Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson will focus on president’s ‘self-delusional’ decision to seek re-election. A new book announced on Wednesday aims to tell a behind-the-scenes story about Joe Biden’s bid for a second term, promising to reveal a top-level cover-up about his decline in health, its publisher said.
The book, titled Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, will be released on 20 May. Penguin Press, the book’s publisher, announced on Wednesday. The book is written by the CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson and tackles what exactly led to the Democratic party’s 2024 defeat, with a spotlight on Biden’s decision to run for re-election and subsequent drop-out in favor of his vice-president, Kamala Harris – who ultimately lost to Donald Trump.
A press release by Penguin Random House says that Biden, “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. “What you will learn makes President Biden’s decision to run for re-election 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,” it goes on to say.
Tapper served as a moderator for the infamous presidential debate in June 2024 hosted by CNN in which Biden’s poor performance essentially ended his campaign. After intense scrutiny on his mental acuity and age, Biden announced his decision to drop out of the presidential race and endorse Harris a few weeks later.
“Toni Morrison once said, ‘If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it,’” Tapper said in a statement to CNN Business. “That’s what inspired this book: we wanted to know more about what we all just lived through. More than 200 interviews later, Alex and I have a much better idea. And soon you all will too.”.
