General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJake Tapper's Biden Book Is Collapsing
Jake Tapper's Biden book is coming under scrutiny for some of the book's claims not matching up with actual evidence and holes in fact checking.
JASON EASLEY
Jake Tapper’s Biden book has already faded from the news cycle, but it is being examined because some of its claims are not as the authors described them.
…
There is also the issue of the fact-checking that Tapper and Thompson claim to have paid for. It turns out that the fact checking was limited as related to the book. Biden aides are also claiming that no one ever reached out to the subject of the book, Biden and his team, to fact check it with them.
Tapper and Thompson never talked to the book's subject to verify any of their information, and neither did their fact-checkers.
The emerging picture is of two authors who came into the writing process with a predetermined conclusion, who sought information that allowed them to write the story they wanted to tell.
https://www.politicususa.com/p/jake-tappers-biden-book-is-collapsing?r=f805&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
hlthe2b
(109,864 posts)GOOD
TnDem
(844 posts)The public buying $29.00 books is over anyway. Nobody buys books to speak of anymore, and that goes for both left and right.
As someone who worked in a library for 7 years, I can't tell you the last time I paid for a book...In fact, the few visitors to the library mostly want to use the free computers and not even bother with the stacks.
thucythucy
(8,878 posts)The rise and continued success of Donald Trump is only possible among an electorate that relies on social media for its "facts."
People now openly and proudly declare that they don't know how to write, and rely on computer programs to do their writing for them. An entire industry has sprung up to help people who haven't been taught how to write, or how to read anything more substantial than a page or two of print, or in fact to think for themselves. And Trump's attack on higher education, the right's disdain for and assault on public education in all its aspects is an integral part of the reactionary agenda.
George Orwell warned us almost a century ago that poor writing is indicative of and leads to poor thinking. And the ability to write is directly related to a person's reading habits.
Or, as Trump famously declared, "I love uneducated voters."
TnDem
(844 posts)The decline in the public actually purchasing hard-copy books has been declining for several decades...WAYYY before Trump was even thought about... It is a paradigm shift that has been changing for years.
It has zero to do with Trump
This lack of book purchase may affect the writer's ability to enunciate or not? However, I suspect that the reading is made up by reading digital by those so inclined.
thucythucy
(8,878 posts)which indeed has been a trend over decades. I said his rise was only possible among an electorate that is substantially less literate. Re-read my post and I'm sure you'll see the difference.
"Digital reading" may make up for some of this deficit, but it doesn't come close to filling the gap that has been, as you say, widening for years.
We now live in a world where on-line material often comes with a tag that tells you how long it will take to read a particular item. This is part of a trend that sees the attention span of the general public declining, year by year, another aspect related to declining literacy.
"Digital reading" also makes it far more possible to manipulate the material being read. There's a reason why the right is making a concerted effort to purge websites of material on minority history, racism, climate change, etc. Combine this with right wingers attempting to purge public libraries of books they find objectionable and we can see, in real time, the attempt to re-write our history and gut the public discourse of the material needed for an informed electorate.
This has happened before of course, the public book burnings in Germany in the 1930s being a prime example. But a public more and more relying on information in digital format is a public more easily manipulated by the owners of that technology. Look at what's happened to Twitter and Facebook. Millions of posts gone with just the press of a button.
Manipulation of "news" has been around since before Guttenberg and will continue as long as humans are alive.
Everybody wants their point of view to be hailed as truth and the other guy to be scorned as a lie...It happened during the thrid reich and it happened in China and the Soviet union.
It's called human nature.
FakeNoose
(37,425 posts)... just not a lot of purchasing of high-demand (and high-quality) books. Almost everything is free if you know how to find it.
CrispyQ
(39,681 posts)It was five paragraphs!! Not even very long ones. 
h2ebits
(880 posts)I used to buy paperback books because they were cheaper but when I downsized a number of years ago, I ended up donating 400 books to Goodwill because I had no place for them.
I spend hours reading various topics on the Internet but much prefer checking real books out of the library as I like paper more than screens. I periodically visit bookstores to see what is out there and have spent a number of hours standing at a bookshelf reading a book enough to decide that I want to actually read the whole thing. Then I go to the library to check it out.
There is no one size fits all answer to any people type issue. We are all different with different needs, wants, and interests.
czarjak
(12,827 posts)Not quite the same as uneducated voters?
NJCher
(40,137 posts)Libraries seem to becoming a hub for community events. My library offers all kinds of interesting, useful events and services: book talks with authors (many writers live in our area, in fact the NY Times writers almost all flock to this suburb), classes, computer assistance for free, craft classes (a neighboring library even has a craft room where sewing machines can be brought in--they actually teach sewing). Those are only a few items.
NJ has the best librarians and best library services--always had. Way ahead of the rest of the nation.
Now personally I check out books. In fact, I'll check right now to see how many I have out: 10
CrispyQ
(39,681 posts)Studies show young men read significantly less than young women. I have to believe that contributes to the gender gap that's been reported among young people.
PJMcK
(23,676 posts)People who don't read are functionally illiterate.
The Republican attacks on education over the last 30+ years has successfully destroyed the minds of millions of Americans.
In fact, because our people have become dumbed-down by poor education and "reality" TV, Americans have fallen terribly behind their counterparts in other developed nations.
The proof is Trump was re-elected.
TnDem
(844 posts)The only buyers taking paper magazines now are doctor's offices and Florida retirees.
CrispyQ
(39,681 posts)
There used to be a magazine/smoke shop in town & they had every American magazines & a ton of international ones. We'd spend 60-90 minutes in there. We'd buy a several, too, to support them. They've been out of business for 10-12 years now.
LearnedHand
(4,694 posts)I know plenty of people, myself included, who are voracious readers but never "go" to the library because they get all books from Libby.
misanthrope
(8,780 posts)I still love reading. I buy books all the time, but I am less likely to buy physical books now. Storage is an issue.
Sequoia
(12,637 posts)I keep my library in business. I have stacks of current books, mostly history. Not to mention that stack of books from library book sales.
Picaro
(1,963 posts)I don’t care if I get alerted on. But this is at best a non sequitur—at worse deliberate distraction from the point of the original post.
The assertion you’ve made is a glaring logical fallacy.
Try parsing this:
I don’t buy books. So no one buys books. Therefore the point about a newly released book being poorly researched and clearly aimed to buttress a preconceived narrative is unimportant. Because I don’t buy books.
I should know because I worked in a library a some point.
WTH?
There are two things I have never done on any forum and that is "alert" or "ignore" anyone, so you can rest assured, it won't be me.
More importantly, if you think book sales are what they were even fifteen years ago, you would be WAYYY wrong. It's a fact that there are just not as many people buying or reading actual hard-copy books like there were in the past. I am not saying some books are not sold and read, I am saying, that as a cultural influence like it has been for generations, that ship has long ago sailed.
Book stores are now like buggy whip stores after the Model T came on the transportation scene...They just don't sell and hold public attention like in the past....And this is coming from someone who loves books.
krkaufman
(13,879 posts)… which is discussing the accuracy of the book and suspect or non-existent fact-checking.
Kaleva
(39,374 posts)
Beaverhausen
(24,621 posts)TnDem
(844 posts)Like this one:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/tapper-and-thompson-discuss-book-claiming-bidens-inner-circle-hid-signs-of-decline
On that interview alone, Tapper says he discussed it with 200+ people surrounding Biden. He also states that he didn't start on the meat of the book until after the election.
Call it what you will, if there is 1/10th truth to that, (and I suspect there is more than that), then it will continue to drip until the issue is put to bed.
SocialDemocrat61
(4,578 posts)
TnDem
(844 posts)However, all I hear is crickets from anyone in the administration.
if you think there is NO truth to this, you are being intentionally uninformed.
SocialDemocrat61
(4,578 posts)disputed what is said about them in the book. However the corporate media is ignoring them for the most part.
https://www.rawstory.com/jaime-harrison-biden/
TnDem
(844 posts)He said "I sure as Hell don't remember that"....He didn't "That never fucking happened"...Notice the difference?
Anybody that has ever been in a courtroom will attest that the first thing your attorney will tell you to do if it starts looking like you're about to get jammed up is to say "I don't recall".
SocialDemocrat61
(4,578 posts)Come back when you have a real argument.
TnDem
(844 posts)Saying "I don't remember it happening" is totally different than saying "It never happened".
SocialDemocrat61
(4,578 posts)Here’s Harrison’s full quote
And he’s not the only one disputing what is in the book. So is Jake Sullivan
“I do not recall that ever happening,” Sullivan said when asked about the interaction, “and I will tell you, Joe Biden knows my name.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/15/jake-sullivan-biden-book-00352172
TnDem
(844 posts)both said either "I don't recall" or "I don't remember"...They didn't deny it.
That is the very definition of semantics.
SocialDemocrat61
(4,578 posts)You just don’t want to admit it.
MorbidButterflyTat
(2,998 posts)Mr. Tapper?
catchnrelease
(2,078 posts)Watched an interview with him this morning on MSNBC in which he vehemently said 'That did not happen'. Not that he didn't remember it happening. I went back and watched again to make sure I heard it right. The comment is at 5:18 in the video...
SocialDemocrat61
(4,578 posts)Great video. Thanks for posting.
Midwestern Democrat
(894 posts)report something they don't like. You know, it's career suicide when that actually happens - remember Janet Cooke of the Washington Post who won the Pulitzer for a story that was quickly determined to be made-up? I heard she was reduced at one point to working as a cashier in a department store - that's how total and complete the destruction of her career was.
reACTIONary
(6,420 posts).... elections are suddenly "rigged" if our candidate loses. Elon Musk! StarLink!
TnDem
(844 posts)And exactly what I have been trying to say....You don't claim 200+ people have told you something, if it is immediately going to be discredited....And the crickets and "non denial- denials" are what is deafening here.
On this Biden thing, I think we ought to clear the collective cobwebs from our heads, admit mistakes, (even if privately), and vow to never let something like this happen again.
reACTIONary
(6,420 posts)MorbidButterflyTat
(2,998 posts) hatrack
(62,532 posts)Completing "the meat" took place, of course, in addition to Tapper's routine job responsibilities at CNN - reporting, anchoring, bloviating.
agingdem
(8,563 posts)he writes a nasty Biden screed with parsed "facts" and never said/never interviewed "witnesses"... and days before publication the Biden family release a statement confirming Biden's stage 4 cancer diagnosis...and down goes whatever is remaining of Tapper's credibility and humanity.....I'm guessing those anticipated appearances on late night tv and cable panel shows are pretty much a not-gonna-happen...poor timing, Jake!
Raven123
(6,679 posts)200 plus people surrounding Biden? All having first hand knowledge? All corroborating Tapper’s claims? How many are GOP MAGAs?
MorbidButterflyTat
(2,998 posts)There were many named "anonymous," "insider," "first hand knowledge," "some in the administration," "reported on condition of anonymity," etc., etc.
Obviously completely credible and completely in agreement about President Biden. 
Kaleva
(39,374 posts)
TommyT139
(1,422 posts)He should have stuck to his bad cartoons.
Kaleva
(39,374 posts)I bet you didn’t.
stillcool
(33,921 posts)SocialDemocrat61
(4,578 posts)Other people who went on the record were. Deep Throat was only used to confirm info others told them and to check if they were going in the right direction.
MorbidButterflyTat
(2,998 posts)You're comparing Jake Tapper to Deep Throat??
TommyT139
(1,422 posts)I haven't read the book yet. It was a basic question. Lots of former Trump administration staff went on record for their comments. It's a reasonable question.
stopdiggin
(13,758 posts)And am absolutely certain that it is 'slanted' and has a large helping of cherry picking. On the other hand - I suspect that Tapper, et.al., did do a certain amount of research and verification. So, if the aim is to discredit the narrative or premise - then show me a bunch of instances where the book is flatly wrong or in error of actual incidents or conversation. People willing to go on record with specifics of, 'this is completely false - never happened'.
In other words - they're going to have to do a lot better than, "Well, they didn't reach out to me .. "
Kaleva
(39,374 posts)stillcool
(33,921 posts)I didn't so have no idea if he names sources or uses the common generic 'people close to Biden said'. Should be easy to find out, and ask them? They have to be in the book.
stopdiggin
(13,758 posts)and I won't be - just in order to offer a critique of its methodology.
(on the other hand - there appear to be plenty of people out there with time on their hands ... )
SocialDemocrat61
(4,578 posts)Including Jamie Harrison: https://www.rawstory.com/jaime-harrison-biden/
stopdiggin
(13,758 posts)People coming forward saying, "That is not what I said." "That incident did not happen."
Unfortunately - even with that I fear that all that will be revealed is a certain degree of 'spin' - and the substance/outline of the story will remain. The real damage here is in confirmation bias ... And the fact that a lot of people already suspect this as at least partially (if not the full boat) true.
Prairie Gates
(5,093 posts)when he was at Salon.
LetMyPeopleVote
(163,479 posts)
JohnSJ
(98,743 posts)no shyness about that being exploited by some pushing that he shouldn't run a second term.
but that isn't even the issue.
The scandal is that the most of the MSM normalized trump and his racism.
Just look at his pseudo press conferences all during 2024. No pushback at all. How many times did you hear anyone in the press question his assertion that China and our foreign competitors would be paying for the tariffs, not the public. The shame coverage of the NY investors club where he pushed all this bullshit while they were blindly applauding the lies, WHERE WAS OUR ILLUSTRIOUS PRESS?
Even after everything that has gone done, they are still carrying water for him.
What the press did to Gore, Kerry, Hillary, and Biden, was a disgrace, especially in light of how much they let this administration get away with.
They tried to do it to Obama also, with the garbage that he was a Weather Underground sympathizer because his neighbor was Ayers, and with the Reverend Wright fiasco, but President Obama and his team got ahead of that before it took hold, add to that, the bush financial meltdown, plus mccain choosing a complete idiot as his VP, all helped us in 2008.
MorbidButterflyTat
(2,998 posts)
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(123,442 posts)They do with so many other books.
bucolic_frolic
(50,441 posts)Lookee over there not over here. Typical Republican ploy.
MLWR
(341 posts)People on the right, at least those who make up today's republican party, don't or can't read. People on the left, particularly those who supported Biden, aren't interested in any more Biden-bashing; there is more than enough of that in the MSM.
PatSeg
(50,234 posts)Tapper and CNN are super left-wing commies.
reACTIONary
(6,420 posts)... it's about how the book is being discredited by fact checkers.
Pisces
(5,994 posts)Confirm what we don’t want to know.
Lonestarblue
(12,629 posts)Republicans just love to commit character assassination, but journalists should be held to a higher standard. Unfortunately, we live in a post-truth world where lies pass for reality.
djacq
(1,720 posts)
leftyladyfrommo
(19,790 posts)In vogue right now.
thucythucy
(8,878 posts)questioning its veracity with book burnings and out and out censorship?
Or maybe your post was intended to be sarcastic?
BurnDoubt
(486 posts)
Martin68
(25,788 posts)
tanyev
(46,476 posts)
dchill
(42,375 posts)...to Joe biden's legacy and reputation is what I hope happens to Jake Tapper. And soon would be good.
hermetic
(8,873 posts)and he, sink like a stone.
angrychair
(10,641 posts)Book sales collapse. Falsely accused president Biden and staff.
Tapper is a weenie. Couldn't happen to a worse guy.
stillcool
(33,921 posts)defend his book so they can still trash Biden.
Mike Nelson
(10,583 posts)... I thought it was doing well on the bestseller lists and had been praised for its journalist integrity!
SheltieLover
(68,323 posts)
Tommy Carcetti
(43,923 posts)But in this case I’m actively hoping for it.
johnnyfins
(2,103 posts)FUCK HIM
Zambero
(9,846 posts)Tapper could become the new Chris Matthew's. Gone but yet forgotten!
mountain grammy
(27,830 posts)He's not a good person.
nowforever
(511 posts)Is a sniveling closet conservative who pretends to care. Empty vessel floating in an ocean of boring and dim witted.
SouthBayDem
(32,659 posts)Real presidential histories take years to write. They aren’t slapped together in a few months. Actual historians talk to the subjects when possible, or at least offer the subject the opportunity to speak.
The last part is especially true. Examples include Robert Caro's book about LBJ, or Lou Cannon's in-depth biographies of Reagan. Or any of the Woodward and Bernstein books.
reACTIONary
(6,420 posts).... tendentious "news aggregator". They don't write so much as they cut-n-paste. If you haven't, you might want to read the original reporting:
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/24/joe-biden-town-hall-original-sin-00368995
reACTIONary
(6,420 posts)... this "news aggregator" blurb is based on. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/24/joe-biden-town-hall-original-sin-00368995
stopdiggin
(13,758 posts)push-back, yes ... 'collapsing' .. ? Ummm ...
Blue Owl
(56,276 posts)Sideways
LetMyPeopleVote
(163,479 posts)I will not buy this book
marcopolo63
(75 posts)…in our local Sunday paper’s literary section. Hopefully it tanks and is quickly forgotten and ends up in dollar store discount bins.
Hekate
(97,766 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(163,479 posts)
MorbidButterflyTat
(2,998 posts)"Original sin"?
What an asshole.
LetMyPeopleVote
(163,479 posts)Gm7
(14 posts)To find out "who was running the country". Tapper's book will be front and center for the foreseeable future
misanthrope
(8,780 posts)It also has links to the Biden video ads referenced.
Pisces
(5,994 posts)Don’t need a book to see what I saw with my own eyes.
Dem4life1970
(869 posts)...last time I checked, he dropped out of the race in July 2024....and, oh yeah, the new POTUS is a twice impeached, 34 times convicted felon, an adjudicated sexual abuser, who ordered and launched an attack on the US Capitol, found civilly liable for fraud, and who is currently accepting bribes from foreign governments and not following court orders. But yes, let's focus on Biden again.
Read the room Tapper....(Because you will make close to nothing from this book).
underpants
(190,765 posts)
LetMyPeopleVote
(163,479 posts)Biden world has been fact checking Tapper's silly book. Tapper is a bad reporter who made up crap for this book
Link to tweet
This time, it’s about a closed-door town hall in April 2024. Tapper and Thompson claim Biden “had trouble” answering pre-approved questions and that the footage was so bad, the campaign scrapped it.
Except—that’s not what happened.
Biden allies just dropped three never-before-seen ads from the event. Yes, they were polished. Yes, they tested them. But the idea they were unusable? That’s Tapper spin—unverifiable, uncorroborated, and now contradicted by the actual footage.
The kicker? Tapper defends his version with a quote from an “unnamed Biden adviser” he personally supplied to Playbook. Even Playbook couldn’t verify who said it. That’s the level of “fact-checking” behind this book.
This isn’t journalism. It’s a smear job dressed up as reporting, built on anonymous sources, cherry-picked anecdotes, and claims the actual people involved say are false.
Biden’s team isn’t just disputing Tapper’s narrative—they’re dismantling it, piece by piece.
And Tapper’s credibility? It’s unraveling just as fast.
wolfie001
(4,967 posts).....obsequious toady he is, he followed suit. What a f6cking spineless weasel with all of the shenanigans happening right now with Adolf Shitler.