logo
The Protective ‘Politburo' That Hid Biden's Decline

The Protective ‘Politburo' That Hid Biden's Decline

The Atlantic24-05-2025

Washington Week With The Atlantic
Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson discuss their new book, Original Sin.
By
On a special edition of Washington Week With The Atlantic, CNN's chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper and the Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson joined Jeffrey Goldberg to discuss Original Sin, their new book about when Joe Biden started showing signs of decline—and how some people behind the scenes questioned his fitness to serve as president.
In the four months since Biden left office, a consensus seems to have emerged that the former president's bid for reelection all but guaranteed Donald Trump's return to power. 'There was the fine Joe Biden … and then there was the nonfunctioning Biden,' Tapper said last night. 'And the nonfunctioning Biden would rear his head increasingly and more and more disturbingly as time went on.'
'Now the question is,' Tapper continued, 'when did the nonfunctioning Biden emerge so often it was a real question as to whether he should serve for president?'
To see Tapper and Thompson discussing this and more with Goldberg, watch the full episode.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Tesla Shares Bounce After Tanking as Musk-Trump Spat Spiraled
Tesla Shares Bounce After Tanking as Musk-Trump Spat Spiraled

New York Times

time25 minutes ago

  • New York Times

Tesla Shares Bounce After Tanking as Musk-Trump Spat Spiraled

Shares of Tesla rose on Friday, bouncing off one of the stock's sharpest declines in years — a day after Elon Musk and President Trump's partnership ended in a furious exchange of insults and acrimony. The stock rose more than 9 percent by Friday afternoon. The rebound came after the stock had plunged more than 14 percent on Thursday, its second worst decline since 2020. Even with Friday's jump, Tesla's stock is still down about 13 percent for the week. The fallout began this week after Mr. Musk criticized the policy bill that Mr. Trump is championing, calling it an 'abomination.' For investors, though, the concern is over how the spat might harm Mr. Musk's businesses. Mr. Trump threatened to slash federal contracts and tax subsidies for Mr. Musk's companies, which amount to billions of dollars. The concerns for Tesla, the only publicly traded company in Mr. Musks portfolio, are manifold. The electric vehicle maker has put its focus on autonomous driving, something the federal government would have authority to scrutinize. 'It's difficult to get excited about the long side of the stock given what happened this week,' said James Stanley, a senior strategist at StoneX. 'It ran so high on the hope that the Trump administration would be friendly to Tesla, and I can't imagine how that isn't changing right now.' Mr. Musk, he added, 'has this knack for getting investors to look so far into the future that they can kind of discount what's happening present tense.' But now, Tesla's stock is likely overvalued, Mr. Stanley said, especially given the likelihood of a less friendly stance from the Trump administration on the company's self-driving ambitions. Some analysts are more optimistic about Tesla's prospects. 'This spat between Trump and Musk does not change our firmly bullish view of the autonomous future,' analysts at Wedbush Securities said in a research note on Friday. The Republican spending bill would end a $7,500 tax credit from the federal government that has helped reduce the cost of electric vehicles, which analysts expect could cost Tesla as much as $1 billion in annual profit. But Mr. Trump has widely signaled that policy, and Mr. Musk has in the past said he is not bothered by it. Mr. Trump and his Republican allies are also planning to kill regulations that allow Tesla to sell clean air credits to other carmakers that fail to meet environmental standards. During the first quarter, Tesla sold credits worth $595 million, more than the company's net profit of $409 million. Tesla's shares have been on a roller coaster ever since Mr. Trump's election. The stock rallied sharply at the end of 2024 before dropping this year as consumer protests against the company intensified because of the role Mr. Musk was playing in the Trump administration. The stock is down about 20 percent so far this year.

Jane S. Smith: The reckless extremism seen ‘Good Night, and Good Luck' is once again targeting ordinary people
Jane S. Smith: The reckless extremism seen ‘Good Night, and Good Luck' is once again targeting ordinary people

Chicago Tribune

time27 minutes ago

  • Chicago Tribune

Jane S. Smith: The reckless extremism seen ‘Good Night, and Good Luck' is once again targeting ordinary people

Twenty years after his successful film 'Good Night, and Good Luck,″ George Clooney has revived his drama of celebrated journalist Edward R. Murrow's battle against Joseph McCarthy-era political injustices. The staged version, which also takes its name from Murrow's signature ending to broadcasts, is the first play to bring in over $4 million in a single week. On Saturday, June 7, Clooney's final performance on Broadway will be broadcast on CNN, reminding much larger audiences of how hard — and how necessary — it is to push back against false accusations and the chilling anxiety they create. Sadly, the reckless political extremism of mid-20th century America is also having a revival. Scientists, government workers, librarians, court officials, athletes, legal immigrants and many other ordinary people doing their jobs and going about their lives have suddenly been told they are part of a sewer, a deep state, a criminal population, or simply so inessential that their life's work should be abandoned, right now. Two of the least powerful groups threatened by the current climate of repression are public school teachers and their students, children who may never even realize what they have been kept from learning. Their plight lacks the drama of deportations or the sudden shuttering of lifesaving, world-preserving scientific programs, but the damage is as great. For several years, I have researched the almost-forgotten teacher purges of the 1950s, with particular attention to New York City, the largest school system in the United States, where a special office was devoted to investigating teachers for allegedly subversive actions — which could include watching a parade, signing a petition, or simply reading the wrong newspaper, as well as belonging to unions or other professional organizations that had other members who were under suspicion. Long after everyone who could tell me about it was dead, I discovered that one of those blacklisted public-school teachers was my own father. Forced out of his job the same year as Milo Radulovich, the Air Force Reserve officer whose firing inspired Murrow's crusade and Clooney's play, my father was not around to see either the film or the stage versions of 'Good Night, and Good Luck'. Instead, he lived out its story in real time. Like thousands of other teachers, from kindergarten to college, he was called in by investigators on the flimsiest of evidence, in a hidden proceeding whose records are still shrouded in secrecy. The only way he could keep his job was by naming other possible suspects, offering up fresh victims for the professional hunters of supposed communist sympathizers. No proof was required — the simple act of betraying others was taken as confirmation of loyalty to the political system of the day. Instead, my father resigned, joining a large company of blacklist victims whose stories are still very hard to uncover. Radulovich, whose treatment inspired 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' was another ordinary person forced out of his job by shadowy claims of associating with communist sympathizers. Powerless to fight the forces aligned against him, he had the good luck to find a champion, Murrow, who could expose the self-serving fabrications of his accusers. Murrow, in turn, had the luck to persuade his network bosses that they should have the courage to air his story. The teachers who were blacklisted in the 1950s were not so lucky. They were left to fend for themselves, unable to do the work for which they had trained, largely forgotten by history. Most survived, but all were scarred by the ordeal. The school systems that worked so hard to impose conformity also suffered, and so did the students. Today, teachers, librarians, scientists, judges and other ordinary people who work hard to make our nation a place of wisdom and justice are again attacked for chillingly nonsensical reasons. They are threatened with violence, imprisonment, or simply barred from doing their jobs, creating a tragic loss of expertise. Once again, government is trying to silence the journalists who report on government oppression, aggressively excluding reporters from courtrooms and government chambers, trying to control the record of what is happening. As we watch 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' we should applaud the courageous journalists who helped bring down McCarthy and other tyrants of his era and give thanks for the people who continue to expose injustice today. Let us also take time to remember all the unrecorded victims, past and present. They will need all the good luck they can get. So will we all.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store