Biden's "Big Lie"
Tapper and Thompson’s Original Sin isn’t just a warning—it’s a reckoning with Biden’s presidency and the people who enabled it.
After the 2016 and 2020 elections, there was no shortage of tell-all books about what went on during Trump’s first presidency. These insider accounts offered juicy details and behind-the-scenes drama—much of it important—but all competing for attention amid the constant firehose of Trump-related news. To the casual observer, it sometimes felt like some journalists were more interested in cashing in on their exclusive access than in upholding the credibility of the fourth estate by not informing the public. Not a dig on all journalist, because I’m unashamedly very supportive of the work journalist do.
So when I heard a book was coming out about the Biden White House and the former president’s obvious cognitive decline, I figured this was just the new normal: journalists getting inside scoops and holding onto them for a book deal, or major outlets choosing to look the other way because of political bias. And to some extent, this book reinforces that impression. But what sets it apart is this: it doesn’t just reveal dysfunction or poor decision-making in hindsight—it shows, in real time and vivid detail, how a small, insulated group ignored growing concerns, silenced dissent, and ultimately propped up a candidate who was no longer fit for the job. The result? Biden didn’t just stay in the race—he all but guaranteed a second Trump term. And that, more than any political misstep, feels like the ultimate betrayal from someone who claimed democracy was on the ballot. Because now, thanks to that decision, it still is.
The book, Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, written by Jake Tapper (CNN) and Alex Thompson (Axios), contains all the tesserae for this mosaic of madness that gaslit most Democrats. Republicans were already sounding the alarm, but after the “2020 election was stolen” fiasco, they had very little credibility, but maybe we should’ve been listening to them anyways. Regardless of how you feel about Tapper, Thompson, or the media outlets they represent, it’s worth noting a few things. Tapper has publicly admitted he dropped the ball on this story—and even called Lara Trump to say she was right and he was wrong (referring to when he accused her of mocking Biden’s stutter). Thompson, to his credit, was one of the few reporters consistently covering concerns about Biden’s health. And then there’s James Rosen from Newsmax, who’s been asking questions about the president’s condition for over a year—and even got blacklisted from the White House for doing so.
After the 2024 election those closest to Biden suddenly found their spine. The cadre of people who knew just how bad Biden’s condition was but didn’t say anything is, frankly, just as surprising as it is frustrating. Speaking about the sources used in the book, the authors wrote:
“Since the November 2024 election, it [Original Sin] has been built on our interviews with approximately two hundred people who have firsthand knowledge of the events, including top officials from the Biden White House and administration; leaders of the House and Senate and their members; and donors, activists, and others who were there.”
The authors noted that many of the sources were deeply embedded within Biden’s circle, which explains why their accounts were so detailed—and why so many of them insisted on remaining anonymous.
The Politburo
It’s not hard to see why people close to Biden wanted to remain anonymous after spilling the beans. After all, the people even closer—Biden’s inner circle of advisers and family members— were singularly focused on ensuring the “Big Lie” was kept under wraps. These enablers were referred to in the book as the Politburo (a term Webster’s defines as the principal policymaking committee of a communist party… so, make of that what you will). This tight-knit group wielded enormous influence over both the campaign and White House operations. Made up of longtime aides like Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, and family members like Jill and Hunter Biden, they effectively served as gatekeepers to the president and enforcers of the re-election narrative. As one source put it, “The Biden team did a full-court press to stop any apostates.” Translation: if you questioned the official line, the Politburo would crush you.
This group didn’t just advise Biden—they insulated him, controlled the narrative, and ensured dissenting voices stayed out of earshot. And in doing so, they mirrored the very behavior Biden had once condemned in a virtual swearing in ceremony back in 2021, “I’m not joking when I say this: If you’re ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot," he added. "On the spot. No ifs or buts.”
Crushing Dissent
There are plenty of threads to pull on in Original Sin, but one that stood out to me was the coordinated effort—both public and behind the scenes—to discredit anyone who dared suggest that Biden might not be of sound body or mind. If you swapped out Biden’s name for Trump, the outrage would be nonstop—and rightly so. But Biden and his inner circle have such a grip on the Democratic establishment, it’s honestly surprising this book was even allowed to be published with the level of candor it contains.
Some of the harshest attacks from Biden’s Politburo weren’t aimed at Republicans, but at his own party and administration. Take Democrat Congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota’s 3rd District, for example. He reluctantly launched an unsuccessful primary challenge against Biden, and as the book makes clear, even entertaining that idea came at a steep political price.
“The DNC also made clear that there would be no party-sanctioned debates, challengers notwithstanding. It was machine-style politics to ensure that Biden would be the nominee, even as millions of Democratic voters were making plain their serious concerns about his ability to do the job.”
Then there was the reaction to Special Counsel Robert Hur, appointed by former Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents. While the report largely revealed former President Biden did in fact have classified documents at his residences, Hur’s observations about Biden’s cognitive decline became a flashpoint. According to the book, the White House Counsel’s Office strongly objected to the parts that referenced Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory” who was unable to remember key dates, including when he served as vice president or the year his son died. As observed,
“The implications of their objections were confounding. The White House wanted Garland to remove those passages before the report was released to Congress and the public.”
In other words, transparency took a back seat to narrative control—again.
Forget Hunter. Where’s Jill?
Hunter Biden has long served as a convenient scapegoat for Republicans, but that doesn’t mean all of their concerns were baseless. In fact, Hunter’s own words reveal how personal struggles were deeply entangled with political consequences:
“They’re trying to kill me,” he said. “They’re pushing me to relapse, knowing it will inflict devastating pain on my father. They’re only doing this to me to go after him!”
As the authors note, “It wore on the president’s soul. He lived in fear that he would lose a third child.” A comment in reference to Biden already losing Naomi and Beau Biden.
But while Hunter’s actions often stemmed from personal turmoil, Jill Biden’s role appeared far more calculated. Her top priority was keeping her husband in office—and she played an active, strategic part in making that happen. Beyond simply supporting him behind the scenes, she frequently stepped in to guide him during moments of confusion, or to yell at staff for allowing her husband’s interview to go on longer than it should. On foreign trips, aides like Anthony Bernal began organizing what they called “spousal programming”—events tailored specifically for her. Her team also requested talking points in advance of official state visits, and she regularly consulted with national security officials like Rear Admiral John Kirby on matters well outside the traditional purview of a First Lady. Dr. Biden even reportedly kept track of perceived betrayals. As she wrote:
“I remember every slight committed against the people I love. I can forgive, sure—but I don’t believe in rewarding bad behavior.”
It’s hard not to see that as a window into how loyalty was a family affair in Bidenworld.
The Question That Shouldn’t Have Needed Asking
With the benefit of hindsight, it’s clear that the question wasn’t “Should Biden run in 2024?”—it was “Why did so many people let him?”
The first question is easier to answer, of course he shouldn’t have. I think the answer to the second is still an open question, one I’m interested in learning more about.
But I’ll go a step further: he never should’ve run in 2020 either. Yes, he beat Trump. Yes, he got some real policy wins but Biden was not the hope and change Democrats were excited about. If you recall, he placed fourth in the Iowa caucuses and fifth in the New Hampshire primary.
But after four years of Trump’s lies, chaos, and self-dealing, Democrats were desperate for stability. Biden seemed like the safe, steady hand. He claimed that Charlottesville was the catalyst for his campaign—a powerful political moment to anchor a run—but he never actually visited the city as a candidate or as president. I live two hours away, I would have heard about it. He promised, repeatedly, that he would not pardon his son. But that vow, it turns out, quietly extended to other members of his family, congressional allies, and even members of his administration. And then, with staggering audacity, he inserted this line into his son’s actual pardon: “For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth.”
But he didn’t, did he?
Democrats should stop pretending they didn’t know who Biden really was. And those who helped prop up his image—while ignoring or silencing legitimate concerns—are, in my view, complicit in their own version of the “big lie”.
We also now know more about the family dynamic, and how secrecy around serious medical conditions isn’t new for the Bidens—it’s part of the pattern. Original Sin documents it clearly. Here’s how the authors tell the story:
“In the summer of 2013, Beau collapsed during a family vacation and underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor. ‘Beau’s tumor was definitely glioblastoma. Stage IV,’ Biden later wrote about the postoperative findings. ‘It was a death sentence,’ Hunter wrote.
Beau began limiting his public appearances that fall. He stopped doing extended media interviews. He appeared gaunt. He had a fresh surgical scar on his head and a new haircut with it.
In September, Biden and Beau’s team internally debated how much to disclose about Beau—the vice president’s son and a state’s top law enforcement officer—but ultimately said nothing.
In November, Beau told a local reporter that he had been given a ‘clean bill of health.’”
After Beau’s death, Hunter began a romantic relationship with his brother’s widow and reportedly got her addicted to drugs. Meanwhile, Biden’s daughter Ashley was battling her own addiction. As the book notes:
“Biden’s other adult child, Ashley, had also been struggling with addiction for years. In early 2019, she was in an outpatient rehab facility and she relapsed days after learning that Biden was going to run.”
These aren’t just personal tragedies. They reflect a deeper pattern—of secrecy, image management, and a belief that the ends justify the means. Even if it means dragging your family through hell just to hold onto power.
And when that mindset seeps into a political system, it’s not just bad optics. It corrodes public trust. It’s not just cynical. It’s dangerous for democracy.
Biden’s—and the Democratic Party’s—Legacy
Whether you think I’m being too harsh on Biden—or not harsh enough—is a fair criticism. I wrestled with the timing of writing this, but it felt important for me in this moment to be honest with you. I never want to give the impression that Biden gets a free pass because he’s the leader of my party. I think Congresswoman Susan Wild put it best when talking about her unwillingness to campaign with and defend Biden:
“If I defend [Biden] the president, I lose my integrity. How do we go after Trump for lying if people see us as liars?”
That’s why the timing of what happened next was hard to ignore. Just two days before the release of Original Sin, Biden’s team announced his aggressive prostate cancer diagnosis. I sincerely wish him and his family well. As a father whose 11-year-old son had a brain tumor removed two years ago, I know how profoundly illness can shake a family to its core.
But after reading this book, I can’t shake the feeling that the timing of that announcement wasn’t just coincidental—it felt orchestrated. A move straight out of the Politburo playbook, maybe even from Jill Biden herself. And that sick feeling I have? It’s not because I want to doubt them—it’s because Biden and his enablers have given me every reason to.
Biden’s actions has sown the Republican field with enough political fodder that they’ll be harvesting it well past the midterms. Hard to argue it wasn’t self inflicted.
And that’s the heart of it. You don’t defeat the country’s most shameless liar by stacking your own campaign on lies. You don’t reclaim the moral high ground by surrendering your integrity. If the Democratic Party truly wants to offer a contrast to Trump, it can’t blur the line between accountability and complicity. Because when voters believe both sides are lying, the side that lies better—or louder—usually wins.
If Biden—and the Democratic Party I’ve belonged to my entire life—want to salvage even a shred of dignity, if Biden wants to salvage any legacy at all, they need to own this. But I’m not holding my breath. And that might be the most heartbreaking part of all: I no longer expect them to.
What makes this so devastating is the memory of Biden’s own words. On January 20, 2021, standing on the Capitol steps at his inauguration, he said:
“Our democracy is built on truth, not lies. We must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.”
I remember hearing those words and feeling like maybe—just maybe—we were turning a corner. Not long before this speech was given, hordes of Trump supporters on January 6th illegally entered, destroyed and desecrated the US Capitol all based on the “Big Lie”, so it seems ironic Biden’s presidency would also end on another “Big Lie”.
And the consequences of that lie are already unfolding—in the erosion of public trust, the collapse of moral authority, and the growing sense that truth no longer has a place in our politics.
That’s Biden’s legacy. And it’s the Democratic Party’s too.
Happy to be proved wrong.