The Biden Cover-Up and the Failure of the Press Corps

323 snips

May 29, 2025

Guest

Alex Thompson

Guest

Jake Tapper

Jake Tapper, CNN anchor and co-author of "Original Sin," and Alex Thompson, Axios political reporter, delve into the unsettling reality of President Biden's cognitive decline. They discuss a cover-up by both the Biden administration and the media, dismissing troubling evidence for political convenience. The guests emphasize the media's failure to hold power accountable while unraveling the dynamics of Biden's leadership and the loyalty culture that stifles dissent. Their insights raise critical questions about journalistic integrity and the nation's political future.

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INSIGHT

Biden's Decline Started in 2015

Joe Biden's mental decline reportedly began after his son Beau's death in 2015, with noticeable aging by 2017-2018.
His cognitive abilities deteriorated gradually, with more serious decline evident by late 2023.

INSIGHT

Politburo Ran Biden's Presidency

A tight group called the Politburo, including Biden family and close aides, controlled decisions as Biden's cognitive decline worsened.
Cabinet secretaries reported Biden was more a figurehead with key decisions filtered and controlled by the Politburo.

ANECDOTE

Note Cards and Scripted Meetings

Biden's White House used note cards with rudimentary prompts for him even during cabinet meetings.
Cabinet meetings became scripted, unusual, and infrequent, with no meetings for almost a year by late 2023.

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In 2023 and 2024, there were many things that were unsayable. Perhaps the most unsayable—at least in legacy media circles—was that the President of the United States was not capable of being president, because he was no longer mentally fit.

Those people who did break the taboo—who dared to notice Biden’s countless gaffes, his stiff gait, those who recognized the reality of old age, including Special Counsel Robert Hur—were written off or smeared. Videos of the president—clips of Biden tripping or misspeaking—were rebranded by The New York Times as “cheap fakes.” People were told to disbelieve their eyes and ears.

It’s now the spring of 2025. Trump is the president. Biden dropped out. And now the unsayable things are being said—most dramatically in Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s new book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.

Tapper, of CNN, and Thompson, of Axios, interviewed more than 200 people for this book, which illuminates Biden’s mental decline, his enablers, and how the country was effectively run by committee in the midst of his clear cognitive impairment.

For those of us who thought it was bad—it was actually much worse than anyone could have imagined.

Alex and Jake have chosen to call the effort to hide Biden’s decline a “cover-up.” Those are choice words from two mainstream media insiders, invoking memories of Watergate and Iran-Contra. And the cover-up they are referring to is that of the Biden family and the close circle of advisers around them, many of whom are still delusional about Biden’s state.

But cover-up might be the word that many Americans would use to describe the press’s coverage of Biden. How did ordinary people see more than people with White House press passes? And, what does it all say about human nature, transparency, and groupthink?

This is a really illuminating conversation about presidential power, the lengths some will go to keep it, and how the media failed to report the story of a lifetime.

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