Mr Biden immediately caused confusion when he appeared to say “That’s why, and so many other people I grew up with, we have cancer” during a speech on climate change on Wednesday. While Biden used the present tense, White House officials said the president was referring to his past treatment for skin cancer. Biden’s deputy press secretary, Andrew Bates, pointed to the 2021 health exams, which noted his treatment for “several, localized non-melanoma skin cancers,” which he had removed before taking office. But Biden’s comments were widely derided by Republicans who seized on each of the 79-year-old’s regular gaffes as evidence of his sick mental acuity.
