‘Original Sin’ depicts Biden's mental, physical decline

John Bowden, The Independent

Democrats are not doing themselves any favours with their reactions to the new book on Joe Biden coming out from Alex Thompson and Jake Tapper. The two reporters are due to release Original Sin, a collection of their reporting on the cover up around Biden’s mental and physical decline, on May 20. The book’s excerpts are already causing a ruckus, as they detail startling instances of Biden’s gaps in mental acuity that were reportedly hidden from the public through 2024. Biden, whom aides reportedly considered putting in a wheelchair at points, reportedly did not recognise Hollywood megastar George Clooney at an event the president had flown in to Los Angeles specifically for Clooney to host on his behalf. Other excerpts claimed he forgot the names of longtime aides, including that of his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.

The top quote of the week: “It’s all Biden.”

David Plouffe’s declaration in Original Sin gives voice to the party’s furious silent undercurrent of supporters, many of whom did vote for Kamala Harris in 2024 but still watched helplessly on election night as she underperformed nationally and lost ground to Republicans even in deep blue states. The architect of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign juggernaut, Plouffe’s complaint followed an evisceration of the Biden administration policy on IsraelGaza by the Obamaworld hosts of Pod Save the World.

The right, meanwhile, keeps hammering the two reporters and the Washington media at large for the so-called revelations. Arguing that reporters (including from Tapper’s network, CNN) led the charge to hide Biden’s deficiencies, Republicans argued this week that the two are attempting to cash in on their own failures. They are correct to do so. Democrats (led by Biden’s inner circle and a defiant president himself) willingly undermined their own credibility by getting the party into this mess, and should show some capacity for self-reflection — not more breathless attacks on the press — to overcome it. “I think some of the criticism is fair, to be honest,” said Tapper on Wednesday. Inside Washington claims at least partial innocence here; in February of 2024, we wrote that Biden’s age provoked real questions for voters, and that his team “risk(ed) being seen as trying to conceal something” by ignoring those concerns. But with the imminent release of Tapper and Thompson’s book, questions are likely to be raised about just how far back the former president’s decline really went. Many Bidenworld loyalists continue to circle the wagons, in true Trumpian fashion. Whether denying the book’s revelations outright or chastising reporters falsely for “focusing” on the issue, the former president and his loyalists continue to insist that they are beyond reproach.

“The only reason I got out of the race was because I didn’t want to have a divided Democratic Party,” he told the hosts of The View this month. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, interviewed this week by CNN’s Kasie Hunt, dodged questions on the issue entirely. MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, who called the criticism of the media a “right-wing manufactured” narrative, tore into Schumer on a CNN panel. “He’s as responsible as anybody else,” said Todd. “He was a leader in the party. He could’ve said something sooner, and he didn’t.” The defenses are beginning to become grating to hear even for Democrats, who believe that Biden is doing himself no favours. Steve Schale, who ran the “Draft Biden” PAC ahead of the 2016 primary, said: “There is a way for President Biden to build his post-presidency, but this isn’t it. “I really wish he’d embrace the thing that’s been his calling card for 50 years: his humanity.”

Most importantly: the president’s defenders give voters the impression that Democrats are still engaged in deception — at a time when the party’s supposed advantages include Donald Trumps’ low marks for honesty and integrity. The ex-president was underwater on this issue through the entirety of 2024. The release of Original Sin is going to be the last nail in the coffin, not the first. No one is going to believe the denials now — especially when many of the people making them insisted that there were no problems and that the president wouldn’t even consider withdrawing from the race. It’s time for Joe to ride off into the sunset. His defenders need to stop lashing out at everyone around them and get back to rebuilding voter trust ahead of the next election cycle.