Original Sin - by Jake Tapper & Alex Thompson (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

"It's hard to think of a book which has shifted the political dial to this extent in recent years." -- Politico

In Greek tragedy, the protagonist's effort to avoid his fate is what seals his fate. In 2024, American politics became a Greek tragedy.

Joe Biden launched his successful 2020 bid for the White House with the stated goal of saving the nation from a second Trump presidential term. He, 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. At his debate with Trump on June 27, 2024, the consequences of that deception were exposed to the world. It was shocking and upsetting.

Now the full, unsettling truth is being told for the first time. Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson take 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 truth is finally being told. What you will learn makes President Biden's decision to run for reelection 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. The story the authors tell raises fundamental issues of accountability and responsibility that will continue for decades.

The irony is biting: In the name of defeating what they called an existential threat to democracy, Biden and his inner circle ensured it, tossing aside his implicit promise to serve for only one term, denying the existence of health issues the nation had been watching for years, dooming the Democrats to defeat. The decision to run again, the Original Sin of this president, led to a campaign of denial and gaslighting, leading directly to Donald Trump's return to power and all that has happened as a consequence. Rarely does hubris meet nemesis more explosively. Wherever you stand on the political spectrum, Original Sin is essential reading.

Review Quotes

"Original Sin is not really a 'campaign book'--its account of the 2024 election largely ends after Biden drops out--but its simple assessment of the race is more compelling than anything else I've read about it . . . Original Sin is rarely better than when Tapper and Thompson are writing--with extensive reporting and clear-eyed prose--about the disaster that Biden caused . . . Over the next year, dozens of books will appear that attempt to explain this election. It's hard to imagine any doing better than that." --The Washington Post

"A reconstruction of what Democrats should have known and when they should have known it." --Ezra Klein, The Ezra Klein Show

"Explosive . . . Tapper and Thompson have done the [Democratic] party a favor. Some sort of reckoning is due for the disastrous missteps that that paved the way for Trump's return." -- Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times

"The big political book of the moment . . . The power of Original Sin is its relentless marshaling of such insider scenes -- the admissions, regrets and recriminations within the White House and the campaign -- as the president continued to falter." -- Carlos Lozada, The New York Times

"[The] most significant book to date about Biden's cognitive decline, which was written by CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios's Alex Thompson and draws on hundreds of interviews . . . To their credit, they do little editorializing. The book is written not unlike an autopsy report, describing a gruesome political car crash in dispassionate, clinical detail." --The Atlantic

"A devastating account of Biden's decline and the extent of the White House cover-up . . . I'm convinced that deep institutional soul-searching is due in many quarters, and that this conversation is too important to delay." --Megan McArdle, The Washington Post

"A deeply-reported and damning portrait of an active cover-up by the advisers closest to Joe Biden." --Chris Cillizza, So What newsletter

"Original Sin is a comprehensively sourced autopsy of the agonised end to Biden's 50-year career. It's accusatory, indignant, righteous - and convincing." --The New Statesman

"Original Sin both asks and answers troubling questions about health and the world's most powerful political office. And it creates a highly detailed historical record along the way." --The Globe and Mail

"Drawing on extensive interviews with Biden administration insiders, Tapper and Thompson paint an intricate, appalling panorama of hubris and delusion . . . The result is a colorful and telling indictment of the blinkered self-interest that rules American politics." --Publishers Weekly

"An authoritative indictment of a denial-plagued presidential run . . . This tough yet fair account of an aging president's inauspicious reelection campaign makes a strong case that voters deserve to know more about their commander-in-chief's health." --Kirkus

About the Author

Alex Thompson is a National Political Correspondent for Axios and a CNN contributor. He won the White House Correspondents' Association award for overall excellence in White House coverage for his reporting on Joe Biden in 2024. Before that, he created Politico's West Wing Playbook newsletter and worked at The New York Times and Vice News. A Harvard graduate, he lives in Washington, DC. He has no pets, but is a proud uncle.