My Review of Jake Tapper's and Alex Thompson's "Original Sin"

The Tragedy of Joe Biden

Joe Biden was elected president in 2020 on his being both a moderate and a transition candidate who would serve one term. He failed on both accounts by swerving to the Left under the aegis of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and then by declaring himself a candidate for re-election in April 2023. Little did the voters know that as early a 2015 Biden was on the road to cognitive decline that rapidly accelerated in 2022. Much has already been written about reporters Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, well-sourced, albeit largely anonymously sourced book, so I will limit my comments here.

 

My sense is that had there not been the COVID pandemic in 2020, Biden would have lost. Why? He would not have been able to handle the stress of a national campaign. Because of COVID he ran from his basement and the public hardly saw him. Once elected he was placed in a cocoon by what Tapper and Thompson characterize as the politburo which consisted of four of his top aides. They included Mike Donilon, Steve Ricchetti, Anita Dunn, and Bruce Reed, all of whom had family members working in the administration. Those four along with wife Jill controlled access to Biden and controlled the flow of information to him. For example, Biden never saw polls in Spring 2024 showing how badly he was doing.

 

On many occasions Biden failed to remember the names of long-time acquaintances and because his cabinet and congressional leaders hardly saw him, they were shocked when he appeared distant and fragile at formal events. Indeed, Biden was forced to use a teleprompter at intimate fund-raising events. This all came home to roost when the whole country witnessed his disastrous performance at the June 27^th debate with Donald Trump.

 

In fact, we were forewarned with the Hur report on Biden’s unauthorized possession of classified documents. Robert Hur declined to prosecute because he though a jury would find Biden “a sympathetic well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.” For that statement Hur was flamed by the politburo, while all of them knew it was true. To be sure, Biden and his inner circle were motivated by the fear that he and he alone could defeat Trump. At the end of the day, they ended up with the worst possible world; Trump being elected and Biden in disgrace.

 

Tapper and Thompson are especially good at describing an almost daily tick-tock of the post-debate events leading up to Biden’s withdrawal from the race. Along the way the politburo was kicking and screaming to keep Biden in the race, but ultimately, they were forced to accept the reality of a debacle in November.

 

Although I think Tapper and Thompson have written an important and very readable book, there are three failures that come to mind. First, far more blame should be put on the compliant press in covering up Biden’s cognitive decline. Second, Jill Biden’s role in this affair in this reading is limited. She knew, but my guess is that she loved the trappings of power. She loved being the first lady and being on the cover of Vogue magazine four times. Third, at a time when foreign policy crises were happening almost daily, there is no discussion as to what Biden’s foreign policy team thought of him. Biden might not have seen his cabinet that often, but he was in constant contact with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. Different decisions might have been made had we a more alert president.