Author Chris Whipple says Biden's family and closest advisors operated in denial regarding his ability to serve another term: "There's no doubt that they were protecting the president." Whipple spoke with campaign insiders to get a behind-the-scenes look at what happened in 2024. His book is Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History. Our book critic Maureen Corrigan shares an appreciation of The Great Gatsby for its 100th anniversary.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. Democrats are still asking questions like, why didn't Joe Biden end his reelection campaign sooner? Why did he even run for reelection knowing that he would have been 82 when he started his second term and 86 when it ended? Why didn't his staff tell him he wasn't up to the job?
How did Kamala Harris lose to Trump after Trump tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election and was convicted of 34 felonies? My guest, Chris Whipple, explores these questions from different perspectives in his new book, Uncharted, How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History. Whipple's previous book was about the first two years of the Biden presidency.
He's also the author of The Spymasters, How the CIA Directors Shape History and the Future, and The Gatekeepers, How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency. Biden's chief of staff during the first two years of his presidency, Ron Klain, was a major source for the new book about the 2024 election, as was Biden's final chief of staff, Jeffrey Zients.
Chris Whipple is also a documentary filmmaker and has won a Peabody and an Emmy. Chris Whipple, welcome to Fresh Air.
Great to be with you. Thanks for having me.
So you're right. The truth was that Joe Biden was too old to run for reelection, much less govern effectively in a second term. His advisers knew this or should have known it, but refused to face that fact. None ever discussed with the president whether he was too old to serve a second term.
Instead, they walled Biden off from the outside world, limiting the number of people who interacted with him. How do you know for sure that no one ever discussed with Biden whether he was too old to serve?
Well, you know, this is what makes the book such an extraordinary story, I think. It's really remarkable the extent to which Biden's inner circle, not just his family but his close advisors, were operating in a kind of fog of delusion and denial. You know, I differ with people who say that this was a cover-up in the classic book.
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