Buffoon of the Week Staff
When tragedy strikes, most decent people have the good sense to hit pause on the partisan sniping. But if you’re Brian Stelter, CNN’s hall monitor and full-time media apologist, even a stage 4 cancer diagnosis isn’t enough to give pause from peddling conspiracy theories—and grifting your friend’s book.
Stelter Can’t Help Himself
Over the weekend, former President Joe Biden announced that he has been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer that has metastasized into his bones. If you’re a human with a heart, then you know that this moment called for empathy. Anytime the “Big C” is involved, it’s time to put politics aside for a while and offer prayers and support.
But then came Stelter, whom we’ve said for years lives in an alternate partisan universe. He saw opportunity in this somber moment.
Appearing on CNN, Stelter used the tragic news as a springboard to cast suspicious shadows over the timing of Biden’s announcement. He insinuated that the public statement from the Biden camp of the former president’s diagnosis over the weekend was somehow coordinated to distract from newly released audio from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s retention of classified document. He framed the timing of Biden’s diagnosis as extraordinary, suggesting it suspiciously coincided with the release of audio in which Biden struggled to recall basic facts, including the year his son Beau passed away.
Stelter’s Shameless Plug
Even worse, Stelter used the moment to plug CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s new book like he was shilling products on QVC.
Seriously?
Let’s be clear: this wasn’t an off-hand comment. Stelter went into full infomercial mode, hyping Tapper’s book—one that details the White House’s cover-up of Biden’s declining mental acuity—with the kind of glowing praise you’d expect from a paid spokesperson.
Forget decency and decorum. Forget the reality that this man just learned he’s fighting for his life. For Stelter, it’s just another news cycle to spin and another “blockbuster” book to boost.
What Happened to Basic Human Decency?
But here’s the thing: what exactly is the conspiracy? That Biden strategically scheduled his cancer diagnosis to distract from political fallout? This is tinfoil hat stuff—even more absurd when it comes from someone who prides himself on fact-checking the media. Where was this hyper-vigilance when you and CNN spent years ignoring Biden’s obvious cognitive decline—decline Tapper now profits from?
This is the problem when your political lens never comes off—you stop seeing people as human beings and only as narrative tools.
It’s one thing to discuss political implications of a presidency, especially when mental competency is in question. But it’s another thing entirely to trot out a friend’s book and start sleuthing conspiracies within hours of a cancer diagnosis going public.
This isn’t journalism. It’s buffoonery in the first degree.
WHO YA GOT! For Buffoon of the Week!
Speaking of Tapper and his gaslighting book, he’s one of two nominees up for Buffoon of the Week! Vote in our poll below for your choice for the dubious distinction of the dumbest newsmaker of the week!
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The Real Question: Why Now, Brian?
Left-leaning media like Tapper and Stelter seem more willing to go in on Joe Biden because the former president is no longer politically useful. Media outlets that once ran cover for him are now airing his laundry and turning on him like a used-up storyline in a bad soap opera. The same journalists who ignored signs of cognitive decline for years are now cashing in—book deals, retrospectives, and “told-you-so” reporting.
Stelter didn’t start this trend, but his shamelessness is leading the charge.
There’s a Time and a Place
We don’t deny that we’ve been a critic of Joe Biden’s presidency. We’ve been more than critics: we’ve lampooned, mocked, and derided Biden every chance we could when he was in office. But when cancer enters the chat, we have to hit pause. If you wouldn’t want your loved one’s diagnosis spun into a partisan talking point, then don’t do it to someone else—even if that someone else is Joe Biden.
Stelter’s behavior here isn’t just tone-deaf. It’s ghoulish.
What do you think? Is it ever okay to contextualize a personal health crisis with political news? Let’s hear your take in the comments. If you liked this post, share it, like it, and subscribe to our content on YouTube and/or Rumble. We call out the absurd, the hypocritical, and the downright buffoonish—no matter which side they’re on. And right now, Stelter is top of the list.
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