I heard about this *exposé* last night and it so infuriated me that I contemplated seeing who wants to boycott CNN. I’m not too crazy about CNN for the way they backstabbed Jim Acosta, in an obvious ploy to placate Donald Trump. But this book by Jake Tapper really takes the cake. This is the textbook definition of opportunism and grift, right here. And I hope this blows up in Tapper’s face.
What a hypocrite https://t.co/XmYiyDfiZL
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 26, 2025
I never thought I would type the words “Elon Musk is right” but he is in this case. I think Tapper is utterly tone deaf. This is NOT going to go over well. What is the point of creating a gossipy book about Joe Biden? First of all, the facts don’t bear out that Joe was demented and secondly, to disrespect the man at this point, with the shape that our country is in with Trump back in office, is not a good mission to undertake. Not for any legitimate reason. Yes, to get attention and cash, but not for any higher purpose.
The premise of the book is nonsense. Biden gave a stellar State Of The Union address in March. Simply stellar, the old fire in the belly Joe was back — so much so that the conspiracy theory that he was on uppers was launched. By the debate in the summer, Joe’s inner circle had betrayed him and they wildly overprepared him and that led to the disaster we saw on live television.
I don’t blame Biden for the debate disaster, I blame bad handling by his team as a whole. He shouldn’t have prepared at all. He should have just made Trump look like the fool he is and not worried about facts and figures. This was not a facts and figures debate.
That said, it’s water under the bridge. Yes, Biden made an unwise decision to run again. We would have all been better served had a primary been held and then the party could have decided if it wanted Josh Shapiro, J.D. Pritzker, Kamala Harris or perhaps somebody else as our standard bearer.
People age differently. That’s a well known fact. I have personally seen a friend, now long gone, who was a brilliant businesswoman suddenly develop Alzheimer’s. It was an overnight change. But that is not what happened to Joe Biden. Yes, he fell off a crucial step or two between his brilliant SOTU address in March and the disastrous debate in July. But he was not helped by sniping from so-called friends like George Clooney.
Dear George Clooney…
Come on George. Just 1 letter about Trump at the same level you took down Joe Biden.
Hire that speechwriter back. Where's the Trump letter??
— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) February 27, 2025
The 2024 election was a tragedy. That is historical fact. Absolutely nothing will be achieved by going in and dissecting a very dead animal. Yes, we all knew Joe’s age was an issue going in. But age or no, he had a successful presidency. His work on infrastructure, small businesses, the tax system, increased housing, was all successful. It was a good four years, particularly post-COVID. And now we’re right back in the same shit house we were in before, only ten times worse.
I don’t think Tapper should have written this book and he’s already getting blowback.
Twelve days before Biden dropped out, Tapper took direct aim at the president and his team, calling Biden and his family in “complete denial” about his health and the state of his campaign.
In a lengthy monologue, Tapper criticized “Democratic elites” for being “late to acknowledge” the age and ability concerns that the public has long had about Biden. At one point, the CNN anchor played a clip of Biden giving an interview to a Philadelphia-based radio station before responding to the president’s gaffe about being proud to be the first Black woman to serve as vice president and calling it “not coherent.”
Tapper also questioned Biden about his age in a 2022 interview, asked voters about the mental sharpness of Biden and Trump in a 2023 segment, asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in 2023 about Biden being too old and pressed Biden’s former White House communications director, Kate Bedingfield, in 2024 about the alleged memory lapses the president had while being interviewed by the Justice Department.
When Biden skipped the presidential Super Bowl interview in February 2024, in the wake of special counsel Robert Hur’s report calling Biden an “elderly man with poor memory,” Tapper asked Democratic Representative Robert Garcia of California what Biden was “afraid of.”
Still, Tapper’s new book announcement drew attacks from conservatives who accused him of “trying to profit” from the “cover-up” that he was “part of.”
Conservatives and liberals alike are after Tapper on this, and rightfully so. It is hypocritical. On that much we do agree. And the pompous title, Original Sin. OMFG.
Here’s my take on it: I don’t believe there was any “cover-up.” I don’t believe there was anything to cover up. Joe made the decision to run but the disastrous debate performance dogged him, as did the slings and arrows coming from all directions from so-called friends and allies. Presidential debates are dispositive of nothing. So disaster or not, the debate alone might not have sunk Joe. We will never know.
I find this exploitation of a dark passage in American history, which resulted in the return of Donald Trump to power, to be tasteless grifting. I will not be buying a copy. And mark my words, there’s going to be a lot more blowback than this. CNN already has a black eye, this will just give it another one.
Cable *news* is infotainment crap. I see its day coming to an end. I don’t know what will rise in its place but gone are the days when the constant churn and pablum are enough. We’re at a turning point in history vis a vis the free press, with Trump doing everything he can to sabotage the First Amendment and cable news anchors publishing gossip memoirs. Tapper is unspeakably tone deaf if he doesn’t see this. Or greedy. Or both.
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I always thought that it was implicit when Biden was inaugurated in 2020, that was setting us for who comes next. In my mind, that was Kamala. I was a little disappointed when he announced again in 2023, but if he said that he would beat tRump again, ok.
Tapper and the whole, so-called “liberal mainstream” went after him like a buzz-saw. They were total right wing puppets.
I agree. Biden’s whole vibe in 2020 was “I am the man for right now, not for all time!” I didn’t really worry about his age or a conspiracy to hide it, but I wasn’t supposed to have him as a candidate in 2024…I thought that’s what he promised me.
Biden didn’t “pass the torch to a new generation,” he tossed it to Harris late in the race and let her deal with the problem.
The hypocrite I hated most at that time was Pelosi. She attacked Biden and told him to get out of the way. Only a few months later, she actively worked against AOC rising to power as the young blood on the Oversight Committee!! If Nancy really believes there is a time for age to step back, then she should shut up and do it!! Just sayin’!