When I first heard about the book by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, I wondered why that title was selected. Not the subtitle, the main title, Original Sin.
I bought the book recently and have read a bit less than a quarter of it. That's enough to tell me why it's called Original Sin. Since the title has religious implications, I figured sharing some excerpts from the first seven chapters would be an interesting exercise in how politics and religion often have quite a bit in common.
After all, I frequently refer to the Cult of Trump in blog posts.
Stock market drop shows peril of following a cult leader, Trump
Insurrection at Capitol today caused by the Cult of Trump
Inside the cult of Trump, his rallies are church and he is the Gospel
Cult of Trump shows how delusion is linked to blind devotion
Trump acts like a cult leader in his coronavirus briefings
Cult of Trump shows danger of blind faith
So as you can read below, while Tapper and Thompson view Biden's inner circle as being akin to uncritical followers of the Church of Biden, the same can be said of Trump's acolytes -- if not more so.
An Author's Note at the beginning of the book has a message that applies both in politics and religion.
The lessons from this book go beyond one man and one political party. They speak to more universal questions about cognitive dissonance, groupthink, courage, cowardice, and patriotism.
George Orwell once wrote that "we are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield."
He was writing about World War II, but he could have been writing about any time, any era. "The Germans and the Japanese lost the war quite largely because their rulers were unable to see facts which were plain to any dispassionate eye," Orwell went on. "To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle."
Here is what was in front of our noses.
These passages relate more directly to Biden.
The original sin of Election 2024 was Biden's decision to run for reelection -- followed by aggressive efforts to hide his cognitive diminishment.
...To grasp how Joe Biden could have decided to run for reelection at his historically advanced age, one must understand Biden's own mythology. Even before one gets to his belief that he, and only he, was capable of defeating Donald Trump, consider the legend of Joe Biden and its grounding in exceeding expectations, defying odds, and surviving.
"Get up!" he wrote in his first memoir, Promises to Keep. "To me this is the first principle of life, the foundational principle, and a lesson you can't learn at the feet of any wise man. Get up! The art of living is simply getting up after you've been knocked down."
...So to think that aging or ailment would make Biden reconsider his run is to not understand Joe Biden and the true believers with whom he surrounded himself. Fate had spent the better part of the last half century throwing everything it could at him, the worst tragedies imaginable.
And every goddamn time, he got up. Every. Goddamn. Time.
To family and close aides, the mythology became almost a theology, a near-religious faith in Biden's ability to rise again. And as with any theology, skepticism was forbidden.
...The president was fond of using the formal family motto, of giving "my word as a Biden," but they had another, more private saying: "Never call a fat person fat." It wasn't just about politesse; it was about ignoring ugly facts.
"Don't say mean truths" is how someone close to the family put it.
"The Bidens' greatest strength is living in their own reality," this person told us. "And Biden himself is gifted at creating it: Beau isn't going to die. Hunter's sobriety is stable. Joe always tells the truth. Joe cares more about his family than his own ambition. They stick to the narrative and repeat it."
From 2020 until 2024, all of this resulted in an almost spiritual refusal to admit that Biden was declining.
There were some aides who appreciated the president but did not share their colleague's religious zeal. The Bidens' closest aides, they told us, essentially hid his deterioration from the public and from others in the administration.
...The significance of Bernal and Tomasini is the degree to which their rise in the Biden White House signaled the success of people whose allegiance was to the Biden family -- not to the presidency, not to the American people, not to the country, but to the Biden theology. They were the Bidens' eyes and ears, the keepers of the flame, the protectors of the myth. That included casting out potential heretics. Bernal, in particular, took on this role.
...During one of the low points of Biden's campaign, Axelrod attended a New Hampshire town hall. Biden's remarks were not particularly stirring, but a line of voters formed afterward. Each one wanted to talk to him, most with sad stories, seeking a kind ear. And Biden stood and greeted every single one of them
Like the pilgrimages to Lourdes, Axelrod later said.
...Other Democrats knew that the White House watched closely for any signs of dissent. They kept quiet and went along.
"view Biden's inner circle as being akin to uncritical followers of the Church of Biden, the same can be said of Trump's acolytes -- if not more so"
More so. Infinitely more so. More so by many, many dimensions removed.
Given your last post, the glaringly obvious example is the Israeli genocide. While "genocide Joe" is rightly taken to task for his role in bringing about the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing in the ME: but "genocide Trump" and 'Champion ethnic cleansing real estate evil whackjob Trump' is not similarly taken to task ; and nor do those that cynically and shamelessly used the dead babies, and their alleged sympathy for such, to drum up support for Trump, now apologize for their role in doing that ; and nor do they berate the vile orange grotesquerie for his role in furthering the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing in that very same theater in terms anywhere close to the outrage they displaced/feigned against Biden.
And that's just one example, one among many many many many others, that I mention here given your last post, and the cynical and utterly shameless dramaqueening in the comments section over it.
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"Biden's inner circle as being akin to uncritical followers of the Church of Biden"
Indeed. And again, in context of your last blog post, the most glaring example of this is Biden's shameful role in bringing about the Israel genocide.
Biden's Israel policy remains a classic case study, a masterclass, in how NOT to wield power. Biden was completely outplayed, at every turn, by Bibi. Even as Bibi cemented his own dodgy position (given the criminal cases against him, and his own shaky political position before the genocide started --- I mean the man was actually facing possible jail time for his crooked dealings, the same as the orange grotesquerie over in the US), Biden himself, in attempting to play realpolitik, was out-strategized, every effing step of the way.
And Biden's main failing wasn't even that he was an incompetent, senile old fool. His main failing was a lack of spine, and a lack of a moral compass: that let him play the role he did in the Gaza carnage.
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Yeah, and good that you clearly examine this failing of Biden's, and his advisors and supporters, here like this, Brian. This kind of critical self-examination is completely outside the range of abilities for those that have been reduced to spinelessly supporting Trump's every self-serving and imbecile move, day after day after day.
Posted by: Appreciative Reader | May 29, 2025 at 06:57 AM
Appreciative Reader here is now clowning himself.
He seems thinks Biden lying about committing genocide and ethnic cleansing for 12 months is somehow better than trump being honest about it.
Any objective person will note that over the past 2 years I've provided copious and inarguable evidence and links from video, news and articles etc to prove that Biden was a deeply avowed genocidal racist for decades and that his complicity in this genocide is documented and proven.
Just the other day I whittled away this mountain of evidence to a 2 min video and 10 second webpage, and not a single one of these moral cowards had the decency to stare that in the face.
On the other hand you will notice ALL of these cowards have never provided any kind of evidence for their, what is plainly and obviously, delusional fantasy of wishful thinking which contradicts reality in every possible way that Biden is any way shape or form any better or less of a genocidal monster than Trump. Pure mental masterbation their argument is based on, not reality.
And neither do they have the courage to admit the scale of the horror committed by their political heroes for 14 months transcends the pettiness of American politics.
Incredible sense of American exceptionalism, and they simply cannot grasp the OBVIOUSNESS of this, so deluded by ego they've become.
This is how holocausts can happen. Well, has and continues to happen.
Shame.
Posted by: manjit | May 29, 2025 at 08:36 AM
Anyone who listens closely to the voices here will note a pattern amongst these neo-liberal voters who think voting for somebody who's committed genocide for 12 months is on any planet and in any way morally excusable, and that it can only be a sense of entitlement, privilege and american exceptionalism to only frame this grandest of human atrocities as a secondary issue to local politics, and most especially to the person of Trump.
It is beyond breathtakingly ridiculous that even folks who don't live in the US, have been deeply mocking and ridiculing Trump for 9 years in this very same space, and can prove it, who have no interest in politics etc, are being accused of being Trump supporters and fans for pointing out the facts about Biden and Harris's unqualified complicity in the genocide & the unevidenced absurdity they would have done anything at all differently after 14 months if they were still there in month 15. The evidence is clear, when they lost the election, they fully dropped the mask and pretence and pumped the genocide as much as they possibly could with their time left. Legacy, right!:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/biden-administration-notifies-congress-of-planned-8-billion-weapons-sale-to-israel
https://www.propublica.org/article/gaza-palestine-israel-blocked-humanitarian-aid-blinken
It is a truly delusional state of affairs. An obsession with Trump and indeed America which totally blinds them to reality outside of their privileged bubble.
The pattern you will observe amongst several of these neo-libs is that they presume to speak on behalf of what is good for Palestinians, instead of admitting they couldn't care less about them as anything other than a political football secondary to making Trump lose.
They then accuse those who would and have reminded us from day 1 of the horrors our elected governments are committing RIGHT NOW as "dramaqueening with dead babies".
They wrung their hands for 14 months whilst their political gurus committed genocide unabated and unrestrained, but then foamed and raved at the mouth at those who may, just perhaps, actually care about tens of thousands of dead babies slaughtered by OUR democratically elected governments and OUR tax payer money.
They would have it THEY know what's best for Palestinians, as if they have ANY sense of connection to them and what's being going on there for 20 months. It's a disgrace.
How about we actually listen to Palestinian,, Muslim and other voices CLEARLY deeply and intimately connected instead of listening to these moral cowards who'd rather defend their small and petty egos than move a finger to help babies being slaughtered by those they voted for? After a pretty long search I managed to locate some actual Palestinian voices!:
"Omar al-Khudary is a nurse from northern Gaza...
....“Harris and her party offered nothing. They were a vacuum that gave Israel more than 400 days to create chaos.”
He held US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in special contempt for continuing to provide Israel with weapons throughout the past 14 months.
Omar did not, however, think Trump Republicans would be any different. Both Republicans and Democrats, he said, “are committed to what they see as Israel’s security.”"
"Tameem, 25, is a doctor who confesses to never caring for politics even though she understands that for Palestinians, “there is no escape: Politics is our life and our lives are all about politics.”
She did not want to give her full name for this report.
Tameem agreed with Omar that there is little difference between the two US parties on Palestine.
“Let’s admit that America is the spiritual father of Israel and will never be with our side.”
She said suggestions that Trump is keen to end Israel’s war on Gaza give little sense as to how he will want it to end.
She suspected, she told The Electronic Intifada, that “Trump is basically a businessman and wants to make deals. But they won’t be for our benefit.”"
"Ahmad Majdalawi, 36, is a teacher from the north of Gaza.
“Everyone knows that Trump is racist, unstable, reckless, chaotic and pro-Israeli,” he said. “The image of the ‘alternative hero’ who will stop wars has been gradually produced.”
"Similarly, Hana, 30, a homemaker and mother of three, said she had no respect for Trump or anyone else in American politics.
“I thought that Trump was the worst American president ever, until we tried Biden.”
“Biden was always saying positive things; but he implemented nothing positive.”
“Trump won’t be better,” she said, “but at least he might be honest about his pro-Israel positions.”
*at least he might be honest*. Bingo!
"Sameh Barbakh, 15,
.“Biden is supporting the occupier over the occupied. And he keeps funding Israel with weapons that kill us,” Sameh said."
https://electronicintifada.net/content/same-same-different-little-hope-gaza-after-us-elections/50198
"But in the months since assuming the head of the Democratic ticket, Harris has made it clear that she is ready and eager to carry on Biden’s catastrophic legacy for the next four years.....
......
And while Israelis overwhelmingly favor Trump over Harris, and the former president certainly remains the preferred candidate among the country’s most extreme leaders, they might be missing the point. Because if you look past the partisan posturing, not only will Biden go down in history as Israel’s most consistent ally, but the strategy he and his fellow Democrats have embraced — masking their unconditional support for Israel behind a facade of concern for human rights — has played a crucial role in allowing Israel to get away with genocide for this long......
......Biden..... once boasted that he did “more fundraisers for AIPAC in the ’70s and early ’80s than just about … anybody,” and in turn the president has received more funding from the Israel lobby than any other U.S. politician since 1990.
As he loves to remind us, though, Biden’s support for Israel has always been primarily driven by an ideological commitment to the Zionist project. “You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist, and I am a Zionist,” Biden has repeatedly declared. “Were there no Israel, America would have to invent one.”
......when describing the massacre of Palestinians, Biden embraces a different tone. “I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war.”
Contrast Biden’s deep admiration for Israel with his evident disdain for Palestinians and Arabs, and we get a clear picture of the world view that informs his political decision making.
...Over the past year, we have seen Biden and Harris weaponize these endearing traits of liberalism, leveraging them to distract from the reality that they are helping Israel carry out a genocide. In doing so, they have effectively deterred wider resistance to these policies at home, as well as international efforts to intervene.
For its part, mainstream media coverage has focused more on Biden’s toothless rhetoric and supposed “frustration” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than on his administration’s support for Israel’s war effort. In doing so, it created the impression that a change in Israeli tactics was always just one more harsh rebuke away, ignoring the glaring reality of U.S. complicity.
While Harris may not harbor as much of Biden’s Zionist zeal, she has repeatedly promised that she will continue Biden’s genocidal legacy. When not dodging questions about why her administration’s “tireless” efforts to secure a ceasefire have so far failed and how her approach would differ from Biden’s, Harris has reiterated her “commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself.”
This might sound like a vague slogan, devoid of policy specifics. But the intent is as explicit as can be: Harris will continue using U.S. power to shield Israel from accountability in pursuit of “Israel’s defense” and will keep weapon shipments flowing to ensure Israel can “defend itself.” Harris’ empathetic rhetoric, which does not deviate much from Biden’s, will be just as empty and distracting.
....Many who oppose the current administration’s unconditional support for Israel have argued that, with Trump as the alternative, Biden and Harris still represent the “lesser evil.” But this reasoning ignores both the consequences of their empty, distracting rhetoric on domestic and international opposition, and the fact that the Biden and Harris administration’s policy resume, even long before October 7, closely mirrors its predecessor’s.
The only discernible policy difference has been Biden’s largely ineffectual sanctions campaign targeting Israeli settlers who continue to attack Palestinians throughout the West Bank. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has given Israel more financial and military assistance than any previous administration.
....To this day, the biggest difference has been the rhetoric. But when Trump says that he would let Israel “finish the job” in Gaza, at least he is honest, making U.S. complicity impossible to ignore. Trump’s blunt, jarring racism — using “Palestinian” as a slur, for instance — creates a clear target. In contrast, Biden and Harris cloak their support for Israel behind the language of humanitarianism, lulling voters and activists into complacency while allowing Israel to “finish the job” anyway."
There is no doubt that Democratic party loyalty has muted opposition to the Biden Administration’s complicity in genocide. And one could argue that the international community hasn’t felt the urgency to counterbalance Washington’s disregard for international law in the same way it might have if Trump had been flouting it.
Between overt extremism and performative empathy
After more than a year of a genocide that has been broadcasted across the globe in gruesome detail, we must ask ourselves what a wider, more politically diverse anti-genocide movement in both the U.S. and abroad, motivated by shared interests in unseating Trump, could have achieved. Because all the Biden and Harris administration has done is perpetuate the same genocide under a veneer of legitimacy — diffusing pressure with platitudes about peace while deepening U.S. complicity."
Democrats won’t “learn their lesson” by losing anti-genocide voters; instead, they’ll blame them for Trump’s victory and undermine efforts to build a broader, more effective movement for years to come. Nor should we downplay the consequences of Trump encouraging Israel to “finish the job” in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran — even if it would merely represent an accelerated version of what Israel is doing now, with Biden’s tacit support. Trump has also made it clear that he will do everything in his power to step up bipartisan efforts to quell all pro-Palestine organizing.
But we must recognize that there is danger not just in overt extremism, but in performative empathy that actively preserves the status quo. Because the truth is, there is no “lesser evil.” And as we argue over this and obsess over the differences between administrations that share the same genocidal goals but employ different tactics, the pile of Palestinian and Lebanese bodies only grows."
https://www.972mag.com/biden-harris-democrats-israel-genocide/
WOW, what a powerful article.
This last Palestinian fool, useful idiot for Trump, has the gall to mention "performative empathy" amongst liberals!
What an idiot, don't these Palestinians and others who have been telling us the EXACT SAME THING for 20 months, and who plainly don't really care about Palestinians or dead babies, know and understand that their "dramaqueening of dead babies" is just a lust for more of Trump's "fascism"?! Trump, Trump, Trump, blah, blah, tens of thousand of dead babies in 12 months BUT Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump.......
Don't they know and understand that we liberals who said and did sweet F A whilst our democratically elected Democrat candidates committed genocide for 12 months, but got utterly enraged with the thought of an orange haired president and the people not voting for Harris......even, bizarrely, if not from the US!.. are the real moral & decent heroes here?
Why can't these Palestinians and their vocal supporters not just shut up, stop dramaqueening their dead babies, and let us tell them what's best for them?
"“The White liberal is the worst enemy to America and the worst enemy to the Black man. Let me first explain what I mean by this White liberal. In America there’s no such thing as Democrats and Republicans anymore. That’s antiquated. In America you have liberals and conservatives. This is what the American political structure boils down to among Whites. The only people who are still living in the past and thinks in terms of “I’m a Democrat” or “I’m a Republican” is the American Negro. He’s the one who runs around bragging about party affiliation and he’s the one who sticks to the Democrat or sticks to the Republican, but White people in America are divided into two groups, liberals and Republicans…or rather, liberals and conservatives. And when you find White people vote in the political picture, they’re not divided in terms of Democrats and Republicans, they’re divided consistently as conservatives and as liberal. The Democrats who are conservative vote with Republicans who are conservative. Democrats who are liberals vote with Republicans who are liberals. You find this in Washington, DC. Now the White liberals aren’t White people who are for independence, who are liberal, who are moral, who are ethical in their thinking, they are just a faction of White people who are jockeying for power the same as the White conservatives are a faction of White people who are jockeying for power. Now they are fighting each other for booty, for power, for prestige and the one who is the football in the game is the Negro. Twenty million Black people in this country are a political football, a political pawn an economic football, an economic pawn, a social football, a social pawn...”
― Malcolm X
Posted by: manjit | May 29, 2025 at 09:57 AM
I don't know how else to say it: Virtually every one of your political predictions on your Salem Snark blog has been wrong. "Trump has ruined all of America's 401Ks!" Seen the stock market lately? "Elon is stealing all the social security money." I yi yi...
Forget the psychoanalysis. When will you just accept that your side lost the election? Lost
to the guy you side told us was the worst person in the universe? How in the world can you interpret that loss, and Biden's abysmal poll ratings, as evidence that you were right all along?
Yes, I know, you think you'll do it by saying people are blind. Not you, other people. Not very persuasive.
These passages from Tapper's book. A bigger load of BS I've never read. "Oh, it was the Biden theology we fell prey to We love you sir! You amaze us with your spiritual zeal, and we can't help but have faith in you. We can't see your obvious decline because you're such a fighter and have done such a fabulous job as president."
What hagiography! What a Kabuki dance! I've no doubt they'll give Tapper the Pulitzer for it.
For the most shallow and meretricious reasons, Tapper completely ignored Biden's obvious mental and physical unfitness for the presidency. "I want my team to win," and nothing more than that. And you did too. Why don't you write about that? Why stay committed to pretending your political instincts are in any way accurate? Why not examine the possibility that your side lost, not because Trump is a Svengali or his voters are dumbskis, but because you backed terrible, unappealing and lightweight candidates who talked nonsense and didn't have anything to offer the real concerns of the voting public?
Instead of this lame apologetics about the wonderful faith of the democrats in Biden, and pointing the finger at the winners (The Trump voters, the majority of the voters in the last election) for being stupid cult followers, why not turn the light on critical self-analysis the democrat party, and perhaps your political instincts?
Maybe face this: You and Tapper and Axelrod and every NYT pundit and subscriber only kept quiet about Biden's 4 year disaster of a presidency because you cared more about democrats being in control (God knows why) instead of righting the problems this country faces.
It's pretty obvious that to your crowd, there was only 1 political issue of real merit. One single issue. And that was preventing Donald Trump from becoming president again. That is the sole reason your kind "supported" Joe Biden. You didn't love him. You didn't like him. You hardly ever mentioned him in your blog posts. Joe Biden was just the boy with his thumb in the dike.
Maybe many Trump voters are Troglodytes, but at least they had real world political concerns that they cared about. I mean real political issues about genuine improvement for America, and not support for woke boutique issues like trans rights, global warming, and stopping the police from protecting us. Such concerns aren't "religious zealotry." If you're looking for that, seek the beam in your own eye.
Posted by: sant64 | May 29, 2025 at 01:11 PM
The thing, I find almost baffling is the way people support Trump. It’s one thing to support a chosen political party, but to almost worship a particular leader seems really strange; it definitely has all the hallmarks of cult mentality. After all, some leaders may say they want to radically change the system but at the end of the day can only operate within the economic and constitutional confines of their democratic system.
Regarding the on-going state of the economy (in most countries), where blame is always attributed to the outgoing administration, we fail to see the connection between recession and greed. “Because of greed, jealousy and pride the economy will never become strong enough to ensure that every person has access to the basic necessities of life.” (D. J. Khyentse).
What I dislike about Trump is the huge number of lies and mis-information he broadcasts and the nasty way he slates off people who disagrees with him to the extent of threatening judges, lawyers, election officials – and others. He also said he was smart for not paying taxes. None of this com-mends the man to me.
As I mentioned a few blogs ago: ‘I can’t go along with the statement that Biden alone is responsible for the genocide. Europe and America have supported Israel since its inception. America, regardless of being republican or democrat governments have sent billions in military aid over the years contributing to Israel’s great success. It’s in the West’s interests as Israel is well placed to deter attacks from countries like Iran and perhaps deter wider wars.’
Posted by: Ron E. | May 30, 2025 at 02:41 AM