"The first one is the one that everybody got to know during his vice presidency," Tapper says. "And the second one was kind of a non-functioning Joe Biden. ... And that non-functioning Biden would rear his head increasingly starting in, like, 2019, 2020. And then, as his term went on, more and more behind the scenes."
The book describes a president who failed to recognize longtime political allies, lost his train of thought in important conversations and forgot important dates, including the death of his son, Beau: "We in the public would see some of it in front of the cameras ... but we had no idea how bad it was," Tapper says.
Tapper says one source described a president that was being propped up by aides: "One person told us that the presidency was, at best, a five-person board with Joe Biden as chairman of the board."
On Sunday, Biden's office issued a statement, revealing that the former president has been diagnosed with an "aggressive form" of prostate cancer, which has metastasized to the bone.
"It is very sad what happens to us, if we're lucky enough to get old. Very few of us retain our acuity until our death in our sleep at age 99," Tapper says. "It is the human condition, and that makes it difficult to report on this. But by the same token, we have a right to believe and expect that a president will be sharp and on top of things."
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