Axios’s Alex Thompson and CNN’s Jake Tapper have written a book called Original Sin, which will finally report President Biden’s mental decline and ridiculous decision to run for reelection. The book explains that Biden’s decision to run for reelection was made over the objection of his staff and Democratic Party leaders, leading to the country wondering exactly who was running the country. They supported Biden’s book because they hated Trump and didn’t want him in the White House.
The authors have explained the books in the below:
ORIGINAL SIN, now available for pre-order at https://t.co/a9TcEIjAnV from @Penguinpress. Been working hard on this with @AlexThomp, from interviews with more than 200 WH insiders, Dem leaders, and more. #OriginalSinBook pic.twitter.com/e7hd4bqNHM
— Jake Tapper 🦅 (@jaketapper) February 26, 2025
Alex Thompson From the book jacket: “In Greek tragedy, the protagonist’s effort to avoid his fate is what seals his fate. In 2024, American politics became a Greek tragedy…The irony is biting: In the name of defeating what they called an existential threat to democracy, Biden and his inner circle ensured it, tossing aside his implicit promise to serve for only one term, denying the existence of health issues the nation had been watching for years, dooming the Democrats to defeat. The decision to run again, the Original Sin of this president, led to a campaign of denial and gaslighting, leading directly to Donald Trump’s return to power and all that has happened as a consequence. Rarely does hubris meet nemesis more explosiv
Why it matters: Thompson and Tapper draw a direct line from Biden’s decision to run again — his “original sin” that led to a campaign of “gaslighting and denial” — and the election of President Trump.
- “In Greek tragedy, the protagonist’s effort to avoid his fate is what seals his fate. In 2024, American politics became a Greek tragedy,” the book announcement says.
Zoom in: “What the world saw at Joe Biden’s one and only debate was not an anomaly,” Tapper and Thompson write.
- “It was the natural result of an eighty-one-year-old man whose faculties had been diminishing for years.”
- “Biden, his family, and his team let their self-interest and fear of another Trump term justify trying to put an at times addled old man in the Oval Office for four more years.” Penguin Press, the publisher, says
- “Original Sin” takes us “behind closed doors and into private conversations between the heaviest of hitters, revealing how big the problem was and how many people knew about it.”” From White House staffers at the highest to lowest levels to leaders of Congress and the Cabinet, from governors to donors and Hollywood players.
- The bottom line: “This book is as much of a human story as a political one. Stay tuned — you won’t believe what we’ve found,” Thompson tells us.
Get more political stories in your inbox with Axios Sneak Peek.
Years ago, when Tapper was an unbiased reporter, he would have informed the country about Biden’s decision.
The book’s been out for almost a week; expect more detail.
