Michael Barbaro

Today, we try to make sense of all of that and what it means for the future of the Democratic Party with three of my colleagues, Tyler Pager, Lisa Lair, and Reid Epstein. It's Tuesday, May 20th. Let us get started. Tyler, Lisa, and Reid, thank you for making time for us. Appreciate it.

Long-time fan, first-time participant. I'm thrilled to be here. As we're hinting at, Lisa and Reid are veterans of this format, and Tyler, you are the new face in The Daily Universe, and in particular, the Roundtable format. You came to us very recently from The Washington Post, where we all read your work with admiration and at times with deep envy. So welcome aboard.

Long-time fan, first-time participant. I'm thrilled to be here. As we're hinting at, Lisa and Reid are veterans of this format, and Tyler, you are the new face in The Daily Universe, and in particular, the Roundtable format. You came to us very recently from The Washington Post, where we all read your work with admiration and at times with deep envy. So welcome aboard.

So totally, I suspect we're going to be radically changing gears here. And that's because of the very serious news that we got within the last 48 hours or so about former President Biden. I wonder what all three of you were thinking when you learned that he has cancer and a very aggressive and serious form of it.

So totally, I suspect we're going to be radically changing gears here. And that's because of the very serious news that we got within the last 48 hours or so about former President Biden. I wonder what all three of you were thinking when you learned that he has cancer and a very aggressive and serious form of it.

Right. I mean, traditionally, this kind of information would sit outside of a political context or a debate. A former president being diagnosed with metastatic cancer, a really serious, aggressive form of cancer. But...

Right. I mean, traditionally, this kind of information would sit outside of a political context or a debate. A former president being diagnosed with metastatic cancer, a really serious, aggressive form of cancer. But...

That wasn't really the case here because this information came at a moment when the entire Democratic Party has been openly discussing how much blame Biden and those around him deserve for the party losing the White House and how the Democratic Party can repair a very damaged reputation that they think Biden helped inflict on it.

That wasn't really the case here because this information came at a moment when the entire Democratic Party has been openly discussing how much blame Biden and those around him deserve for the party losing the White House and how the Democratic Party can repair a very damaged reputation that they think Biden helped inflict on it.

And that's a conversation that, as we all know, started back in the fall when Trump won. But it has been turbocharged in the past week or so by the emergence of two books. Tyler, you're the co-author of one of them. And I want to just explain the context into which this diagnosis came.

And that's a conversation that, as we all know, started back in the fall when Trump won. But it has been turbocharged in the past week or so by the emergence of two books. Tyler, you're the co-author of one of them. And I want to just explain the context into which this diagnosis came.

And Tyler, I want you to talk about some of the revelations that have come out in the past week or two that, as you said, Lisa, seem to, for many, confirm some of the worst fears about Biden's fitness for a second term. And as I said, Tyler, you helped write and report one of the books that brought forth some of these revelations. So you're now tasked with beginning to summarize them.

And Tyler, I want you to talk about some of the revelations that have come out in the past week or two that, as you said, Lisa, seem to, for many, confirm some of the worst fears about Biden's fitness for a second term. And as I said, Tyler, you helped write and report one of the books that brought forth some of these revelations. So you're now tasked with beginning to summarize them.

Fascinating.

Fascinating.

Right. And a lot of ways, these two books are coloring in a portrait that we had already started to see with our own eyes and ears as journalists and members of the public watching this president at the end of his term. But there's now a tremendous amount of new detail. I mean, I was struck by something that you wrote, Reid, in a summary of one of the books in which

Right. And a lot of ways, these two books are coloring in a portrait that we had already started to see with our own eyes and ears as journalists and members of the public watching this president at the end of his term. But there's now a tremendous amount of new detail. I mean, I was struck by something that you wrote, Reid, in a summary of one of the books in which

allies of the president worried that he might soon need a wheelchair if he were elected to a second term. There's reporting about cabinet gatherings that became scripted for Biden even when no one from the public could see them so that he could stay on message.

allies of the president worried that he might soon need a wheelchair if he were elected to a second term. There's reporting about cabinet gatherings that became scripted for Biden even when no one from the public could see them so that he could stay on message.

You're getting at something that I now want to turn to, which is a phrase that's in the title of one of these books by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, which is the word cover-up. The implication being that Biden's decline was intentionally hidden from the public until it became impossible not to see and discuss it. during the first debate he had with Trump. I mean, what do we make of that word?