Joe Biden should have had a dignified farewell.The arc of his life—marked by personal tragedy, quiet perseverance, and a five-decade career in public service—was the kind of political story that lent itself to grace in the end.A young senator elected at 29, a grieving father who took the oath beside his sons’ hospital beds, a seasoned legislator who steered landmark legislation across the aisle, a vice-president who stood loyally beside Barack Obama. And finally, a president elected to steady the ship after a rupture that nearly tore America apart.But in 2025, instead of reverence or reflection, Biden finds himself a pantomime villain. His twilight years have become a cautionary tale. His presidency—once defined by resilience—is now overshadowed by allegations of concealment, institutional failure, and a deeply unfortunate book title: Original Sin.It’s not the cancer that has been politically fatal. It’s the context in which it arrived.
The Remark That Wasn’t—and the Diagnosis That Was
On July 20, 2022, Biden was delivering a speech on climate change in Somerset, Massachusetts. He spoke emotionally about growing up near Delaware’s oil refineries and the toll of air pollution. “That’s why I—and so damn many other people I grew up [with]—have cancer,” he said.The clip went viral instantly. GOP accounts claimed Biden had just revealed a secret illness. “BREAKING: JOE BIDEN ANNOUNCES HE HAS CANCER!!” tweeted a Republican candidate. Within hours, the White House clarified: Biden was referring to past non-melanoma skin cancers that had been removed prior to his presidency. It was a misstatement, they said. A gaffe. Nothing more.The moment faded—until May 18, 2025.That’s when the White House confirmed Biden had been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer. It had spread to his bones. It was aggressive. It was manageable, but not curable.Suddenly, the 2022 clip resurfaced. Critics accused Biden’s team of having hidden the truth for years. “How did Dr. Jill Biden miss stage five cancer?” Donald Trump Jr. wrote. Right-wing commentators framed the old quote as evidence of a long-running cover-up.But there’s no factual basis for that claim. The 2022 remark referred to skin cancer. The audio is clear. Biden made no announcement of prostate cancer—something not diagnosed until much later. Even now, major fact-checkers and mainstream media outlets maintain that the original explanation stands: it was a reference to past, treated conditions, not a present-day disclosure. The conspiracy theories are noise.But in politics, noise matters.Read: The ballad of Joe Biden
Original Sin: A Book That Changed the Conversation
Right before people found out about the cancer diagnosis, excerpts from Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again began circulating in Washington.Written by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, the book offers a scathing narrative of Biden’s final year in office. It alleges that his closest aides concealed growing signs of cognitive and physical decline. It claims that cabinet members were kept in the dark. That donors were reassured with half-truths. That staff considered getting him a wheelchair to prevent further falls. And that even when his public performances faltered, the inner circle insisted he was fine.There is a line in the book—chilling in its simplicity: “Democrats deceived the country about Biden’s abilities.”In the book’s telling, Biden’s decline was known. And the Democratic establishment did everything it could to shield him—from scrutiny, from challenge, and ultimately, from reality.The release of the book, timed so closely to the cancer announcement, was devastating. Even if unintentional, the juxtaposition turned a personal tragedy into a political indictment.
MAGA’s Narrative: “We Were Right All Along”
To Donald Trump’s supporters, the cancer diagnosis was not just a health update—it was proof. Proof that the “deep state,” the Democratic establishment, and the media had lied.Laura Loomer, the far-right activist who claimed in July 2024 that Biden was in the “terminal stage” of an undisclosed illness, reposted her old warning alongside a new claim: that the timing of the cancer announcement was a deliberate distraction from Original Sin’s revelations. “He could die in two months,” she wrote, calling the entire episode a media-managed PR strategy.Conservative influencer Joey Mannarino went even further. “You don’t find cancer at Stage Four when you’re the President of the United States,” he tweeted. “He has better doctors than anyone could even conceive of… They knew this as he was in office and never told us. Everyone involved needs to be prosecuted for lying to the American people.”The MAGA narrative has thus crystallised around a sense of betrayal—not just by Biden, but by every institution that kept him standing. In their telling, the president’s illness isn’t private—it’s proof of a national fraud.
A Decision That Changed the Election
“Running for re-election was a disastrous decision,” Original Sin declares. “And it destroyed a honourable and consequential legacy.”Biden had long cast himself as a “bridge” to the next generation. But as the book frames it, that bridge was never crossed. Despite warnings from lawmakers, staffers, and allies, Biden ran again in 2024. The Democratic Party shut down a meaningful primary. There was no open contest. Only deference and delay.The breaking point came during the June 2024 debate with Donald Trump. Biden’s faltering speech and visible confusion sent shockwaves through the party. Within weeks, he withdrew. Kamala Harris was nominated. But the damage was done.There was no time for the party to rebuild. No chance for fresh leadership to emerge. And in November 2024, Donald Trump returned to the presidency.According to Original Sin, it wasn’t just Biden’s decision to run that cost Democrats the White House—it was everyone’s decision not to stop him.
The Political Cost of Loyalty
There’s something deeply human in Biden’s stubbornness. The same resilience that had carried him through unspeakable loss may have blinded him to his own limits. He believed he could do it again—hold the line, beat Trump, finish the job.But Original Sin doesn’t just indict Biden. It points fingers at the people around him: Jill Biden. Ron Klain. Longtime advisers. Democratic strategists. All accused of protecting the man they loved, until protecting him meant endangering the country.The White House has pushed back hard. Spokespersons say the president was effective throughout his term. Biden himself has called the book’s claims “wrong.” Supporters argue there’s no single moment—no key decision—that proves he was incapable. “No one,” one aide told The New Yorker, “has been able to point to a specific presidential task Joe Biden failed to execute.”And yet, the questions remain—not just about physical health, but about trust. Transparency. Responsibility.
A Personal Legacy, Publicly Rewritten
Joe Biden wanted to be remembered for his record: rebuilding alliances, fighting for working Americans, leading the world through war and pandemic. His presidency, though uneven, was not without accomplishment.But memory in politics is never just about what you did. It’s about how you left.The resurfaced 2022 clip. The cancer announcement. The claims of Original Sin. All of it has recast Biden’s departure not as a quiet sunset, but as a storm cloud.This is not the ending Biden deserved. It’s not the one his career earned.
A Country That Doesn’t Know How to Say Goodbye
In the end, this isn’t about partisanship. It’s about a nation struggling with what to do when its leaders get old. When power outlasts capacity. When love becomes indulgence. When a story that should have ended with gratitude becomes one marred by suspicion.Joe Biden’s final chapter should have been one of dignity. Instead, it has become a lesson in what happens when no one says “enough.”There is no villain here. Only silence. Only time. Only a truth that came too late.
