Which Way, American Journalist?

I see that we have the first tell-all book on “President Biden’s decline,” and the “cover-up” that followed. It’s by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson. I expect that I’ll be annoyed by most of these books — which, in their schizophrenia, will remind me of nothing more salubrious than O.J. Simpson’s If I Did It — but I’ll reserve judgment on this one, given that, unlike the majority of his peers, Alex Thompson spent the first half of 2024 telling the truth about Joe Biden, and the second half of 2024 telling the truth about Kamala Harris. If anyone in the mainstream press has earned the right to report on Biden’s decline, it’s Thompson.

As for everyone else? They can shove it. Since last summer, I have talked to a good number of people who nominally work as “reporters,” and they have told me that they were genuinely “blindsided” by the White House. This, they seem to think, lets them off the hook — or even makes them the victims. I’ve never bought this for a moment. First off, I simply don’t believe a lot of them. If I could discern Biden’s condition, why couldn’t they? Heck, if supermajorities of American voters could see it, why couldn’t they? I daresay that the executive branch has some power to keep journalists off the scent. But this wasn’t exactly a classified secret or a complicated story or a detailed issue that required access. It was right there before our eyes — for three years straight. If you were fooled, it was because, at some level, you wanted to be fooled.

About the Author

Charles C. W. Cooke

Charles C. W. Cooke is a senior editor at National Review and the host of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast.

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I see that we have the first tell-all book on “President Biden’s decline,” and the “cover-up” that followed. It’s by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson. I expect that I’ll be annoyed by most of these books — which, in their schizophrenia, will remind me of nothing more salubrious than O.J. Simpson’s If I Did It — but I’ll reserve judgment on this one, given that, unlike the majority of his peers, Alex Thompson spent the first half of 2024 telling the truth about Joe Biden, and the second half of 2024 telling the truth about Kamala Harris. If anyone in the mainstream press has earned the right to report on Biden’s decline, it’s Thompson.

As for everyone else? They can shove it. Since last summer, I have talked to a good number of people who nominally work as “reporters,” and they have told me that they were genuinely “blindsided” by the White House. This, they seem to think, lets them off the hook — or even makes them the victims. I’ve never bought this for a moment. First off, I simply don’t believe a lot of them. If I could discern Biden’s condition, why couldn’t they? Heck, if supermajorities of American voters could see it, why couldn’t they? I daresay that the executive branch has some power to keep journalists off the scent. But this wasn’t exactly a classified secret or a complicated story or a detailed issue that required access. It was right there before our eyes — for three years straight. If you were fooled, it was because, at some level, you wanted to be fooled.