Listen "The ‘cover-up’ of Joe Biden’s decline"
Episode Synopsis
Last June, during the first presidential debate of the 2024 U.S. election campaign, Joe Biden stumbled and struggled to find the right words. His performance was described as disastrous and incoherent.At that point, many Americans had already come to the conclusion that Biden was too old for the job. But for those who hadn't yet, the debate was the moment that fact became impossible to deny.Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again is a new book that investigates Biden’s cognitive and physical decline in recent years, and the attempt by a small group of loyalists and family members to keep it from public view.Journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson did over two hundred interviews with lawmakers, White House officials, and campaign insiders for it.Despite the reporting, Joe Biden continues to reject concerns about his age. His recent diagnosis of an aggressive prostate cancer has brought his health back into the spotlight.Today on Front Burner, Axios’ National Political Correspondent Alex Thompson on his new book, and the political consequences of Joe Biden’s decline.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts
More episodes of the podcast Front Burner
Poilievre tries to turn the page
13/11/2025
The former PM and the pop star
12/11/2025
Is Pierre Poilievre’s leadership in trouble?
10/11/2025
How Orwell’s words became our reality
07/11/2025
A big Mamdani win, a big Dem identity crisis
06/11/2025
Carney’s budget: generational or generic?
05/11/2025
What’s fuelling the war in Sudan?
04/11/2025
Mark Carney’s high-stakes first budget
03/11/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.