Reporter Calls Out Democrats Who Are Trying To ‘Reverse’ Their Opinion On Biden’s Decline

Axios national political correspondent Alex Thompson called out Democrats who are now trying to “reverse” their opinion on former President Joe Biden’s cognitive health.

Thompson and Jake Tapper appeared on CNN Tuesday to lay out bombshell details revolving around Biden’s physical and cognitive decline in their new book, “Original Sin,” which includes accounts from members of the former White House’s cabinet and Democrats. Thompson said that many Democrats who had previously defended Biden are now admitting that he should not have ran again, while others refuse to even address the question about their support for the former president.

“A lot of these same Democrats who are now admitting that Joe Biden should not have run again, that he had cognitive decline, there’s a lot of tape and posts and tweets attesting that he was up to this job,” Thompson said. “Not just at the time in 2024, but for four more years, which was a job he was going to do. So you are seeing some basically try to reverse themselves, some try to navigate it, and some just dodging the question all together. You saw Chuck Schumer on [CNN host] Kasie [Hunt’s] show just last week basically just say ‘we’re looking forward, we’re looking forward.’”

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Tapper added that David Plouffe, who worked as a campaign aide on former Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, said that the Democrats must “never again” attempt to convince voters that they “are not actually seeing what they are witnessing.” Many congressional Democrats, White House aides and members of the former president’s cabinet were reportedly stunned by Biden’s declining physical and mental state, but nearly all of them refused to speak out publicly or stop him from running for re-election, according to Tapper and Thompson’s book.

Schumer told CNN’s Kasie Hunt Thursday that the Democrats are “looking forward” by trying to fight against President Donald Trump’s agenda. As Hunt pressed him on whether he knew about Biden’s decline, Schumer repeated his answer and did not address the matter any further.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries faced similar questioning by CNN host Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday, in which he responded that the Democrats intend to “look forward.” Like Schumer, he refused to say whether noticed any changes in Biden’s mental capacity during his conversations with him toward the end of his term.

Biden’s top aides and family insulated Biden from members of his own cabinet, the press and the general public in order to help him successfully run for re-election. Tapper stated Tuesday that after a cabinet meeting in the fall of 2023, cabinet secretaries went several months without seeing the then-president.

Following Biden’s disastrous performance at the June 27, 2024, debate against Trump, Democrats began publicly calling on the then-president to drop out as they raised doubts that he could defeat Trump in the 2024 election. The White House attempted to brush off his debate performance as just a “bad night” and claimed that he suffered from a cold.

Biden’s personal physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, warned his aides in 2023 that if Biden had suffered from another fall, he would have to be placed in a wheelchair. Knowing this would be a bad political look, his aides made the effort to prevent Biden from falling during public events.

The former president has been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer that has metastasized to the bones. Oncologists and medical professionals have said given the advanced stage of the illness, Biden definitely had prostate cancer while he was president.