Nightmare: The fatal role of the senile Biden in Trump's victory is revealed

Joe Biden “really screwed” the Democrats by deciding too late to withdraw from the 2024 US presidential election, a former top aide to Kamala Harris’s campaign argues in a new book. David Plouffe, who served as Barack Obama’s campaign manager in 2008 and as a senior adviser in his White House, was brought in to help Harris run for president after Biden dropped out last summer.

Kamala Harris' 107-day sprint against Donald Trump was a "f***ing nightmare," Plouffe is quoted as saying by authors Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson in Original Sin: President Biden's Fall, His Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. A copy of the book was obtained by The Guardian.

“And this is all because of Biden,” adds Plouffe, reflecting on the former US president’s decision to run for re-election and then hold out for more than three weeks after a disastrous debate performance against Trump raised questions about his mental health and age. “He just blew us.”

Plouffe, along with several other former Obama administration officials, had previously criticized Biden and his role in the Democrats’ defeat. After the Harris debacle, he posted on social media that the Harris campaign had started in a “deep hole.” He later deleted his account.

The book describes how Plouffe received calls from donors concerned about Biden’s declining energy, cognitive ability, and speechmaking. He, in turn, pressed the White House and the Democratic Party on whether they were confident the then-president could win the next election, and was repeatedly told he could.

But Tapper, CNN’s chief Washington correspondent, and Thompson, Axios’s national political correspondent, spoke to about 200 people for the book, including members of Congress and the White House, as well as campaign insiders. Some raised alarms about Biden’s mental acuity and the desperate efforts of his inner circle and allies to conceal the extent of his deterioration.

One senior aide who left the White House because he didn't think Biden should run admitted to the authors that "we tried to shield him from his own staff, so a lot of people didn't realize the magnitude of the downturn that was starting in 2023."

"I love Joe Biden. When it comes to integrity, there are few in politics who can match him. However, his family and advisers have done a disservice to the country and the party by allowing him to run again," the source says.

A prominent Democratic strategist says of Biden's determination to seek reelection: "It was disgusting. He stole the election from the Democratic Party; he stole it from the American people."

"Original Sin" is one of several eagerly anticipated books about the 2024 election and the alleged White House conspiracy.

As The Guardian recalls, Biden, 82, appeared to try to pre-empt his revelations last week with media appearances on BBC Radio 4's Today programme and ABC's The View. Biden has signed a deal with Creative Artists Agency for representation and hired communications specialist Chris Meagher to help bolster his public profile.

But the June 27, 2024, debate in Atlanta was nothing out of the ordinary, the book argues. Since at least 2022, Biden has increasingly lost his train of thought and had trouble remembering the names of his top aides. His speeches could be disjointed and hard to hear. When he was unable to deliver a two-minute video address without stumbling, aides filmed him with two cameras to make the editing less noticeable.

The book Original Sin details how prominent figures tried to interfere in various ways. Obama visited the White House in 2023 and warned Biden: “Just make sure you can win the race.”

Ari Emanuel, a Hollywood power broker and major Democratic donor, shouted at longtime Biden ally Ron Klain: “Joe Biden can’t run for reelection! He needs to go! He can’t win! What’s Plan B?” Klain acknowledged there was no Plan B.

And Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, met with the president after a debate last July at his home in Rehoboth, Delaware, and appealed to his desire to preserve his legacy. He warned Biden that if he stayed in the race and lost to Trump, 50 years of “amazing, wonderful work would be in vain.” But it’s not even that — you’ll go down in American history as one of the darkest figures.

On the way out, the book reports, Biden put his hands on Schumer's shoulders and told him, "You have the biggest balls of anyone I've ever met."

Biden dropped out of the presidential race on July 21 and quickly endorsed Kamala Harris, but it was too late, the authors argue. He had already helped bring about the very thing he wanted to avoid: Trump’s return to the White House.