The book presents a story that is more than obvious in hindsight: that President Biden’s cognitive and physical decline was both visible and consequential, yet shielded from public reckoning by an inner circle more concerned with maintaining power than serving the public interest. While the reliance on anonymous sources makes definitive judgment difficult, the narrative aligns all too closely with the slow unraveling we all witnessed in real time, from stumbling around Normandy to being mentally absent in the key presidential discussion. And of course the awkward stage of “no, he is fine, it was just cold” and weeks of waiting for the new candidate.
If Tapper and Thompson’s account is accurate, then the actions of Biden’s advisers and family members represent a deep institutional failure. What we see is a sickly system – one where media deference, fundraising obsessions, and personal hubris trump any sort of “collective good”. This isn’t just about one man’s decision to run again; it’s about a party unable to check that decision, a media unwilling to dig deep soon enough, and a culture that continues to elevate personalities over resilient structures. Which is a problem hardly unique to American politics, but being very, very obvious there.
The consequences were immense. Biden’s disastrous performance didn’t just embarrass – it was one of the main factors deciding the election. And that is simply fair. The decision to run, whether Biden himself had the full mental capacity to make it or not, represents a moral and procedural failure shared by his advisors and the Democratic Party.
Looking back, this kind of cover-up appears uniquely egregious for a democratic country. But in my limited personal experience, I’ve seen how the psychological toll of leadership can deform perception, how inner circles develop to mask and manage decline rather than confront it. The moment between “huh, what is he saying” to “ok we need to do something about this” can take months. I do not have solutions, I am just sure glad that I took the coward’s way out and went out of politics for some time.
But apart from the personal anecdotes, one principle is quite key here. The public deserves to know when our leaders falter – especially in executive roles. Health, especially mental acuity, should not be a private matter when the stakes are global.
The media’s role remains essential but uncertain. Can journalism rise to meet its responsibilities in the current landscape? I’m not sure. But I do know this: my perspective on the 2024 election is now slightly more in the camp “that was a horrible, horrible mistake: and fully avoidable”. This wasn’t an unfortunate misstep. It was a preventable collapse. One that cost the world dearly.
What we need going forward is clear-eyed realism, stronger institutions, less reliance on individual charisma and “built image”: and genuine accountability. Leaders should not be overloaded beyond their limits, nor shielded when they begin to slip. In this, both Trump and Biden serve as cautionary tales—leaders whose faculties no longer fit the offices they occupied.