In a stunning twist, even some of President Joe Biden’s traditional media allies are now questioning his fitness for office following a wave of damning revelations in the newly released book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.
Co-authored by CNN political analyst Jake Tapper and Axios national correspondent Alex Thompson, the book paints a bleak picture of a presidency mired in denial, mismanagement, and what some are now openly describing as cognitive decline. One of the most shocking moments? The revelation that Biden’s team staged a fake town hall event in early 2024 in a desperate attempt to shore up public confidence — only to find the footage too unusable for campaign ads due to the president’s reportedly incoherent performance.
Alex Thompson, speaking publicly about the book’s findings, did not mince words when asked about Biden’s mental acuity. He recounted how aides, cabinet members, and even campaign staff expressed concerns behind closed doors about the president’s ability to comprehend information, sit through meetings, or respond to crises — especially in the lead-up to and following the release of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report, which described Biden as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
“I don’t know if they’re lying to us or lying to themselves,” Thompson said, noting the “human tendency” to ignore the cognitive decline of a loved one. “But the truth is, people around him were deeply worried.”
During a recent panel discussion, even other CNN contributors expressed dismay at the scale of the reported cover-up. Charles M. Blow, a guest on the panel, admitted that he, like many journalists, had dismissed earlier concerns as politically motivated — only to be blindsided by the revelations. “To find out later that was not true — that I, as a journalist, was also part of that ecosystem of people questioning the motives — is really, really hard,” he said.
The book also reveals that some of Biden’s closest advisers, including cabinet-level officials, went months without direct access to the president — a fact that has raised troubling questions about who was making key national decisions. In several instances, aides reportedly worried that Biden would not be able to respond effectively to a national emergency.
Despite this, Biden’s longtime confidant Mike Donilon defended the president, saying he had spent “hours and hours” with him and never observed any signs of mental impairment. Thompson countered that this kind of denial was part of the problem: “There were moments when his own cabinet would have been concerned if a crisis had occurred at that moment.”
The revelations are now sending shockwaves through the Democratic Party. As more details emerge about the extent to which top officials may have hidden the president’s condition from the public — and even from their own ranks — party leaders are facing growing calls for transparency and accountability.
As one Democratic insider bluntly put it: “The American people deserve to know whether the person they elected to lead the country is still capable of doing so. It looks like some people around him decided they didn’t.”