Sunrise Show Prep! May 14

Jake Tapper’s Biden Book Fallout Exposes a Broken System

May 14, 2025

The Media’s Dirty Little Secret: Jake Tapper’s Biden Book Fallout Exposes a Broken System

Yesterday, X lit up like a Christmas tree, and for good reason. Jake Tapper’s new book, Original Sin, co-written with Axios’ Alex Thompson, has the audacity to admit what we’ve all known for years: the White House lied about Joe Biden’s deteriorating health, and the media—Tapper included—covered for them. The fallout is a firestorm, and it’s about time we had this reckoning. If reporters won’t challenge the White House, why do we even have them?

Let’s start with Tapper’s bombshell. He writes that White House physician Kevin O’Connor (no relation, thank God) warned Biden’s aides that the president’s spinal degeneration was so severe, one more fall could land him in a wheelchair for a second term. Yet, the Biden team pushed off any talk of a wheelchair until after the 2024 election. Tapper frames this as some grand revelation, saying, “The White House lied, so that’s all there is to it.” Really, Jake? That’s your takeaway? You’re a reporter! Your job isn’t to shrug and move on—it’s to dig, to challenge, to hold power to account. If the White House lied, why didn’t you call them out in real time? Why wait until it’s safe to spill the beans in a book you’re hawking for profit?

X users weren’t having it, and neither am I. @RealKiraDavis shared a post yesterday pointing out how Biden’s team used an auto-pen to sign 8,064 pardons—more than Obama and Trump combined, according to @DanWiger63’s screenshot of a Google search. Who was running that pen? Who was making decisions while Biden’s health crumbled? The media knew something was up, but they stayed silent. @teresalirette chimed in, questioning who was really calling the shots behind closed doors. These aren’t conspiracy theories—these are the questions journalists like Tapper should’ve been asking all along.

The Washington Examiner dropped another nugget last week, revealing how Biden’s team put tape on the floor to keep him from wandering off course. They called videos of Biden’s decline “cheapfakes,” and the media lapped it up, attacking anyone who dared point out the obvious. Newsweek reported on Alex Thompson’s speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where he admitted the media’s failure to cover Biden’s decline eroded public trust. Gallup backs this up—only 31% of Americans trust the media as of last year. And yet, here’s Tapper, acting like he’s breaking news when he’s just cashing in on the mess he helped create.

This isn’t just about Biden. It’s about a media that’s forgotten its purpose. If reporters won’t challenge the White House when it lies—whether it’s about a president’s health or anything else—what’s the point? Tapper’s “revelation” isn’t journalism; it’s a confession of complicity. X users see through it, and so do I. Want the real story? Skip Tapper’s book and grab mine, Shameless Liars. We’ve got a media to fix, and it starts with telling the unfiltered truth—something Tapper clearly forgot how to do.

MORNING SHOW GUESTS:

5:15 AM - INTERVIEW - SPENCER BROWN - Senior Columnist, Townhall.com on Trump’s MidEast trip

6:05 AM - INTERVIEW - JOHN CONDIT - former sportscaster for ABC Dayton, Ohio, and he is the president of Cradle Concepts
- Major League Baseball issues policy decision on permanent ineligibility status after death
6:35 AM - INTERVIEW - CAL THOMAS - on latest news

7:05 AM - INTERVIEW - J. CHRISTIAN ADAMS - on Trump PA voters case

8:35 AM - INTERVIEW - MOLLIE HEMINGWAY - The Federalist on Tapper and the media coverup of Biden’s cognitive decline

LARRY’S SHOW PREP

TAPPER’S BOOK TOUR

(1) John LeFevre on X: "Jake Tapper claims he was duped about Biden’s decline. But yet, it was painfully obvious to the rest of us for 4 years. And the media, @jaketapper included, called us conspiracy theorists for pointing it out. https://t.co/LEDd2wZ33Z" / X

L A R R Y on X: "Enough with all this BULLSHIT rewriting of history and gaslighting by Jake Tapper. Want the real story of the lies the media told you including all the lies to cover up for Biden's deteriorating health? Don't give Tapper a penny, buy my book! (link below 👇) https://t.co/1CEVth4xKK" / X

Next Up with Mark Halperin on X: ".@MarkHalperin on Joe Biden: "I continue to laugh when I hear people say 'I didn't know'... It's a farce. In 2017 just after he left the White House... I saw him do a book appearance. Very friendly interviewer, big crowd. And he was a trainwreck." FULL: https://t.co/icvgokH0Mb https://t.co/22f33SEKUP" / X

Stephen L. Miller on X: "My favorite part of this montage from @tomselliott is Tapper writing off the Wall Street Journal report as "a Murdoch-run paper." It's just so perfect." / X

Peachy Keenan on X: "Hey @jaketapper! For your "hard hitting" book on how everyone knew Biden had dementia and covered it up, you asked Barack Obama about this tweet, right? Right? https://t.co/lKIwzmAVn6" / X

John Hasson on X: "It took only nine years for Canada to go from: “We’ll only euthanize the terminally ill” To: “Are you a soldier struggling with PTSD? Kill yourself” Nine years https://t.co/iUHk9oddcu" / X

Canada legalized medical assistance in dying (MAID) in 2016 after the Supreme Court ruled in Carter v. Canada that prohibiting it violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, initially targeting terminally ill patients with "serious and incurable" conditions causing "enduring suffering."

By 2022, reports emerged of Veterans Affairs Canada offering euthanasia to soldiers with PTSD, like 19-year-old Kelsi Sheren, highlighting a shift from the original intent to include mental health conditions, with over 10,000 MAID cases recorded by 2021.