Democrats are experiencing an intense bout of whiplash from the Joe Biden information cycle.
New revelations from a extremely anticipated e-book, Original Sin, by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’s Alex Thompson, have reopened previous wounds from the 2024 election, with elected officers—and even some 2028 hopefuls—going through uncomfortable questions this previous week about Biden’s cognitive decline in workplace and his fateful choice to run for reelection. Original Sin, which formally hits cabinets Tuesday, provides recent reporting on the race, and follows a pair books, Chris Whipple’s Uncharted and Amie Parnes and Jon Allen’s Fight, which additionally delved into Biden’s bungled candidacy and the celebration’s loss to Donald Trump.
It’s a dialog many in Biden’s celebration would like to keep away from, and certainly, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg argued that the Democrats are “not in a position to wallow in hindsight” as they’ve bought “some fundamental tests for the future of the country and this party.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed an analogous sentiment telling reporters on Tuesday, “We’re just looking forward.” Last week, in response to the information cycle, a spokesperson from Biden’s workplace argued, “We’re still waiting for someone, anyone to point out where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or make a presidential address where he was unable to do his job because of mental decline.”
But such sentiments couldn’t slow a flood of leaks and excerpts detailing previously unreported instances of health lapses, including Biden not recognizing George Clooney at a fundraiser and internal suggestions that he use a wheelchair if elected to a second term. The book also explores the tactics that the White House engaged in to dissuade the media from reporting on said health concerns, including a strategy that encouraged Democratic operatives to attack journalists publicly.
Some Democrats opted to publicly distance themselves from Biden and the administration’s calculated strategy to keep his health decline out of the public eye. During an appearance on Pod Save America, Beto O’Rourke argued that “Biden should not have run again,” in 2024, including that he “failed this country in the most important job that he had.” In a statement to the Washington Post, Rep. Ro Khanna said, “In my few interactions at public events, I found him coherent and proud of his record, but it is now painfully obvious he should not have run.” Even Buttigieg acknowledged that “maybe” Democrats would’ve been higher off if Biden had not run once more. Right now, with the good thing about hindsight,” he stated, “I think most people would agree that that’s the case.”
The discourse even made its way to Saturday Night Live, where “Weekend Update” coanchor Colin Jost joked that “according to a new tell-all book, Biden’s inner circle reveals that they were worried the president would need a wheelchair in his second term. Especially after they were all done stabbing him in the back.” The following morning, Khanna was on ABC’s This Week reiterating that “obviously, he should not have run,” whereas over on Meet the Press, Senator Chris Murphy told NBC News’s Kristen Welker that “on reflection, you possibly can’t defend what the Democratic Party did as a result of we’re caught with a madman, a corrupt president in the Oval Office, and we must always’ve given ourselves a greater probability to win.”
