THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker
The Financial Times Kirkus Reviews and The Associated Press "Superbly reported . . .
Reads like a Shakespearean drama on steroids." — Los Angeles Times "Explosive." —The New York
Times "[The] most significant book to date about Biden’s cognitive decline." — The Atlantic
"Destined to stand alongside classics like Theodore White’s The Making of the President 1960
and even Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward’s All the President’s Men as one of the great books
about American electoral politics.” — Richard Aldous Persuasion From two of America’s most
respected journalists comes an unflinching and explosive reckoning with one of the most fateful
decisions in American political history: Joe Biden’s run for reelection despite evidence of his
serious decline—amid desperate efforts to hide the extent of that deterioration. 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.
