Tapper and Thompson’s Original Sin delivers a damning portrait of Biden’s inner circle and a party in denial.
In Original Sin, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson report on President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and the alleged cover-up that followed, drawing on interviews with nearly 200 insiders. “President Biden’s decline and its cover-up by the people around him is a reminder that every White House… is capable of deception,” Thompson writes.
The book opens with a searing quote from David Plouffe: “He totally fucked us.” Tapper and Thompson document how aides shielded Biden, even as Cabinet members privately questioned his fitness. “By 2024, he could not be relied upon,” they write.
Biden’s only primary challenger, Rep. Dean Phillips, was sidelined, while Kamala Harris became the reluctant nominee after Biden dropped out post-debate. Meanwhile, voters were kept in the dark.
One aide admitted: “It was a disservice… to allow him to run again.”
Original Sin paints a party undone by loyalty, denial, and political calculus — as Donald Trump surges unchallenged toward November.