White House officials confirmed Tuesday that defense secretary Lloyd Austin kept his prostate cancer diagnosis to himself for a month before informing the White House, adding further scrutiny to Austin’s recent failure to inform Biden or the National Security Council that he was in the ICU for several days. …

John Kirby, the NSC spokesman, responded to calls for Austin to be fired on Monday, stating that “there is no plan for anything other than for Secretary Austin to stay in the job and continue the leadership that has been exhibited” and that President Joe Biden retains “full confidence” in his appointee. One senior Biden official even told Politico that the president would go as far as not to accept a resignation if Austin were to offer one.

[I think Biden feels married to Austin at this point. It’s not clear why, but perhaps Biden fears a confirmation process for any new nominee to the post — or maybe Austin may have some observations about Biden’s competence that the White House would like to keep quiet. There are no other good reasons to keep Austin in this position, given the breathtaking incompetence and stupidity on display in this sequence of events. — Ed]