Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again

Jake Tapper · Alex Thompson

May 2025 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"Superbly reported . . . Reads like a Shakespearean drama on steroids." — Los Angeles Times

"Explosive." —The New York Times

"[The] most significant book to date about Biden’s cognitive decline." — The Atlantic

"Destined to stand alongside classics like Theodore White’s The Making of the President 1960 and even Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward’s All the President’s Men as one of the great books about American electoral politics.” — Richard Aldous, Persuasion

From two of America’s most respected journalists comes an unflinching and explosive reckoning with one of the most fateful decisions in American political history: Joe Biden’s run for reelection despite evidence of his serious decline—amid desperate efforts to hide the extent of that deterioration.

In Greek tragedy, the protagonist’s effort to avoid his fate is what seals his fate. In 2024, American politics became a Greek tragedy.

Joe Biden launched his successful 2020 bid for the White House with the stated goal of saving the nation from a second Trump presidential term. He, his family, and his senior aides were so convinced that only he could beat Trump again, they lied to themselves, allies, and the public about his condition and limitations. At his debate with Trump on June 27, 2024, the consequences of that deception were exposed to the world. It was shocking and upsetting.

Now the full, unsettling truth is being told for the first time. Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson take 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 truth is finally being told. What you will learn makes President Biden’s decision to run for reelection seem shockingly narcissistic, self-delusional, and reckless—a desperate bet that went bust—and part of a larger act of extended public deception that has few precedents. The story the authors tell raises fundamental issues of accountability and responsibility that will continue for decades.

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 explosively. Wherever you stand on the political spectrum, Original Sin is essential reading.

Ratings and reviews

Share this book...don't buy it. Tapper and Thompson don't deserve credibility in their faux humility tour. Of course, unless you lack respect for copyright law and the work product of authors, then sharing the book means buying the physical copy. Or wait until your library has it in hardcopy or eBook format. Remember, a dollar not spent is a dollar denied to disingenuous so-called journalists.

I'm giving this review with great humility. Look, I have humility. Jake, can you see my humility? You really thought you were going to make a few bucks off the American people "debunking" the very same lies and propaganda that you so willingly and knowingly shared? The irony in all this is so outstanding! Jake, please accept my humble review of your book now: The book is trash and filled with the very same things half of the American people have already been saying since the start of the Biden administration. It's not even sincere in that they just "discovered" all this, miraculously, after talking to a few democrats. I wouldn't waste your time or money on something like this book, unless you want to be bored out of your mind and your intelligence insulted.

The original sin was the media not reporting the facts we all knew. Now Tapper is trying to sell a book and make money for something him and his network should have been reporting to us everynight for free. Jake had connections within that white house and instead of being a journalist and asking tough unrelenting questions and getting the story. CNN and many others decided to run cover for the Biden white house and the Democrat party. This is why the mainstream media is no longer trusted or believed and no longer can lie to us all and get away with it the internet is too powerful. Don't buy this book.

About the author

Jake Tapper wrote the bestselling nonfiction book The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor, which was turned into a critically acclaimed film in 2020, and two New York Times bestselling novels, The Hellfire Club and The Devil May Dance. He is an Emmy Award-winning TV journalist as lead DC anchor and chief Washington correspondent for CNN. A Dartmouth graduate and Philly native, he lives in Washington, DC, with his wife, daughter, son, three dogs, and cat.

Alex Thompson is a National Political Correspondent for Axios and a CNN contributor. He won the White House Correspondents' Association award for overall excellence in White House coverage for his reporting on Joe Biden in 2024. Before that, he created Politico’s West Wing Playbook newsletter and worked at The New York Times and Vice News. A Harvard graduate, he lives in Washington, DC. He has no pets, but is a proud uncle.