News/Commentary

Tapper’s co-author has a doozy of an excuse for media negligence about Joe

May 30, 2025 | | Print Article

CNN anchor Jake Tapper and coauthor Alex Thompson are contorting themselves in all sorts of ways to sell their new book, “Original Sin,” which chronicles the White House cover-up of President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline.

The challenge they face is that the media was a willing accomplice in the task, including Tapper himself, who is now willingly prostrating himself in the hopes of enticing a few more buyers. Not that Thompson isn’t doing his bit.

In an interview with Bari Weiss, Thompson was asked how difficult it was for journalists to “go against the herd” in reporting on Biden’s obvious mental decline and his response was a doozy — though it gave lift to the notion many have about the media being a pack of jackals.

“You know, I think your diagnosis of sort of what was happening is much more — is much more on target than a lot of what sort of, I guess, like, right-wing or independent, other independent conservative media, which is that they believed that it’s all liberal media and there’s like much more of an ideological, you know, mission, you know, like united conspiracy,” he said.

“And I do think in some cases some reporters let their ideological leanings affect their reporting,” he continued. “But I do agree that sort of, I think the groupthink that sets in among Washington and the self-reinforcing and the intimidation by the White House and by feeling like you’re ostracized, not just by potential sources and potentially losing access. But also by, like, your peers and colleagues who are like giving you side eye, I do think is like — I mean, listen, it was — I mean, it made me doubt myself, right? I mean, I wasn’t making it up like sources were telling me that he was struggling. So I reported it.”

The book cites Steve Ricchetti, former White House deputy chief of staff, strongly denying claims that Biden was “having serious and disturbing moments, forgetting names and facts, sometimes seeming seriously confused at meetings.”

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“The message from the White House was clear, this reporter believed: If she went forward with the story from anonymous aides, the White House would aggressively dispute it, on the record, and portray her as a liar,” the book reads. “The tacit threat worked.”

The great irony here is the industry still tries to convince itself that it carries clout with the American people, but the reality is no one paying attention believes a word out of their collective mouths.

Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:

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Tom Tillison
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