In recent weeks, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson have ramped up the promotion for their offensive, ableist and ridiculous book, Original Sin. That’s the book about the “cover-up” of President Biden’s “decline” last year, because Tapper and Thompson think this is all the best use of their time when a demented fascist is currently dismantling the country from the White House right now. I covered my thoughts on the book and the “big reveals” we’ve heard thus far. As the promotion ramped up, many Democrats have tried and failed to pile on the Bidens. But many Democrats have clapped back on Tapper and Thompson, disputing many of the stories from “unnamed sources” and George Clooney. On Monday, President Biden’s granddaughter Naomi Biden – a 31-year-old lawyer – clapped back hard on this book in the wake of her granddad’s cancer diagnosis:
Just read a copy of this silly book, and if anyone is curious for a review from someone who lived it first-hand: this book is political fairy smut for the permanent, professional chattering class. The ones who rarely enter the arena, but profit from the spectacle of those that do. Put simply, it amounts to a bunch of unoriginal, uninspired lies written by irresponsible self promoting journalists out to make a quick buck. It relies on unnamed, anonymous sources pushing a self-serving false narrative that absolves them of any responsibility for our current national nightmare.
All of this at the expense of a man so completely good and honest that it is impossible for these people to ever understand the why or how of it all. There are real stories to be told and one day they will be. I suspect history will reward the truth.
“…Pushing a self-serving false narrative that absolves them of any responsibility for our current national nightmare…” That’s exactly it. Political journalists are desperate to absolve themselves of their failures to report accurately on Donald Trump and his cadre of fascist lunatics. That’s what it’s always been about. I also think all of this bullsh-t is about damaging Kamala Harris to the point where she couldn’t or won’t run for office again.
Just read a copy of this silly book, and if anyone is curious for a review from someone who lived it first-hand: this book is political fairy smut for the permanent, professional chattering class. The ones who rarely enter the arena, but profit from the spectacle of those that… https://t.co/nANtfNhEqI
— Naomi Biden (@NaomiBiden) May 19, 2025
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- United States President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden attend the wedding of Peter Neal and Naomi Biden Neal, Saturday, November 19, 2022 on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC. Featuring: President Joe Biden, Naomi Biden Neal, Peter Neal, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 19 Nov 2022 Credit: Adam Schultz/White House via CNP/Cover Images
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- 2024 White House Correspondents Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel. Featuring: Naomi Biden, Peter Neal Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 27 Apr 2024 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages
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- Opening night of ‘Good Night and Good Luck’ at the Winter Garden Featuring: Jake Tapper Where: New York City, New York, United States When: 03 Apr 2025 Credit: Roger Wong/INSTARimages
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- Jake Tapper arrives for the 2025 White House Correspondents Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel Featuring: Jake Tapper Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 26 Apr 2025 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages
On Bluesky I have been tagging & dragging White Democratic elected politicians who are TRYING to make the Democratic Base disappear by LYING on Biden & Kamala!🤬 I HONESTLY am MORE DISGUSTED 😡 with WAY TOO MANY CURRENT DEMOCRATIC POLITICIANS THAN I HAVE EVA BEEN WITH THE DEPLORABLE REPUBLICANS! I have NEVA felt so apathetic in my LIFE regarding national politics!🤬
Let’s just say everything they say is true. How is this remotely relevant? What if Kamala was “secretly” running the country? How is that a bad thing? It was still a very successful Presidency. I agree with the thesis that this is about sullying the administration to keep Harris from running and disrupting her ability to run for office again. I don’t know why Tapper is going so hard at this. I don’t understand why relitigating that “Biden was too old to be President” needs to be done. Yes his ass was old. But he had a perfectly competent VP to get the job done. That is the problem. No one is saying jack squat about JD Vance and Trump’s old arse. This is legit BS.
One of these creeps actually tweeted that given Biden’s cancer diagnosis, if he were president right now, the country would be in crisis. I hate to tell him that the country is in crisis specifically because Trump is president and Kamala Harris is not. They are trying very hard to erase Kamala.
The fact that so many journalists/talking heads, even supposedly liberal ones, refuse to acknowledge the full fledged crisis we’re currently in is disturbing.
@Becks1 I can’t tell if it’s because they’re being directed to think stupidly/prevented from reporting on the yawning maw of fascism we’re tipping into or they really are that dumb. I guess there’s the possibility that at least some of them are being blackmailed/paid off.
Cable news is in steep decline. Tapper needs to get that money while he still can and sleazy tabloid journalism sells more books.
This explains the current UK tabloid turn of CNN (and other legacy media outlets in the US):
Since 2023, Tapper’s boss at CNN is Sir Mark Thompson (Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide) who acts as CNN’s editor-in-chief. Thompson was formerly Director-General of the BBC and President and CEO of the NYT. Tapper is a tabloid hack.
Respectfully disagree. We have reached a dangerous point in our political system where old white men are given a free pass well past the point of competency. DJT, McConnell, Biden, etc have all exhibited signs of mental decline, and they should absolutely be called out on it. Unfortunately only Democrats have an iota of self-awareness and sense of accountability — hence, Biden stepping down and the rest of the decrepit MAGA hordes digging in around their Dear Leader.
🎯
I will enjoy seeing data on book sales…people are preparing for the worst, the cultists don’t generally read, and even the current Admin has to say something nice after Biden’s cancer diagnosis was made public.
I avoid social media anymore and was shocked to log on and see supposed political experts saying that Biden’s age is going to be a central issue of 2028. That is deranged. I saw someone on BlueSky say they were trying to make “fetch” happen, and I couldn’t agree more.
I’m no spring chicken, and never in my life have I seen American beltway media so out of kilter with reality. We don’t have real journalists left on the national stage. We have pundits who consider themselves right in all things and above criticism. They care about shaping national opinion and making money. Keeping America informed and playing their role as the Fourth Estate means nothing to them.
They’re also trying desperately to keep their jobs since the entire media ecosystem is now owned by Trump adjacent billionaires. Clearly, the word has gone out to protect Trump at all costs. Last Friday when they were losing their minds over Joe Biden being old, Moody’s downgraded the US credit rating for the first time in history. Seems like that would have been actual news to report.
What I can’t figure out is why no Democratic/progressive/liberal billionaires – and there are some – don’t start an actual left leaning/reality based news outlet. The mainstream media is essentially soft core right wing propaganda at this point.
I think so many Democrats are also trying to figure out why their messaging is failing so spectacularly — they are incapable of mobilizing beyond the progressive base, and I think a lot of this comes down to muckraking to see if we can’t diagnose the issue. In this case, Biden’s age and the administration’s unwillingness to acknowledge concerns did erode trust — it was not transparent or true to Joe’s previous election commitments.
I’m not convinced this is the root issue, but I’ll agree we have an authenticity problem — and a problem with really connecting with a range of voters. I’m here for Bernie/AOC/Buttageig though!
@Betsy: Historian Heather Cox Richardson has said that the American electorate is pickled in right wing propaganda. Unfortunately, a left leaning news outlet would quickly be taken over by bros attacking the Democratic party from the left. In a two party system, one party fighting a two front war is not sustainable. It’s become very fashionable to pile on Democrats.
A friend of mine works at Tapper’s children’s school. Long before this book came out, they did not have kind things to say about Tapper AT ALL, to put it mildly.
Yes to all of this! As for preventing KDH from running in 2028, what they’re doing will have the opposite effect. As more and more potential Democratic presidential candidates take the media bait and throw Joe Biden under the bus, she will be the last one standing who has the support of the base, mainly Black women, who choose the nominee. One of the reasons she refused to take that bait during the campaign was because she knows the extraordinary legacy the Biden-Harris administration left the Democratic party and didn’t want to sully that with nitpicking criticisms. And she knew for every vote she earned by trashing JB she would lose five more from the base that loves him.
Tapper has a Biden vendetta. Allegedly Hunter HATES him because when Beau was dying Tapper texted him from a blocked number asking to be alerted as soon as Beau died. Ghoulish behavior.
Jake would text and call Hunter from a blocked number ASKING for details on Beau’s final moments. He’s disgusting and cruel!
I hadnt’ heard that before. Absolutely vile.
Tapper texted Hunter Biden to tell him to alert Tapper “as soon as Beau died” for real? Ugggggly! Reading Hunter’s book astounded me at the depths he sank to in the throes of addiction. But nothing Hunter has done approaches this Tapper sleaze.
I’m glad she said something. Tapper is an egomaniac and clearly a fantasist. Glad to see that Kimmel canceled his show with him as a guest. I really hope all of these fools get theirs for the way that they are piling onto PJB.
I’m glad she said something. Tapper is an egomaniac and clearly a fantasist. Glad to see that Kimmel canceled his show with him as a guest. I really hope all of these fools get theirs for the way that they are piling onto PJB.
I used to listen to Jake’s news program because I liked his interviews with Trump people. However, after a few shows, it was clear he is one of those “both sides” people. James O’Brien talks about this fallacy the journalists falls under, when talking about climate change, they feel the need to invite people from both sides in order to consider themselves impartial journalists, but fail to disclose that the most scientists support the human causation of the climate change and they have to dig through garbage to find one person who don’t. Jake is one of those journalists.
Every accusation is a confession.
At this moment, Trump is a figurehead and Vance is ‘running’ the show, which actually means someone else is telling them both what to do. Not saying that person has a russian accent, just… possibly maybe.
I would not want to be a target of Naomi Biden on social media. She & her husband lived at the White House, paying rent as legally required, unlike someone’s daughter, who illegally squatted in a West Wing office at our expense for 4 years. She knows what was going on and she is fiercely loyal to her grandparents. She also has a biting sense of humor that she displays through Willow, Catmander in Chief, social media accounts. Willow has recently formed a united front with the social media accounts of Larry the Cat, (of 10 Downing), and Remy the Humanities Cat of Harvard and several other cats. Jake Tapper is in for some sharp claws.
Also, if Naomi Biden ever seeks political office, she has my support.
Political fairy smut for the chattering class. Amazing. She coined that and I love it.
It’s SO GOOD.
I love smart, accomplished, unapologetic women.
Saw this on bluesky…her comments are fantastic.
Good for her. Tapper is the worst kind of opportunist.
My first reaction – no need to drag the fairy smut into this Naomi 🤣🤣
Second – I agree with the idea that every accusation is a confession. there are major cover ups going on currently regarding Trump’s health (among other things) and they’re desperate to keep the focus on Biden.
Third – Trump is just going to rant about this forever because he can, because no one will challenge him or stop him. He hates the women who have challenged him – Hillary and Kamala among others – but he LOATHES Biden because Biden challenged him and won. People chose Joe over him. And his ego can’t handle that. So if he’s not complaining about fake issues in Biden’s administration, he’s going to focus on this.
Finally – I’m glad to see *some* pushback on the media’s obsession with Biden’s decline. Let’s talk about the declining menace in the white house currently, ok?
Disagree. If you see a spade, you call it a spade. Naomi Biden saw “political fairy smut for the permanent, professional chattering class” and rightly called it as she saw it. Jake Tapper and whoever Alex Thompson is can now be easily recognized as tabloid reporters since they rely “unnamed, anonymous sources” to push a preconceived “self-serving false narrative.” Big thanks to Naomi Biden for correctly calling it and saving me time I might have wasted paying attention to something that’s just “fairy smut.”
I was making a joke 🙄🙄
First reaction from touchy oldster who’s getting sick of everyone younger who expects us old people to be A-ok with pushing Old Joe out of fairly won Dem primary because they freaked out about a debate with a meandering mendicant, or otherwise absorbed right wing swill about Biden’s so-called decline.
James Clyburn told jaketapper that he met and spoke with Biden frequently, and “I never saw anything that allowed me to think that Joe Biden was not able to do the job.” Regarding the debate performance that horrified youngsters, Clyburn said Biden’s schedule was concerning. And he was probably unaware of all else Biden was working on, like a prisoner swap.
After the debate performance, Heather Cox Richardson noted the “overwhelming focus among pundits” about Biden’s soft hoarse voice. But also noted “that Trump lied and rambled incoherently, ignored questions to say whatever he wanted; refused to acknowledge the events of January 6.” She said tRump “lied so incessantly throughout the evening that it took CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale almost three minutes, speaking quickly, to get through the list. Trump said that some Democratic states allow people to execute babies after they’re born…” Etc, etc, etc (Heather Cox Richardson, June 27, 2024).
This touchy oldster donated to Kamala’s campaign and voted for her (2x) , but the way it happened was pure crap. Looks like I’m just too old to be voting.
They really want the U.S. to be angry that a Black woman may have been in charge more than they knew. Which absolutely was not the case btw. And I love how Tapper forgets how deranged they all were when Kamala dared to do anything. They wanted her gone from the WH for all four years. Most of them rageful because she can try to run again and they think Biden “doomed” the white men who think they should be President in 2028.
I am SO PISSED at these speculations, accusations, assumptions, stupidity, etc. over Biden’s health and current diagnosis.
The vile hypocrisy that is being spewed from (ugh so exhausting) media, politicians, Trash and his family, etc. Look in the mirror! HE IS THE ONE WITH THE PROBLEMS.
Love, light, support to Joey B and Jill.
Jake Tapper went on a date with Monica Lewinsky and then wrote a column about it. That’s the caliber of human being we’re talking about here.
In Philadelphia sports circles, he’s being denounced as the second worst-ever Phillies fan, after Samuel Alito.
We’re watching an actually demented president abuse the Constitution on the daily, and Tapper wants to focus on Biden.
The news is really wearing on me. I thought I’d developed a bit of a shell over the last few years, but the cruelty of literally everything is chipping away at me. And this stupid and insane focus on tearing down a decent man who is retired and minding his own business in order to prop up a monster is just…
Anyway, I agree that this is in large part about sullying Kamala Harris and kowtowing to Trump, who suffered a huge narcissistic injury at Biden’s hands. But I also think it’s a deliberate way to avoid discussing Trump’s mental capacity. By talking about Biden, the media can claim cover — see? We talk about mental capacity! We’re not ignoring the elephant in the room! — while refusing to report on the fact that a true madman is at the helm.
Salmonpuff, thank you for articulating so well the anger, sadness, and frustration I’ve felt about this situation these past few days. The way nearly all media outlets – including supposedly liberal ones – are treating President Biden during this dark moment makes me despondent. I can’t imagine how hard it is for him and his loved ones to deal with a dire prognosis while fending off conspiracy theories as the whole damn country he’s served for decades burns around us.
This. All of this.
Tapper is a vile human being. It wasn’t long ago when he was anti-Trump. Now he is an unreliable, dishonest, and indecisive “journalist” trying to make a buck off of President Biden’s health woes. Absolutely despicable.
I honestly used to think he was a good guy .. but that was so long ago I cannot remember when Lol
I live Biden and am a proud Delawarean. His recent diagnosis reset the picture of what was likely going on.
He clearly went into a steep decline the last year. Presidents (except for Trump who doesn’t care to work except to grift) age in dog years. Look at before and after photos of Clinton and Obama. But Biden’s was severe. Oncologists have stated that this type of cancer, even aggressive as it is, can initially be missed on a PSA test and need a digital rectal exam to be caught.
I think that Biden developed the cancer and, especially given his age, it hit him HARD. I don’t think he went into cognitive decline like they’re saying. As in senility or dementia. I think he felt like crap, was exhausted, maybe was taking different meds, and combined with his age and schedule wasn’t as with it all the time as maybe one would like. And that wasn’t true for every day either.
But he was still capable of being president. FDR had serious health issues as did Kennedy. They governed fine. Presidents have, or should have, capable staff and officials. They make the big decisions but they aren’t running the state department on a daily basis or something. I agree this smacks of ableism and ageism.
Biden did what he was supposed to as president and did it well and for the benefit of ALL, not just those who voted for him. In fact, red states benefited greatly under his programs. We all saw him on very good days, sharp and knowing the score.
I do think people saw him struggling, even if they didn’t know why, and closed ranks. And I do wish he’d stepped aside earlier. I get that he probably feared no one could beat Trump. He was the only one who had. And who knows if he was right. Maybe KH would have lost anyways.
But this nonsense of “we needed a full primary” is BS. Yeah, that worked great for Dems in ‘68., maybe RFK would have won the nomination and beat Nixon. Who knows? The party was severely fractured already. Dems were headed that way now too over issues like Gaza as we saw play out.
And it would be nice if the media would cover Trumps cognitive issues with a fraction of the energy and attention as they did Biden. We’ve all heard multiple word salads, factual inaccuracies (not just lies but general stupidity) and seemingly falling asleep at the pope’s funeral and in Saudi Arabia.
The accusation is the admission with these people. I 100% believe the Stephen Millers and Russell Voghts are running our government now. Trump just wants the glitz and the grift.
Yes to all of this @BQM!!
So all I got from this crap is…..Joe Biden with cancer is a billion times better than that orange p.o.s. I mean Joe wasn’t the one falling asleep at the Pope’s funeral trying to catch flies, and also that ahole can’t sit up straight anymore. I’m no health expert but when old people start hunching over like that the dirt nap comes next. P.S on a totally superficial note Naomi is gorgeous.
We know the right-wing tabloid press and its cruel mechanisms in the service of the powerful right and the undeservedly rich from the thousands of malicious articles and books about Harry and Meghan. Unknown sources, constant repetition of lies over years to distract from the real scandals. Deliberate polarisation and creation of two camps to stir up negative emotions against the innocent, honest and hard-working camp, hidden or overt racist, misogynistic and sexist content, global networking and repetition of the indefensible content etc.
We can only fight back by also creating or joining networks that fact check, protect democracy and speak truth in honest truthful language and intent.
I wish Joe Biden and Kamala Harris the very best.