Will Joe Biden's Cancer Get the Jake Tapper Treatment, Or Will Corporate Media Finally Focus on MAGA Dismantling Our Health Care?

President Biden's Stage 4 Cancer diagnosis is headline news, and it should force corporate media to focus on the Trump Administration's aggressive annihilation of our public health care infrastructure

Cancer is an indiscriminate, remorseless killer that plays for all the marbles. It is currently the second leading cause of death after cardiovascular disease.

As a father of a daughter who is a Stage 4 cancer survivor and needed a full liver transplant to survive, I know firsthand the emotional, physical, and financial toll cancer takes on victims and their loved ones. The entire year we dealt with Nusayba’s cancer was a gauntlet of pain, fear, exhaustion, and hope. We were able to endure thanks to the support of family, friends, a GoFundMe that allowed my wife to stay home and care for my daughter, and health insurance through my wife’s work.

To quote Ash from Alien, cancer is “the perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility.” I have said before to friends and family that I don’t wish this disease even on the worst people on Earth who may have earned all the karma due to their cruelty and terrible deeds.

President Joe Biden, who is 82 years old, just revealed he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Stage 4 prostate cancer with a Gleason score of 9, which ranges from 6 to 9, that has metastasized to the bone. This means it is very rapidly growing and likely to spread. Obviously, Biden will have world-class treatment available to him, but with this form of cancer, and at his age, the probability of full recovery is low.

In another cruel, tragic dagger of fate, Joe and Jill Biden championed their cancer moonshot initiative during the last year of his Presidency. The initiative sought to cut U.S. cancer fatalities in half over the next 25 years and help support caregivers. Through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, they pledged $400 million to researchers to develop cutting-edge treatments.

Meanwhile, the Trump Administration cut cancer research by 31%, specifically targeting the National Cancer Institute, which lost more than $300 million in three months. Elon Musk, the world’s richest hatemonger, and his team of sociopathic incels at DOGE have taken a chainsaw to the National Institute of Health, the parent agency, and gutted nearly $3 billion in scientific research. Meanwhile, Musk’s companies are set to receive lucrative contracts thanks to our taxpayer dollars, and Qatar just bribed Trump in the form of a $400 million luxury jet that he’ll use as Air Force One. Prosperity for Trump and his billionaire friends, and austerity for the rest of us. Musk and Trump get their millionaire toys, and our daughters get only “two dolls instead of thirty” and have to pray for health insurance.

As corporate media, and CNN in particular, remains obsessed over Joe Biden’s mental acuity while glossing over Donald Trump’s advanced age, obesity, and repeatedly sleeping during public events, I hope they spend some airtime on MAGA’s utterly cruel and repugnant plans to make cancer and death great again.

At 10 pm on Sunday, Republicans voted to advance Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Act” that would give tax cuts to the richest, most privileged people on Earth by gutting Medicaid and SNAP. Around 70 million Americans, roughly 20% of our population, including 40% of all children and 60% of all nursing home residents, depend on Medicaid for health insurance. SNAP, or food stamps, helps nearly 41 million Americans nationwide and is one of the nation’s most effective anti-hunger programs. Even Mary Antoinette allegedly said the poor should have cake, but MAGA won’t even let Americans have crumbs. They’ve essentially destroyed USAID, which has led to preventable children's deaths all around the world, and are currently trying to annihilate our public health infrastructure through $11 billion in cuts.

However, this doesn’t merit 24-7 breathless coverage or books. No, sir, what we need to focus on is sensationalistic reporting and rumors about Biden’s deteriorating health during his Presidency, even as the Trump Administration is transforming America into a real-life version of The Hunger Games. How long will the media remember Donald Trump Jr’s cruel, conspiratorial tweet about Joe Biden mere hours after he announced his cancer diagnosis?

Alas, there’s no money in fanning that outrage.

As readers of The Left Hook know by now, I have my fair share of critiques of Joe Biden, the Democratic establishment, and the current failed leadership of the party. I believe that’s all fair game, but I also loathe the cowardice and double standards of corporate media that create a “both sides” framing that seeks to placate bad-faith MAGA sociopaths who are fine with killing Americans to make themselves great again.

President Biden’s struggle with cancer will undoubtedly be red meat for the corporate media vultures. It’s up to us remind them, and each other, that the person who’s currently in the Oval Office right now and his right-wing minions are doing everything they can to ensure that the rest of us, who lack Biden’s wealth and stature, will lose the health care we’ll need to keep our loved ones alive.