JOE BIDEN'S BLUES: Book pulls back curtain on president's decline

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For 18 months, White House insiders tried to keep from the public what they saw with their own eyes.

U.S. President Joe Biden was in rapid cognitive decline.

The octogenarian commander-in-chief was increasingly exhausted, confused, and out of it.

Now, a new book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, details the meltdown.

The authors write: “The original sin of Election 2024 was Biden’s decision to run for re-election, followed by aggressive efforts to hide his cognitive diminishment.”

Ironically, one of the main culprits was the media and one of the authors — CNN’s Tapper. He took Lara Trump to task for even suggesting Biden was in decline.

For the American public and the wider world, what had been whispers and innuendo became a scream from the rooftop on the night of June 27, 2024.

That night, Democratic voters watched in horror the first presidential debate between Biden and the ultimate winner of the 2024 contest, Republican Donald Trump.

The authors write that as Trump told whopper after whopper, Biden sat by pale and slack-jawed. The incumbent struggled to put together intelligent rebuttals.

Here are some of the highlights of Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.

THAT DEBATE

Within minutes, White House chief of staff Ron Klain knew the debate was a “disaster.” Near the start, Biden dropped the ball on a question about the national debt, saying, “We finally beat Medicare.” Then Biden lost his train of thought on the immigration crisis.

Trump chimed in: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.”

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QUOTE

“Senior Democrats who had done work for Biden in 2024 later told us that they had watched the debate and wondered: ‘Just who the hell is running the country?’” — Original Sin

JILL THE PILL

Biden’s wife, Jill Biden (Doctor to you!), made matters worse, telling the absent-minded president he “did such a great job.”

GEORGE WHO?

Probably the worst thing you can do to a Hollywood celebrity is not recognize them. That happened to Ocean’s 11 star and Biden supporter George Clooney.

At a fundraiser in Los Angeles, Biden failed to recognize Clooney. “Clooney was shaken to his core. The president hadn’t recognized him. A man he had known for years,” one of the book’s sources said.

QUOTE

“Clooney had expressed concern about Biden’s health before — a White House aide had told him a few months before that they were working on getting the president to take longer steps when he walked — but obviously the problem went far beyond his gait.”— Original Sin

THE COUP

Less than a month later, Clooney took to the op-ed pages of The New York Times calling for Biden to drop out of the race, claiming he “cannot win.” The piece was written from the comfort of Clooney’s home in the south of France.

BIDEN ‘F***ED’ HARRIS PREZ BID

Vice President Kamala Harris insiders claim in the book that Biden “totally f***ed” his second banana by not dropping out of the race sooner. Adviser David Plouffe was quoted in the book as calling the truncated 107-day campaign a “f***ing nightmare.” Plouffe told the authors, “And it’s all Biden. He totally f***ed us.”

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WAIT JUST A SECOND, LEFTY!

“(Advisers Stephanie) Cutter and Plouffe were doing messaging and ads and they misjudged what people cared about because cable news and Twitter are not real life. Biden should have never run (in 2024) AND the party is too far left.” — Democratic Party insider

WHEELIE TOUGH CALL

Biden’s aides became so concerned about his physical deterioration that they discussed having him use a wheelchair if he recaptured the White House in 2024.

EXCERPT:“Biden’s physical deterioration — most apparent in his halting walk — had become so severe that there were internal discussions about putting the president in a wheelchair, but they couldn’t do so until after the election.”

THE TRUMP FACTOR

According to the authors, hardcore Democratic loyalists were so frightened by a second Trump term, they covered up Biden’s decline as the lesser of two evils. “They maintained a near-religious faith in Biden’s ability to rise again. And as with any theology, skepticism was forbidden.”— Original Sin.

STAGE MANAGED

Insiders were desperate to disguise Biden’s decline. They restricted his work hours, kept his speeches short (too much time on his feet), and videos were filmed in slow motion to cover up how he walked. It was deny, deny, deny. Among them? Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who laughed off the rumours. She told CNN: “Oh my gosh. He’s the president of the United States. I can’t even keep up with him.”

MEDIA COVER-UP

Because most of the mainstream American media are Democratic-leaning liberals, Biden’s decline didn’t get the headlines it should have. Co-author Thompson said the benign cover-up further eroded the public’s trust in the media.

QUOTE

“Some people trust us less because of it. We bear some responsibility for faith in the media being at such lows. I say this because acknowledging errors builds trust and being defensive about them further erodes it.”— Original Sin co-author Alex Thompson

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun