Jake Tapper, once a staunch defender of Joe Biden against claims of cognitive decline, is now cashing in with a May 2025 book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, co-authored with Alex Thompson.
Based on 200+ interviews, it slams Biden’s “narcissistic” bid for a second term despite obvious health issues, a choice Tapper says tanked the Democrats in 2024. The hypocrisy stinks—Tapper spent years dismissing Biden’s frailty as a stutter or GOP smear, only flipping after the 2024 debate made denial impossible.
His partisan bias shone through in soft-gloving Democrats while grilling Republicans, and now he’s profiting off a truth he helped bury. Critics on X call it shameless; it’s Tapper monetizing a cover-up he abetted, a classic case of the media elite flipping the script when the wind shifts—and the checks clear.
Longer rantWhat a hypocrite https://t.co/XmYiyDfiZL
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 26, 2025
Jake Tapper, a prominent CNN anchor, has long been a fixture in political journalism, wielding significant influence over public perception. His career has been marked by a complex dance between journalistic integrity and partisan leanings, a tension that has come into sharp focus with his latest project. In May 2025, Tapper, alongside Axios correspondent Alex Thompson, will release Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, a book that promises to delve into the alleged concealment of Joe Biden’s cognitive decline during his presidency and re-election campaign. The book, based on over 200 interviews with White House insiders and Democratic leaders, positions itself as an exposé of a “shockingly narcissistic, self-delusional, and reckless” decision by Biden and his inner circle to pursue a second term despite evident health concerns—a decision that, according to the publisher’s description, amounted to “a desperate bet that went bust” and contributed to Donald Trump’s return to power in 2024.
Irony
The irony of Tapper’s involvement in this project is glaring. For years, he was among the mainstream media figures who dismissed or downplayed suggestions of Biden’s mental decline, often framing such critiques as partisan attacks rather than legitimate concerns. Take, for instance, a 2020 exchange with Lara Trump, where Tapper bristled at her observation of Biden’s faltering speech, insisting it was merely a stutter—a narrative he bolstered by pointing to a sympathetic Atlantic article and chastising her for lacking the “standing” to diagnose cognitive issues. This wasn’t an isolated incident; Tapper consistently deflected scrutiny of Biden’s mental acuity during the 2020 campaign, aligning himself with a broader media effort to shield the then-candidate from questions about his fitness. Even as late as June 2023, his co-author Alex Thompson was writing pieces for Axios that minimized Biden’s verbal stumbles as “quirky aphorisms,” accusing Republicans of weaponizing them to imply decline.
Opportunism
This pattern of defense shifted dramatically after Biden’s calamitous June 2024 debate performance, which Tapper co-moderated. The event laid bare Biden’s struggles—moments of confusion, lost trains of thought, and a palpable frailty that no amount of spin could obscure. Post-debate, Tapper pivoted, becoming one of the loudest voices calling out Biden’s denial and the Democratic Party’s gaslighting of the public. He lambasted Biden and his family for being “in complete denial” about his health and campaign viability, a stance that marked a stark departure from his earlier protectiveness. This shift, however, reeks of opportunism rather than revelation. Critics argue that Tapper’s newfound clarity coincided conveniently with a moment when the narrative could no longer be suppressed—and when a book deal could capitalize on the fallout.
Hypocrisy
The hypocrisy here is monstrous. Tapper spent years as a gatekeeper of the establishment narrative, part of a media apparatus that labeled skeptics of Biden’s fitness as conspiracy theorists or “cheap fake artists.” Now, he stands to profit handsomely from a book that confirms what those same skeptics had been saying all along—effectively monetizing his own complicity in the cover-up he now decries. The title Original Sin suggests a moral reckoning, yet Tapper’s role in the story is less that of a whistleblower and more of a participant who flipped the script when it suited him. His partisanship, long evident in his softer treatment of Democrats versus his aggressive interrogations of Republicans, is laid bare by this move. Conservatives on platforms like X have pounced, with figures like Stephen L. Miller sarcastically asking if the book includes “300 pages of you guys apologizing to the rest of us you labeled cheap fake artists,” while others, like Shawn Farash, marvel at the “shamelessness” of cashing in on a truth the media once suppressed.
Tapper’s defenders might argue he’s evolved, that his insider perspective—particularly as debate moderator—gave him unique insight into Biden’s decline. But this strains credulity. The signs were there for years: Biden’s gaffes, his physical frailty, the carefully managed public appearances. Tapper didn’t need a front-row seat in 2024 to see it; he chose not to until the political winds shifted and the story became a bestseller. The book’s release, timed for May 2025, smacks of a calculated bid to launder his reputation while raking in profits, all under the guise of journalistic duty. Quoting Toni Morrison in his announcement—“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it”—Tapper casts himself as a truth-seeker, yet the subtext is clear: he’s a profiteer of a narrative he once helped bury.
This episode underscores a broader critique of media partisanship. Tapper’s trajectory—from defender of Biden to chronicler of his downfall—mirrors a press corps that too often prioritizes access and agenda over accountability. The real “original sin” may not just be Biden’s, but that of a media elite who shielded him until the lie became unsustainable, only to turn around and sell the story back to the public they misled. For Tapper, the book is less a redemption arc than a cynical cash grab, a testament to the adage that in Washington, hypocrisy pays—especially when bound in hardcover.