New book lays bare the shocking extent of Joe Biden’s decline during his presidency

Joe Biden’s mental and physical decline was so alarming, during his presidency, his staff took extreme measures, it’s been revealed.

Joe Biden’s mental and physical decline was so alarming, during his presidency, that top aides tried to hide him from his own staff.

That is among several unsettling revelations in the book Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, which is being released a week from today.

The authors are two senior American political journalists, CNN host Jake Tapper and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson.

Because we are deep into the promotional period for the book, details and excerpts are now being published in the US media. And they are startling.

Former US president Joe Biden. Picture: Roberto Schmidt/AFP

While it lacks the immediate punch of some other, more specific anecdotes (more on them shortly), perhaps most troubling is the revelation that Mr Biden’s aides tried to hide him away from even his own staff.

“We attempted to shield him from his own staff, so many people didn’t realise the extent of the decline, beginning in 2023,” one of Mr Tapper and Mr Thompson’s sources said.

“I love Joe Biden. When it comes to decency, there are few in politics like him.

“Still, it was a disservice to the country and to the party for his family and advisers to allow him to run again.”

The aide in question, who like most other sources is not named in the book, said one of the Biden staff’s techniques was to limit more “urgent business” to a relatively small slice of the day, between 10am and 4pm.

There was also an effort to keep Mr Biden’s speeches short, so he wouldn’t have to remain on his feet for too long.

“Biden’s physical deterioration, most apparent in his halting walk, had become so severe that there were internal discussions about putting the president in a wheelchair,” the book reveals.

The White House doctor, Kevin O’Connor, privately expressed fears that if Mr Biden were to fall over, at any point, he would require a wheelchair.

The physician also believed Mr Biden was suffering from “significant spinal arthritis”.

The book says Joe Biden’s staff tried to keep his speeches short, fearing that longer set pieces would tax his stamina too dearly. Picture: Tannen Maury/AFP

Not everyone quoted in the book remains anonymous. David Plouffe, an Obama adviser who also ended up helping Kamala Harris’s campaign, has put his name to some blunt remarks.

“We got so screwed by Biden, as a party,” said Mr Plouffe, describing the 100ish days Ms Harris had to establish herself before the election as a “f***ing nightmare”.

“It’s all Biden. He totally f***ed us.”

And Mr Plouffe is among those in Barack Obama’s orbit who confirm troubling anecdotes about Mr Biden.

In one such instance, while speaking to several dozen donors, Mr Biden started to speak – he was apparently barely audible – before petering out into incoherence. Mr Obama jumped in to save him. That happened more than once.

Mr Obama, having initially attributed the then-president’s struggles to a heavy schedule, eventually came to realise that was “not the fundamental problem”.

Mr Biden was, of course, Mr Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017.

Former US president Barack Obama. Picture: Charly Triballeau/AFP

Another disturbing anecdote: at a Democratic Party fundraiser in June of last year, hosted by George Clooney, Mr Biden appeared not to recognise the actor, whom he had known for well over a decade.

“You know George,” an aide told the president, according to the book’s account.

“Yeah, yeah. Thank you for being here,” Mr Biden said to Mr Clooney, seeming unaware to whom he was speaking.

“Hi, Mr President,” said Mr Clooney.

“How are you?” said Mr Biden.

“How was your trip?” the actor asked.

“It was fine,” said the president.

Mr Tapper and Mr Thompson report that it still seemed clear Mr Biden had not recognised the Hollywood star.

The aide prompted Mr Biden further, telling him: “George Clooney.”

“Oh yeah! Hi George!” Mr Biden said.

“That thing, the moment where you recognise someone you know – especially a famous person who’s doing a f***ing fundraiser for you – it was delayed. It was uncomfortable,” a witness to the incident recalls in the book.

Mr Clooney was reportedly shaken by the moment. He would eventually be part of the pressure, within the Democratic Party, that forced Mr Biden to withdraw from the race.

George and Amal Clooney. Picture: Marco Bertorello/AFP

The book’s release will renew focus on the Democrats’ failures last year, which have otherwise been quite mercifully pushed aside by the various controversies of Donald Trump’s second presidency.

Senior Democrats still have no good answer for why they allowed Mr Biden’s decline to go unchallenged for so long.

The Democrats’ Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, was asked about it during an appearance on CNN today.

“You sat next to Biden in the Oval Office, just a handful of months before the president took to that debate stage,” said host Kasie Hunt.

“And it was later reported that you and other Democratic leaders were talking before the debate about having a plan. I understand you later denied that. But I’m curious. I’m interested to know whether the man you saw sitting there on that couch that day – did you really not have any idea that he was not fit to serve a second term?”

“Kasie, we’re looking forward,” Mr Schumer replied.

“We have the largest Medicaid cut in front of us. We have the whole federal government-”

“Right, but you’re facing all of this because you lost an election. And is that not Joe Biden’s responsibility for deciding to run again?” Ms Hunt interjected.

“We’re looking forward,” Mr Schumer repeated.

“That’s it?” Ms Hunt asked.

“That’s it,” he responded.

Originally published as New book lays bare the shocking extent of Joe Biden’s decline during his presidency