Earlier this month, an adviser to Democratic donors texted me to ask if I had a copy of “Original Sin,” the new book from CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson chronicling former President Joe Biden’s “decline, its cover-up and his disastrous choice to run again,” in the words of the book’s subtitle.
I told him I didn’t have one yet.
“I want to know if there’s anyone else we should be mad at,” the adviser, who requested anonymity to preserve relationships, texted back.
Even before the arrival of “Original Sin,” most leading Democrats had landed on a quartet of Biden advisers as clear villains in the tale of Biden’s physical, mental and political decline: first lady Jill Biden; Anthony Bernal, one of her top aides who seemingly managed to accumulate power through loyalty, gossip and fashion advice; strategist Mike Donilon; and lobbyist-turned-adviser Steve Ricchetti.
Biden and those four, the Democratic Party’s internal narrative goes, created a White House environment where bad news was snuffed out before it could reach the principal’s ears, enabling an autopilot decision to run an aging and unpopular president for reelection with no backup plan if things went awry.
