New book: Axios' Thompson and CNN's Tapper on Biden's "Original Sin"
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Cover: Penguin Press
Axios' Alex Thompson and CNN's Jake Tapper — two of the most prominent reporters covering former President Biden's downfall — will be out May 20 with "Original Sin," an unsparing look at Biden's "decline, its cover-up, and his disastrous choice to run again."
Why it matters: Thompson and Tapper draw a direct line from Biden's decision to run again — his "original sin" that led to a campaign of "gaslighting and denial" — and the election of President Trump.
- "In Greek tragedy, the protagonist's effort to avoid his fate is what seals his fate. In 2024, American politics became a Greek tragedy," the book announcement says.
Zoom in: "What the world saw at Joe Biden's one and only debate was not an anomaly," Tapper and Thompson write.
- "It was the natural result of an eighty-one-year-old man whose faculties had been diminishing for years."
- "Biden, his family, and his team let their self-interest and fear of another Trump term justify trying to put an at times addled old man in the Oval Office for four more years."
Penguin Press, the publisher, says "Original Sin" takes 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 bottom line: "This book is as much of a human story as a political one. Stay tuned — you won't believe what we've found," Thompson tells us.
