Tuning into today's Morning Joe, you might understandably have expected simply an outpouring of sympathy over former President Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis, with few if any uncomfortable questions raised.
Particularly so when the medical expert brought in was Dr. Zeke Emanuel, senior fellow at the left-wing Center for American Progress, and someone appointed by both Presidents Obama and Biden to White House advisory boards.
Surprisingly though, the show promptly raised several tough issues on the matter.
Emanuel said that very few people, only about 7%, get first diagnosed at this late stage, when the cancer has already metastasized.
As another oncologist said on NewsNation:
“This is what I typically would see in a VA hospital, where a patient hasn’t had medical attention in 10 years, presents to an emergency room with bone pain, and then they find that it’s metastatic prostate cancer.”
So imagine how surprising—or unlikely—it is that a former President of the United States wasn't diagnosed before now.
Emanuel said, given that it is metastatic at a 9 level, Biden has had the cancer for years, possibly it for as long as a decade, extending back to and even beyond the beginning of his presidency. As he put it:
"He did not develop it in the last 100, 200 days. He had it while he was president. He probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021."
Joe Scarborough didn't play defense, and to the contrary, emphasized that Biden should have been tested before deciding to run for reelection.
Scarborough noted that the Washington Post had located a doctor, Otis Brawley, to claim it wouldn't have been surprising if previous screenings hadn't disclosed the cancer before now. But a skeptical Scarborough responded, "questions would arise if a test would miss it that many times, especially with a spread as far as it has spread."
It's a mark of how dubious Emanuel was about the situation that—four separate times—he diplomatically said it was "a little surprising" that Biden's doctors either hadn't performed the PSA test or diagnosed the cancer before now.
And in his most ominous statement, Emanuel said it would be "very troubling" if the PSA test had been performed and shown elevated levels, but Biden's doctors had not revealed that to the public.
Jonathan Lemire weighed in, saying that the questions surrounding Biden's cancer diagnosis will add to "a whole slew of other questions about the last few years, about his health and fitness for office." That was Lemire, also being diplomatic, describing the cover-up of Biden's acuity decline.
Note: Emanuel emphasized that many older men decide not to have the PSA test performed, and that the decision was ultimately up to Biden. Heading into the 2020 and 2024 elections, is it possible Dr. Jill nixed the tests, figuring that what the family didn't know didn't have to be disclosed—and thus couldn't prevent Joe from running?
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
5/19/25
6:02 am EDTMIKA BRZEZINSKI: Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
According to his personal office, Biden, who is 82 years old, had been experiencing symptoms and was officially diagnosed on Friday. The cancer has spread from his prostate to other tissue in his body, a source familiar with the matter tells NBC News.
. . .
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Let's bring in right now former Obama White House advisor for health policy, oncologist Dr. Zeke Emanuel.
. . .
ZEKE EMANUEL: The fact is that very few people get diagnosed this advanced. About seven percent of all prostate cancer in the country gets diagnosed when you have a lesion that's in the bone and therefore it's metastatic and incurable. The prostate cancer will not go away. He will have it. That doesn't mean he's going to die from it, because there are a lot of treatments.
SCARBOROUGH: You had said that very few people have it actually diagnosed at this late stage, that that's rare.
Doesn't it take some time for prostate cancer to develop to a point where it would spread to the bones?
EMANUEL: Oh, he's had this for many years, maybe even a decade, growing there and spreading. That's right.
It's a little surprising. I look back at the records and there's no evidence that when he got his health status and the medical records were released, that he had a prostate specific antigen.
Now, it is true that a lot of people recommend not doing a prostate specific antigen after 70. But President Biden's been in public life a very long time. He was Vice President and had a lot of exams under 70. So it's a little surprising that they didn't do it, and maybe President Biden decided he didn't want the test. Many men do decide they don't want a PSA.
. . .
It's been around for a very long time in President Biden—years. Exactly how many, we don't know, obviously.
And it is a little surprising to many of us oncologists that he wasn't diagnosed earlier.
. . .
President Obama had this test. President Bush had this test. It is a little surprising that the doctor didn't take it.
And if he took it and didn't report it and it was elevated, that is another case of doctors not being straightforward with us. We've had several of them with President Trump, especially around his COVID diagnosis. And if that is true, that would be very troubling.
. . .
SCARBOROUGH: You believe that it is likely, just for those just tuning in, you believe it is likely if this prostate cancer has spread to the bone, that he could have had it for up to a decade. But certainly, it's likely, would it be fair to say, it's likely to have had this for at least several years?
EMANUEL: Oh, more than several years. You don't get prostate cancer --
SCARBOROUGH: Again, I just want to stop you. So you're, this is not speculation. If you have prostate cancer that is spread to the bone, then he most certainly, you are saying had it when he was President of the United States.
EMANUEL: Oh, yeah. He did not develop it in the last 100, 200 days. He had it while he was president. He probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021. Yes, I don't think there's any disagreement about that.
. . .
Most White House doctors would recommend this test to the president and would say, I think you should get it. It's probably true. Now, the president has the ultimate decision. They just can't take his blood and, you know, not talk to him about it.
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, but certainly, Mika, especially if you're -- we're not even talking about living another 10 years. We were talking about the decision to run another four years.
Certainly, this would be a test that would need to be taken.
EMANUEL: Either they didn't test for it, or they test for it, they didn't report it, and we didn't get the information as a public.
. . .
SCARBOROUGH: The Washington Post reports Otis Brawley, a medical oncologist at Johns Hopkins University, who treats patients with metastatic prostate cancer, said it would not be surprising if previous prostate exams or screenings while Biden was president failed to turn up indications of cancer. Quote: we need a better test.
To that, though, I would just say, Jonathan, as Zeke said, if you are having regular screenings and regular testings, as we would suspect any president would, or at least should, even over the age of 70, especially if they're going to run for another term, then, of course, questions would arise if a test would miss it that many times, especially with a spread as far as it has spread.
JONATHAN LEMIRE: Yeah, I mean, certainly not a perfect test, as the doctor said, but seems sort of improbable that a President of the United States wouldn't be tested, wouldn't have the full array of exams here.
And the questions surrounding this come, of course, at a moment when President Biden and his team and his family are facing a whole slew of other questions about the last few years, about his health and fitness for office, about his decision to run again for reelection.
And this is certainly just going to add to that.
