Covering the Cover - Up

There’s a new book coming out in May called Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. It’s written by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson from Axios, the online news organization. 

In its announcement about the new book, publisher Penguin Press said, “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.”

Honestly, that breathless description is somewhat humorous to me. Any living person with eyes that see and ears that hear won’t need a book to “learn” what happened or be shocked in any way.

It's a topic that’s pretty important to me because it’s precisely why I’m a registered Independent.

Here’s some history for context. 

As noted in my first column, I’ve voted for Republicans and Democrats in equal measure in my life, regardless of my party affiliation. I started my voting life as a registered Republican at age 18 and switched to the Democratic party probably around the second George W. Bush term, if my memory serves me. That didn’t stop me from voting for Romney in 2012 while I was a Democrat. 

I voted for Biden not because I loved him or his policies per se, but because I thought a change in tone in our politics was much needed at the time; he was experienced, he presented as more moderate than many of the other Democrats running, and I assumed he’d keep his word on being a “transitional” president and serve only one term.

Early on, there’s a lot he did that made me start souring on him, including the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, what I considered reckless overspending, and policies that exacerbated the crisis at the border. 

On that latter point, I do think Republicans overblew the extent of that crisis by trying to tie our fentanyl epidemic to illegal immigration when in fact, according to a 2023 study by the libertarian Cato Institute, 93% of fentanyl seizures occurred at legal border crossing points, not illegal migration routes. In other words, most fentanyl is coming over the border in vehicles and vessels, not in the backpacks of illegal immigrants crossing the Rio Grande illegally, a finding backed by the DEA. 

Nonetheless, illegal immigration certainly spiked dramatically under Biden’s watch because of his policies.

But what truly disturbed me was his obvious physical and mental decline.

By late 2022 and early 2023, his speech had become mumbled and at times incoherent. He walked in a shuffling, halting way. He fell down, he looked confused and somewhat addled in his few public appearances, and most importantly, in my opinion, he virtually disappeared from any meaningful public presence. He held few press conferences or interviews with media other than friendly outlets, and those were few and far between. 

All the signs of his decline were there, hiding in plain sight. 

By early 2023 and for more than a year after, I was telling people that Biden should not run and that the party should open the process to a proper primary to replace him. 

The response was always something along the lines of “his legislative achievements are unprecedented,” or “his administration has been the most impactful since FDR,” or “he beat Trump before, he can do it again,” or “that would be way too disruptive to the party.”

My response was always some version of, “Fine, you can love his policies and impact, but none of it matters if he can’t lead, and he can’t lead if he can barely talk and articulate his vision, and if he can’t articulate a vision, he won’t beat Trump.”

It was a very frustrating time for me personally. It was clear that Biden’s staff and family were propping him up and masking his decline while much of the mainstream media continued to give him a pass.

Then came the first (and only) Biden-Trump debate in June 2024.

My wife and I watched in horror as the extent of his deterioration came into full and extended view for all to see. It was beyond disastrous. It was embarrassing. 

What got me really riled up was how much the party leadership initially defended Biden, saying he had a bad night, was over-prepped, was under-prepped, was jet-lagged, had a cold. Very few had the guts to speak up and tell the truth until the outcome was obvious.

It was a dereliction of duty by party leadership and a disgraceful act of desperation and power clinging by Biden and everyone in his circle. 

That debate was on a Thursday night. By Sunday, having had enough, my wife and I switched our party registration to Independent. It’s hard for me to see myself affiliating with either party going forward.

Weeks later, reality set in. Biden dropped out of the race (or was forced out, really) and anointed Kamala Harris as the party nominee, another move I disagreed with

A few Democrats suggested a “blitz primary” in the short window before the election to showcase the best of the party’s young and energetic bench, something I’d hoped they’d do. Alas, everyone fell in line behind Harris, a flawed candidate who ran a campaign with no real message and little media availability. The rest is history.

I’m hopeful the Biden trainwreck paves the way for some younger, more centrist Democrats with actual management experience to step up and lead the party out of its wilderness, like Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, or Maryland Governor Wes Moore. 

I guess we’ll see.

And about that book by Tapper and Thompson detailing Biden and his team’s efforts to cover up his decline, I’ll take a pass. It seems like an exercise in examining the obvious.