Axios AM
May 20, 2025
1 big thing: Biden's sudden diagnosis
Former President Biden's disclosure that he had Stage 4 prostate cancer was quickly met with sympathy late Sunday. By yesterday morning, the questions — from Democrats and Republicans alike — had begun, Axios' Marc Caputo, Alex Thompson and Tal Axelrod write.
- Why it matters: The timing of Biden's announcement, coupled with the way his handlers tried to cover up his health issues in the past, fueled speculation about how long he'd known about the cancer.
People in both parties, whether they love Biden or despise him, wondered whether the announcement was timed to change the subject after a week of reports about his physical and mental deterioration when he was president.
- Those reports included recordings, first posted Friday by Axios, of Biden being interviewed by prosecutors in 2023 about his handling of classified documents. Biden had such difficulty recalling events that prosecutor Robert Hur later described him as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
🔎 Zoom in: Medical experts didn't exactly calm the suspicions about Biden's cancer diagnosis yesterday, even as they said it was treatable and that he could live several years with the disease.
- "He's had this for many years, maybe even a decade, growing there and spreading," Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist who was a Biden White House COVID adviser, told the stunned hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
- Emanuel later told CNN that the prostate-specific antigen blood test used to detect prostate cancer isn't always reliable. Emanuel and other doctors noted that Biden, 82, is well beyond the 55-70 recommended age range for prostate cancer screening.
- But given how thoroughly presidents' health is scrutinized, it would be surprising if Biden hadn't been tested, Emanuel said on "Morning Joe": "It's a little strange."
Zoom out: Several former Biden White House aides acknowledged they were perplexed.
- "I love Joe Biden," a former campaign and White House aide told Axios. "But I don't feel the same about some of the people around him. So I feel terrible saying this: I just don't know what to believe."
President Trump and the White House initially offered sympathy for Biden and did not engage in speculation.
- But Trump told reporters yesterday: "I'm surprised the public wasn't notified a long time ago ... I think if you take a look, it's the same doctor who said Joe was cognitively fine."
🔬 Between the lines: The Bidens have been silent about cancer in the family before, according to "Original Sin," a book by Axios' Alex Thompson and CNN's Jake Tapper that's out today.
- When the Bidens' son Beau was attorney general of Delaware in 2013, he had brain surgery to remove a tumor and was diagnosed with Stage 4 glioblastoma — one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer.
- Beau and then-Vice President Biden's teams deliberated whether to explain his situation publicly, but decided to say nothing for months, according to "Original Sin."
2. 🪫 Musk's brand hit
Tesla Motors and SpaceX saw their brand reputations crater in the past year, according to this year's Axios Harris Poll 100 brand reputation survey.
- Why it matters: Elon Musk's polarizing political activism appears to have come at the expense of his largest companies, Axios' Dan Primack writes.
🧮 By the numbers: Tesla was in 8th place in the 2021 reputation ranking of America's 100 most visible companies, but last year tumbled to 63rd and now is near the very bottom at 95th.
- It placed dead last in "character," while placing near the bottom in areas like "ethics" and "citizenship."
- SpaceX experienced a similar reputation decline between 2024 and 2025.
Between the lines: Aside from the Trump Organization, Musk's three companies were the most politically divisive in the survey.
- Tesla, SpaceX and X all scored roughly 30 points higher with Republicans than Democrats.
🏆 America's favorite brands: Trader Joe's and Patagonia — both perennially near the top of the survey — were America's top two trusted brands.
3. ☎️ Trump call stuns European leaders
President Trump "surprised" and "shocked" European leaders on a call yesterday after hinting he was getting closer to withdrawing from involvement in Russia-Ukraine peace talks, Axios' Barak Ravid and Dave Lawler report.
- Why it matters: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and five other European leaders had been hoping to hear that Russia's Vladimir Putin had agreed to a ceasefire in a call with Trump yesterday — or that the U.S. would impose penalties on him for refusing to do so.
Instead, Trump said Putin had agreed to negotiate, stressed the U.S. wouldn't be involved in those negotiations, and pushed back against the idea of imposing sanctions on Putin at the current time.
- "I think something's going to happen. And if it doesn't, I just back away and they're going to have to keep going. Again, this was a European situation, and should have remained a European situation," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office several hours after his calls.
💥 Friction point: Other European leaders on the call asked about the possibility of U.S. sanctions against Russia, but Trump said he didn't think was a good idea and stressed that he thinks Putin wants a deal.
4. 🌡️ Mapped: Fire weather flare-ups
Hot, dry and windy weather that helps wildfires spread is becoming more common across much of the U.S. amid climate change, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick writes.
- Why it matters: What used to be several months of "fire season" is stretching in some places into a yearlong phenomenon, straining fire departments and others tasked with controlling or containing wild blazes.
By the numbers: The number of "fire weather" days rose by 37 in the Southwest and 21 in the West on average between 1973 and 2024, according to Climate Central, a climate research group.
5. ⚖️ MAGA faithful's DOJ frustration
6. 💰 Gen Z's new side hustle: selling data
Many young people are more willing than their parents to share personal data, giving companies deeper insight into their lives, Axios' Erica Pandey writes.
- Why it matters: Selling data is becoming the new selling plasma.
Case in point: Generation Lab, a youth polling company, is launching a new product, Verb.AI, today — betting that buying this data is the future of polling.
- The company offers people cash — $50 or more per month, depending on use and other factors — to download a tracker onto their phones.
- The product takes about 90 seconds to download, and once it's on your phone, it tracks things like what you browse, what you buy, which streaming apps you use — all anonymously.
- Verb then uses that data to create a digital twin of you that lives in a central database and knows your preferences.
7. 💪 Most powerful women in business
8. 📺 1 fun thing: Broadway's TV revival
Broadway shows are getting newfound attention from TV networks and streamers looking to tap into the theater industry's post-pandemic boom, Axios' Kerry Flynn and Sara Fischer write.
- Why it matters: Old fears that putting shows on streaming would cannibalize ticket sales are starting to subside. Sports, concerts and Broadway have benefited from making their content more widely available.
Zoom in: CNN will air George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck" next month — the first time a Broadway show is being televised live.
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