CNN host Jake Tapper is preparing to sell a book he wrote about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and the “desperate efforts to hide the extent of that deterioration.” Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again comes out in May. That’s 6 months after the election, 11 months after Biden bragged about finally beating Medicare in a debate moderated by Jake Tapper, 15 months after Special Counsel Robert Hur was widely denounced for describing Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” 34 months after the Washington Free Beacon published volume one of “Joe Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week,” and 55 months after Tapper attacked Lara Trump for suggested Biden was experiencing “cognitive decline.”
To most observers who aren’t journalists or professional Democrats, the extent of Biden’s deterioration did not seem like something that was especially well hidden. It was obvious to anyone who watched Biden attempt to speak coherently in public. In August 2023, the Associated Press released a poll that found 69 percent of Democrats thought Biden was too old to “effectively serve” another four years. Nevertheless, most journalists either refused to cover the issue or embarrassed themselves by insisting Biden was sharp as a tack. “I think he’s better than he’s ever been,” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said of Biden in March 2024. “I’m about to tell you the truth, and F you if you can’t handle the truth. This version of Biden—intellectually, analytically—is the best Biden ever.” Critics of Biden’s decision to run again on account of his age were assailed for promoting misinformation and right-wing conspiracy theories.
Timing is everything, and this is hardly the first time journalists have waited until after a hotly contested presidential election to publish damning information about prominent Democrats. Trump’s election in 2016, for example, didn’t just end Hillary Clinton’s career in politics. It also precipitated the downfall of two Clinton-affiliated Democrats widely regarded as criminal sex pests: Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein.
The first major reports on Harvey Weinstein’s long history of sexual predation were published by the New York Times and the New Yorker in October 2017, almost a year after Hillary conceded defeat. It wasn’t exactly a secret that Weinstein, who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democrats, preyed on young actresses for decades. The hit comedy series 30 Rock was joking about Weinstein and sexual assault back in 2012. Yet for some reason the scandal remained in the shadows. Ronan Farrow, one of the journalists who finally broke the story in the New Yorker, was working for NBC News at the time, but the network reportedly refused to air his report on Weinstein’s accusers. Farrow claimed that Weinstein successfully lobbied NBC News to quash his reporting by leveraging his connection to the Clintons and by threatening to expose the NBC’s own sexual misconduct scandal involving longtime host Matt Lauer.
One could argue that Trump’s election was the biggest factor that contributed to Weinstein’s demise. If Hillary had won, the media’s desire to expose the Hollywood producer’s crime would likely have been outweighed by their desire to protect an elected Democratic politician from scrutiny. She’d be counting on Weinstein to raise money for her reelection campaign. Farrow, who worked in the Obama State Department, would probably have served in Hillary’s administration instead of clashing with her minions at NBC News. Trump started the #MeToo movement, journalists just played along until Joe Biden was credibly accused of sexual assault in 2020, which ended it.
Journalists congratulated themselves for working in the same profession as a Miami Herald reporter who started digging into Democratic socialite Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal past. The reporting eventually led to Epstein’s arrest in July 2019 and his “suicide” in August. Once again, Trump’s election was what prompted the journalistic investigation, specifically his nomination of Alexander Acosta to serve as labor secretary. A former U.S. attorney, Acosta approved Epstein’s sweetheart plea deal that allowed him to avoid serious charges of sexually abusing a minor. After serving nearly 13 months in a Florida jail, where he was granted “work release” six days a week to commit more crimes, Epstein returned to his Manhattan penthouse in 2009 to host a dinner party with top journalists Katie Couric and George Stephanopoulos. Then he just carried on with his sex trafficking operation while funneling millions of dollars to Ivy League universities. Harvard gave Epstein his own office, which he visited frequently after being ordered to register as a sex offender.
The media’s reluctance to report on Epstein’s crimes, which weren’t exactly a secret, was not surprising given the pervert’s close ties to powerful Democrats and media executives. Former president Bill Clinton was a longtime pal who flew with Epstein on his private jet, affectionately known as the “Lolita Express.” Epstein’s criminal associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, was a guest at Chelsea Clinton’s wedding in 2010. Maxwell is currently serving 20 years in federal prison for sex trafficking. Some journalists attempted to report on Epstein’s predatory behavior only to have their stories spiked after Epstein complained to their bosses. Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter removed credible allegations of sexual assault from a 2002 profile of Epstein by journalist Vicki Ward.
Bottom line: What in the Actual F— Is Wrong With These People?
