Joe Biden's 'have cancer' comment triggers speculations, White House clarifies

United States President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he has cancer, forcing the White House press office to quickly clarify that he was referring to skin cancer treatment that he had before taking office last year, reports New York Post.

The president was speaking in Somerset, Massachusetts, near a manufacturing hub for renewable energy components, about how pollution from oil refineries in Pennsylvania would drift over state lines into his hometown in Claymont, Delaware.

Did Joe Biden just announce he has cancer?

“That’s why I — and so damn many other people I grew up with — have cancer.” pic.twitter.com/lkm7AHJATX

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 20, 2022

Biden said that environmental pollution during his childhood was so rampant that people needed to wipe the oil off of car windshields to be able to drive. He suggested that the pollution was to blame for the skin cancer that he would later experience, saying that Delaware used to have the "highest cancer rate in the nation".

The remark drew the attention of conservative websites like Townhall which claimed that Biden had made a similar statement about having asthma in April.

We've heard this story before...

BIDEN IN APRIL: "I have asthma and 80% of the people who, in fact, we grew up with have asthma."

BIDEN TODAY: "That's why I and so damn many other people I grew up with have cancer." pic.twitter.com/8farOJVAfl

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 20, 2022

However, editor/chief writer of Washington Post's Fact Checker Glenn Kessler slammed critics, saying that "Before he became president, he'd had non-melanoma skin cancers removed. Has no one at @RNCResearch ever had this common procedure?

How dumb is this tweet? Check out Biden's medical report. Before he became president, he'd had non-melanoma skin cancers removed. Has no one at @RNCResearch ever had this common procedure? https://t.co/TS9VWtKcYChttps://t.co/itklkVZIor

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) July 20, 2022

He also attached a document, dated 19 November 2021, which summarised the president’s health condition. It stated: "It is well-established that President Biden did spend a good deal of time in the sun in his youth. He has had several localized, non-melanoma skin cancers removed with Mohs surgery before he started his presidency. These lesions were completely excised, with clear margins. Total body skin exam was performed for dermatologic surveillance. Several small areas of actinic change were treated with liquid nitrogen cryotherapy, but there are no areas suspicious for skin cancer at this time. No biopsies were required."

Biden's frequent faux pas

Biden often misspeaks while attempting to demonstrate a personal connection to his audiences.

In September, for example, he told Jewish leaders that he remembered “spending time at” and “going to” the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh after the mass murder of 11 people in 2018. The synagogue said he never visited and the White House later said he was thinking about a 2019 phone call to the synagogue’s rabbi, according to the New York Post report.

That same month, he told an Idaho audience that his “first job offer” came from local lumber and wood products business Boise Cascade. The company said it was news to them and Biden had not previously described an interest in moving to the state.

In January, Biden told students of historically Black colleges in Atlanta that he was arrested during civil rights protests — for which there also is no evidence.

Oft-speculated subject

Questions about Biden's health and age are often discussed. They provide fodder for Republicans and right-wing outlets, while Democrats and most of the American media have been reluctant to broach them.

A checkup last November, the document quoted above, concluded that he is a "vigorous" man suffering from mild problems with acid reflux and arthritis. But his appearance betrays the heavy toll taken by the office: his white hair is increasingly thin, his gait cautious.

He sometimes loses his train of thought or stumbles while reading from a teleprompter, and the stutter he overcame as a child periodically resurfaces.

The White House has several times had to walk back inopportune remarks by the president on sensitive issues — the cancer comment is a case in point.

Biden gives fewer news conferences and interviews than his predecessors, preferring to publish op-eds in newspapers, the content of which can be carefully controlled.

On the weekends, he often disappears to one of his two homes in Delaware for two or three days. White House correspondents only see him once, at a distance, when he goes to mass.

Biden, 79, is the oldest-ever US president and seeks a second term in 2024.

With input from agencies

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