To those commenting that the piece distracts from the larger issue of Trump—
I understand that reaction, and I want to be clear: this piece was never meant to downplay the very real threat posed by Trump or the MAGA movement. I’ve written before—and will continue to write—about the danger they represent.
But what I’m trying to surface here is something deeper, and in many ways more uncomfortable: the reason Trump continues to gain ground isn’t just because of the right. It’s because many Americans have lost trust in the institutions that claim to stand against him.
That includes media institutions. That includes political elites. And yes, that includes some of the moral language used to cast Trump as uniquely dangerous—when many people see hypocrisy, evasiveness, and self-interest in the very systems claiming to defend democracy.
My piece isn’t saying Biden is “just as bad.” It’s asking why, when someone like Tapper writes a account of elite failure, it causes discomfort—not because it’s inaccurate, but because it comes too close to truths we haven’t faced.
Until we confront those truths—about how trust has been lost and why—we leave the door open for someone like Trump to keep stepping through it.
What we have to do is give CLEAR dialogue to/from BOTH SIDES. The mistrust comes from the LIES that are fed day in and day out to/from the RIGHT. Are there biases and spinning from the left…ABSOLUTELY. THAT IS POLITICS. Blatant LIES used to END POLITICAL CAREERS. Now it is a RACE TO THE BOTTOM by tRUMP AND HIS CULT.
It’s the way CNN treated their journalists book. It was insane. It’s all they talked about non stop. We know what happened with Biden. He should have stepped aside earlier. We can and should discuss this, but we are in the middle of a Facist takeover. I would like more talk of that. It’s like the band on the Titanic talking about who hit the iceberg. Uh .. the ship is sinking.
I think the backlash has everything to do with a man who, yes, was declining and a current president that NO ONE says squat about when he posts batshit stuff and breaks the law on an hourly basis.
With zero consequences.
That’s why there’s so much criticism. People are living in the now with a firehouse of lies and crimes aimed at them on a daily basis.
They want THAT investigated, not an old, former president who, at the very least, didn’t crime or grift off the oval.
I agree. The magnitude of extreme deception from the POTUS and co. was a phenomenal betrayal of the American people’s trust. Yes there’s a double standard, ppl expect trump to lie. But the Dems are supposed to be the party that is still honest, has some integrity. Biden has actually been treated like a king in a way, almost no one spoke up questioning his decision to run again. Anyone who did raise questions were banished permanently.
When the king finally had to abdicate his loyal townspeople felt sorry for him, as if he’d been betrayed not the other way around.
Would we have felt sorry for him sad & protective if we discovered Dubya had been hiding from them public, lying to everyone, essentially not functioning before 10am or after 4pm?
Not sure what planet you were visiting but many folks expressed concerns and, unlike like the GOP, we respect the 1st Amendment. It is also any politician’s RIGHT to stay in the game until the constituents vote them out. Have you noticed Chuck Grassley, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi and many others. THAT IS DEMOCRACY! Until laws are passed placing term and/or age limits on politicians (and judges, including the Supreme Court) that is the LAW OF OUR LAND. Biden felt he was up to the task and HE made the decisions, AS WAS HIS RIGHT TO DO.
“That’s why there’s so much criticism. People are living in the now with a firehouse of lies and crimes aimed at them on a daily basis.”
Unfortunately the “now” we live in is at least partly due to the misrepresentations of the Biden camp and the DNC elite. Charting a better path forward can’t be done through ignoring that reality
No one is ignoring that reality. The question was why has Tappers book been so poorly received.
See my answer above.
Further, What exactly is accomplished by writing a tell all about a former presidents diminished capacity? Quite frankly that’s last years news. Gnashing our teeth over that isn’t going to accomplish anything.
We have a fight on our hands NOW.
Right now.
Btw, have you seen the current president give a speech????
How about a book on THAT?
Where’s the damn media on that? Where’s the questions about his health? Where’s the medical records?
But nvm let’s keep distracting ourselves over Biden mental health while America burns.
The backlash to Tapper is ridiculous. I read the book and it is maddening to understand how Biden’s Presidency and decision to run again were “managed”. As a progressive, I felt I needed to read the book to understand how we could have screwed-up so badly. The anger against Tapper, George Clooney etc. is misdirected at best. We need to have the difficult discussions and speak the truth without fear of the hypocritical purity police.
Is it purity police or just self-interested apparatchiks? I too think the backlash is a little ridiculous (though I agree that he is self-serving in holding it and using it for a book when he should have told the truth earlier) but I feel that the silence is not anything about purity or even propaganda. I think it is just a whole lot of self-interested people trying to save their access and their jobs. To my mind they all deserve to be fired.
ALL politicians are handled. They have staff organizing, talking to the people and other staff and sending up trial balloons for what the public temperature might be. They are constantly tweeking their messages. No single politician can be a force enough to win an election. It takes STAFF. But blatantly lying about opponents and one’s self constantly is a new phenomenon introduced by the king of reality TV and the master of a corrupt business, DJT. He preyed on hate, division and fear. He is a MASTER of manipulation and obfuscation. I dubbed him a compilation of three characters in history: The Wizard of Oz, The Pied Piper and P.T. Barnum. DONE
What is insulting to me is that they took away my choice by lying to us. Maybe if we had known well in advance and been given any other choice, i.e., a primary, we wouldn't be in the current catastrophe that is this administration.
And also insulting because in the debate his cognitive decline was shocking. How did these insiders convince themselves that he was up to the task?? And also insulting was the fact that he dithered for a long time to abdicate. Plus why was Harris not better prepared to take over. It’s kind of her job as a VP.
The lack of prep for Harris is telling. Biden promised to "be a bridge" but like Schumer et al. he acted bound and determined never to let anyone cross it.
Did you SEE her crowds, for crimminey out loud? I am gonna open myself to cries of “sour grapes” but I am thinking that Musk’s little comment about “without me he would have lost the election.” Dems were too afraid to call for investigations for fear they would be accused of doing what tRUMP did (and is still doing). But I sure would not be even a little surprised to discover that the 2024 election was, in fact, NOT FREE AND FAIR. There was so much hanky panky going on. Districts with populations requiring many polling places to handle the numbers (inner city, minority populations and majority Democrats) suddenly reduced to one or two, with lines 4-6 hours long. That is just ONE.
I agree she had massive crowds, but the reality is that crowds are not voters and detailed analyses show that people in large measure just stayed home or in some cases voted for Trump. Clearly Musk did shady things if only for his lotteries. But the crowds alone are not proof since crowds are, by definition, composed of the true believers not the uncertain and indifferent, and that is where I think the Democrats really lost.
You certainly have a right to your opinion, as do I. And my opinion is that a huge number of people only listen to LIES put into the public by right wing conspiracy theorists, the biggest being DJT and BILLIONAIRES. And these same “leaders” tamper with state run elections in the most insidious and illegal manner. The sad, sad part is they probably will succeed because we have become a country I no longer recognize but that I, too, have been blind to over our history. We seem to be that hateful, divided, rascist place they say we are. I am glad I am 74 years old and won’t, logically, see the total DEMISE. I am also ABDOMINALLY SAD that so many, my family and loved ones included, will learn what it is like to live WITHOUT ALL THE FREEDOMS WE HAVE BATTLED FOR OVER THE LAST 250 YEARS. Gives me NO PLEASURE to give that OPINION.
Please stop . This June 2025 I would take any semblance of “Joe Biden” ANYDAY over the fascist incompetence we have thanks to Elon’s $$$$ and whatever interference is uncovered.
continue debated the dinner menu while the Titanic sinks and see how that helps defend our democracy.
I won’t watch him again or read his book. Tapper knows tge story is I. The Ival office but he is going to stomp all over the body of Joe Biden before he is dead. Screw you, Jake. I will never watch you again.
I think that the corruption, criminality, fraudulence, lies, nazism, stealing, abuse of women’s rights, and so much more…..done by Donnie Dickhead is far, far, far worse than anything Biden did.
Sure Biden misled us but he isn’t a lifelong grifter and criminal.
The real story here is why does the media continue to accept all of the insanity of MAGA and a fascist dictator that is the so-called leader right now, and almost nothing is said of all that is sooo wrong?
Thank you for this well thought out and expressed article. We’ve lost the courage to speak truth to power. Even Democrats now defend the system, not because it’s just—but because they benefit from it. Tapper’s book didn’t just expose Biden. It exposed a party that’s more interested in protecting power than confronting corruption.
My problem with Jake Tapper’s book is that he’s trying to create a scandal by revealing Biden’s decline, even though Biden’s aging was already known and clearly observable to everyone. Tapper’s book attempts to launch a conspiracy theory that there was a criminal cover up. The book has been a flop, financially.
Or maybe the real threat is obsessing over the transgressions of the former, relatively normal president while the current one is destroying western civilization. What tapper is doing would be perfectly reasonable in a world where we now had a normal, sane president. We don’t. Tapper is providing cover for trump whether or not that is his intention.
How is any of this relevant or important at the moment? Regardless of Biden’s capacity or incapacity he was an honorable man and had good people around him. The same cannot be said of the current president and administration. Now is definitely not the time to dwell on the past. Our
time is better spent preserving our democracy and freedoms. Once and if we accomplish that we can discuss how to create a more open/honest evaluation of cognition skills.
What a bunch of baloney. So overwrought. How do you explain Biden walking and talking now WITH cancer? And , while he was apparently in decline he was certainly making things happen at the same time. Tapper’s book is flimsy and shallow and pushed an opinion. Big whoop. It was all so reversed engineered marketing — a year later he writes a book? The big story is how the so called elite democrats enlisted George Clooney to write an op-ed. (Another opinion).
To those commenting that the piece distracts from the larger issue of Trump—
I understand that reaction, and I want to be clear: this piece was never meant to downplay the very real threat posed by Trump or the MAGA movement. I’ve written before—and will continue to write—about the danger they represent.
But what I’m trying to surface here is something deeper, and in many ways more uncomfortable: the reason Trump continues to gain ground isn’t just because of the right. It’s because many Americans have lost trust in the institutions that claim to stand against him.
That includes media institutions. That includes political elites. And yes, that includes some of the moral language used to cast Trump as uniquely dangerous—when many people see hypocrisy, evasiveness, and self-interest in the very systems claiming to defend democracy.
My piece isn’t saying Biden is “just as bad.” It’s asking why, when someone like Tapper writes a account of elite failure, it causes discomfort—not because it’s inaccurate, but because it comes too close to truths we haven’t faced.
Until we confront those truths—about how trust has been lost and why—we leave the door open for someone like Trump to keep stepping through it.
What we have to do is give CLEAR dialogue to/from BOTH SIDES. The mistrust comes from the LIES that are fed day in and day out to/from the RIGHT. Are there biases and spinning from the left…ABSOLUTELY. THAT IS POLITICS. Blatant LIES used to END POLITICAL CAREERS. Now it is a RACE TO THE BOTTOM by tRUMP AND HIS CULT.
It’s the way CNN treated their journalists book. It was insane. It’s all they talked about non stop. We know what happened with Biden. He should have stepped aside earlier. We can and should discuss this, but we are in the middle of a Facist takeover. I would like more talk of that. It’s like the band on the Titanic talking about who hit the iceberg. Uh .. the ship is sinking.
I disagree.
I think the backlash has everything to do with a man who, yes, was declining and a current president that NO ONE says squat about when he posts batshit stuff and breaks the law on an hourly basis.
With zero consequences.
That’s why there’s so much criticism. People are living in the now with a firehouse of lies and crimes aimed at them on a daily basis.
They want THAT investigated, not an old, former president who, at the very least, didn’t crime or grift off the oval.
Totally agree! Thank you
I agree. The magnitude of extreme deception from the POTUS and co. was a phenomenal betrayal of the American people’s trust. Yes there’s a double standard, ppl expect trump to lie. But the Dems are supposed to be the party that is still honest, has some integrity. Biden has actually been treated like a king in a way, almost no one spoke up questioning his decision to run again. Anyone who did raise questions were banished permanently.
When the king finally had to abdicate his loyal townspeople felt sorry for him, as if he’d been betrayed not the other way around.
Would we have felt sorry for him sad & protective if we discovered Dubya had been hiding from them public, lying to everyone, essentially not functioning before 10am or after 4pm?
Not sure what planet you were visiting but many folks expressed concerns and, unlike like the GOP, we respect the 1st Amendment. It is also any politician’s RIGHT to stay in the game until the constituents vote them out. Have you noticed Chuck Grassley, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi and many others. THAT IS DEMOCRACY! Until laws are passed placing term and/or age limits on politicians (and judges, including the Supreme Court) that is the LAW OF OUR LAND. Biden felt he was up to the task and HE made the decisions, AS WAS HIS RIGHT TO DO.
🎯
👆👆👆💯
“That’s why there’s so much criticism. People are living in the now with a firehouse of lies and crimes aimed at them on a daily basis.”
Unfortunately the “now” we live in is at least partly due to the misrepresentations of the Biden camp and the DNC elite. Charting a better path forward can’t be done through ignoring that reality
No one is ignoring that reality. The question was why has Tappers book been so poorly received.
See my answer above.
Further, What exactly is accomplished by writing a tell all about a former presidents diminished capacity? Quite frankly that’s last years news. Gnashing our teeth over that isn’t going to accomplish anything.
We have a fight on our hands NOW.
Right now.
Btw, have you seen the current president give a speech????
How about a book on THAT?
Where’s the damn media on that? Where’s the questions about his health? Where’s the medical records?
But nvm let’s keep distracting ourselves over Biden mental health while America burns.
I’m pretty sure I can do both
THANK YOU a million times over!
exactly!
The backlash to Tapper is ridiculous. I read the book and it is maddening to understand how Biden’s Presidency and decision to run again were “managed”. As a progressive, I felt I needed to read the book to understand how we could have screwed-up so badly. The anger against Tapper, George Clooney etc. is misdirected at best. We need to have the difficult discussions and speak the truth without fear of the hypocritical purity police.
Is it purity police or just self-interested apparatchiks? I too think the backlash is a little ridiculous (though I agree that he is self-serving in holding it and using it for a book when he should have told the truth earlier) but I feel that the silence is not anything about purity or even propaganda. I think it is just a whole lot of self-interested people trying to save their access and their jobs. To my mind they all deserve to be fired.
ALL politicians are handled. They have staff organizing, talking to the people and other staff and sending up trial balloons for what the public temperature might be. They are constantly tweeking their messages. No single politician can be a force enough to win an election. It takes STAFF. But blatantly lying about opponents and one’s self constantly is a new phenomenon introduced by the king of reality TV and the master of a corrupt business, DJT. He preyed on hate, division and fear. He is a MASTER of manipulation and obfuscation. I dubbed him a compilation of three characters in history: The Wizard of Oz, The Pied Piper and P.T. Barnum. DONE
What is insulting to me is that they took away my choice by lying to us. Maybe if we had known well in advance and been given any other choice, i.e., a primary, we wouldn't be in the current catastrophe that is this administration.
I’m sorry but this is BS. We have a serious problem that doesn’t relate to Biden.
That’s exactly how I feel about!
And also insulting because in the debate his cognitive decline was shocking. How did these insiders convince themselves that he was up to the task?? And also insulting was the fact that he dithered for a long time to abdicate. Plus why was Harris not better prepared to take over. It’s kind of her job as a VP.
GIVE IT UP. We are losing our nation to idiots. Focus!
The lack of prep for Harris is telling. Biden promised to "be a bridge" but like Schumer et al. he acted bound and determined never to let anyone cross it.
Yes
Again, DID YOU SEE HER CROWDS?
Did you SEE her crowds, for crimminey out loud? I am gonna open myself to cries of “sour grapes” but I am thinking that Musk’s little comment about “without me he would have lost the election.” Dems were too afraid to call for investigations for fear they would be accused of doing what tRUMP did (and is still doing). But I sure would not be even a little surprised to discover that the 2024 election was, in fact, NOT FREE AND FAIR. There was so much hanky panky going on. Districts with populations requiring many polling places to handle the numbers (inner city, minority populations and majority Democrats) suddenly reduced to one or two, with lines 4-6 hours long. That is just ONE.
Plus Russian bomb threats in Democratic districts.
I agree she had massive crowds, but the reality is that crowds are not voters and detailed analyses show that people in large measure just stayed home or in some cases voted for Trump. Clearly Musk did shady things if only for his lotteries. But the crowds alone are not proof since crowds are, by definition, composed of the true believers not the uncertain and indifferent, and that is where I think the Democrats really lost.
You certainly have a right to your opinion, as do I. And my opinion is that a huge number of people only listen to LIES put into the public by right wing conspiracy theorists, the biggest being DJT and BILLIONAIRES. And these same “leaders” tamper with state run elections in the most insidious and illegal manner. The sad, sad part is they probably will succeed because we have become a country I no longer recognize but that I, too, have been blind to over our history. We seem to be that hateful, divided, rascist place they say we are. I am glad I am 74 years old and won’t, logically, see the total DEMISE. I am also ABDOMINALLY SAD that so many, my family and loved ones included, will learn what it is like to live WITHOUT ALL THE FREEDOMS WE HAVE BATTLED FOR OVER THE LAST 250 YEARS. Gives me NO PLEASURE to give that OPINION.
Please stop . This June 2025 I would take any semblance of “Joe Biden” ANYDAY over the fascist incompetence we have thanks to Elon’s $$$$ and whatever interference is uncovered.
continue debated the dinner menu while the Titanic sinks and see how that helps defend our democracy.
I won’t watch him again or read his book. Tapper knows tge story is I. The Ival office but he is going to stomp all over the body of Joe Biden before he is dead. Screw you, Jake. I will never watch you again.
I respectfully disagree.
I think that the corruption, criminality, fraudulence, lies, nazism, stealing, abuse of women’s rights, and so much more…..done by Donnie Dickhead is far, far, far worse than anything Biden did.
Sure Biden misled us but he isn’t a lifelong grifter and criminal.
The real story here is why does the media continue to accept all of the insanity of MAGA and a fascist dictator that is the so-called leader right now, and almost nothing is said of all that is sooo wrong?
Thank you for this well thought out and expressed article. We’ve lost the courage to speak truth to power. Even Democrats now defend the system, not because it’s just—but because they benefit from it. Tapper’s book didn’t just expose Biden. It exposed a party that’s more interested in protecting power than confronting corruption.
The power wasn’t protected after all. Lose lose….. badly. Terrible strategy.
My problem with Jake Tapper’s book is that he’s trying to create a scandal by revealing Biden’s decline, even though Biden’s aging was already known and clearly observable to everyone. Tapper’s book attempts to launch a conspiracy theory that there was a criminal cover up. The book has been a flop, financially.
ZERO CRIMINALITY in anything Biden or Harris did. ZERO ZERO ZERO.
Interesting enough to pay for an annual subscription. Kudos ….
Or maybe the real threat is obsessing over the transgressions of the former, relatively normal president while the current one is destroying western civilization. What tapper is doing would be perfectly reasonable in a world where we now had a normal, sane president. We don’t. Tapper is providing cover for trump whether or not that is his intention.
Easy to write a book about someone who isn’t going to attack you
Trapper would never write about the crazy person who is president now because Trump would attack.
How is any of this relevant or important at the moment? Regardless of Biden’s capacity or incapacity he was an honorable man and had good people around him. The same cannot be said of the current president and administration. Now is definitely not the time to dwell on the past. Our
time is better spent preserving our democracy and freedoms. Once and if we accomplish that we can discuss how to create a more open/honest evaluation of cognition skills.
Er… you just described what he is doing to shield Trump … !!!
What a bunch of baloney. So overwrought. How do you explain Biden walking and talking now WITH cancer? And , while he was apparently in decline he was certainly making things happen at the same time. Tapper’s book is flimsy and shallow and pushed an opinion. Big whoop. It was all so reversed engineered marketing — a year later he writes a book? The big story is how the so called elite democrats enlisted George Clooney to write an op-ed. (Another opinion).