Original Sin

Brought to you by Penguin.

An explosive account of one of the most hubristic mistakes in American political history: Joe Biden’s decision to run for reelection despite mounting evidence of his decline, and his team''s increasingly desperate efforts to hide it.

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 term. He, his family and his senior aides were so convinced that only he could beat Trump again that they lied to themselves, allies and the public about his condition and limitations. At his debate with Trump on 28 June 2024, the consequences of that deception were exposed – all but dooming the Democrats to defeat later that year.

Now the full, unsettling truth is being told for the first time. Here, two of America’s best-respected political journalists take us behind closed doors to reveal the extent of Biden’s decline and who knew about it, from White House staffers to senators to Hollywood celebrities. They paint President Biden’s decision to run for re-election as shockingly narcissistic, delusional and reckless – and the wider cover-up as an act of unprecedented public deception. Rarely has hubris met nemesis so explosively.

The story the authors tell raises fundamental issues of accountability and responsibility that will endure for decades. In the name of defeating what they called an existential threat to democracy, Biden and his inner circle ensured it, marking the beginning of a remarkable campaign of denial and gaslighting against the American public. His decision to run again was the original sin of his precedency – the moment that led directly to Donald Trump’s return to power and all that has come since.

© Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025