going to be harder to blame the countries problems on Joe Biden, regardless of the fact that his is indeed a major reason why things are still bad. To blame Biden now might rightly be seen as poor taste. Now the GOP is going to have to stand on their own merits. Trump is personally popular, but what about the do-nothing GOP House and Senate? 

Finally, I have to say that I do hope that Joe Biden beats the cancer. Not so much because I like Joe Biden, far from it. But I absolutely hate cancer and I wish that nobody had to go through it. Even someone I dislike, like Joe Biden. I'm pulling for him for that reason.