No, the media did NOT miss the biggest political scandal in US history (05-22-2025--Hour1)

[00:00:04] What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepetekalendershow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:28] I want to start with the second part, the second portion of the original sin scandal. This is, in my opinion, my humble, lowly opinion, the biggest scandal in American political history.

[00:00:48] The Joe Biden cognitive decline and how it was kept hidden, we are to believe, by a small group of people, right? And the Biden family was in charge and his closest advisors. There was like four or five people from Joe Biden's staff and then like three or four people from Jill Biden's staff and Hunter Biden was basically acting as the chief of staff.

[00:01:14] And that only tells half the story because the other half of the story. And by the way, as I went over yesterday, I do not believe for one second that nobody else except this little cabal or as Alex Thompson from Axios called them, the Politburo.

[00:01:32] I do not believe that they were the only ones who knew that defies reality and logic because the tales that are told in the book, original sin, which I have not read. But I have read enough of the excerpts and the the analysis from people who have. I've watched several interviews with the authors, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.

[00:01:58] And so I got a pretty good gauge on the stories, right, that the new pieces of information that have come out. So there's no way that you can do, for example, a fake town hall and bring in a bunch of Democrat loyalists, put them into an audience setting, pretend to host a town hall with Joe Biden.

[00:02:23] But Joe Biden is so unable to perform that they never use any of the audio. Or video. They bury it. I would love to see if any video of it exists like. So everybody in that audience knew something was wrong. You don't sit for an hour and a half town hall and witness that kind of performance.

[00:02:52] And then know everything is fine. Particularly after they kill the the the project. The people who shot the video where he was like, if Donald Trump wants to debate me, I'll do it. I'll do it, too. I'll do two debates, whatever they had. It was like a one minute video and it had like six jump cuts in it because he couldn't even go. He couldn't get through a one minute monologue. Talking to a camera.

[00:03:21] The people who were involved in editing that, they knew. And I do not believe that the Politburo, the, you know, legislative advisor, national security advisor, whatever, all these different advisors. They weren't in there doing the editing. They had people that did that on the campaign staff. So people knew we had. There was one campaign staffer who quit. They left because they said this is this is nuts. Right.

[00:03:47] So the Politburo were not the only people who knew you had this entire group of Democrats that also knew. That's one part of it. The other part of it, though, is the media. The media. The legacy media, particularly the same people that are now. All of a sudden aware that Joe Biden was in cognitive decline going back to 2019. In the first run.

[00:04:17] On that campaign in 2019. And at that time. There were media stories about his age. And again, this has never been about his age. It's been about his cognitive abilities at that time. Because if he were 40 years old and was displaying this kind of cognitive decline, I would be saying the same thing. So I want to start with the with the media.

[00:04:45] Because this or I guess I should say this is a start today with the media because I did Democrats and the focus on the the machinations that the Politburo was engaged in yesterday. Jeffrey Blair over at National Review. He writes a piece called do not expect the mainstream media to honestly audit itself.

[00:05:09] He says, I wrote about Joe Biden's condition a week before the 2024 presidential debate. And then after the flaming wreckage of the 2024 campaign had finally been extinguished. He had another piece. Where he says in spring of 2021. That is to say only a month or two after Biden took office. Our commander in chief was already having good days and bad days.

[00:05:39] This was in 2021. And this man ran for reelection three years later. Blair says this is the biggest scandal the presidency has ever seen because it runs to the core of what the presidency is supposed to be. At no point during his time in office has he been fit for the presidency.

[00:06:00] There is no getting around the revolting fact that we have been subjected to four years of a farcical semi presidency. One whose drift is now so easily explained by the simple fact that Biden was little better than a front for an unelected committee of top men who sent us careening from one international and domestic disaster to another. He wrote this. In 2024.

[00:06:32] He says I didn't even need to read this book by Tapper and Thompson original sin in order to agree with the book's premise its thesis because it's been mine. And mine. It's been Blair's. It's been mine. It's been conservative media's for a long time for years. So we accept the premise. Absolutely.

[00:06:53] But it's also incomplete because it fails to adequately address the media's role in facilitating this conspiracy for four years. He says for now, we know two things to be certain. Joe Biden was already mentally unfit for office, even as he was seeking the presidency in 2019.

[00:07:13] His condition worsened from there and his four years in office were a front for a small team of close aides who effectively ran the U.S. government using him as a figurehead. And number two, the mainstream media, with a few notable exceptions like, yes, Alex Thompson.

[00:07:31] They either colluded or acquiesced in all of this right up until the moment Biden collapsed at the debate, displaying not only a stunning incuriosity about Biden's increasingly vegetative comportment, but also gleefully attacking anybody who expressed doubt about his mental acuity.

[00:07:52] So the real questions, the questions that reporters like Tapper and Thompson or others, the questions they are actually best situated to answer. Are left unaddressed, which are why did the American media in the aggregate forsake its investigative duties? We're told these books about Biden, the administration's many efforts to deceive and to spin, to bully national political journalists.

[00:08:20] Sure. But we are told little about why those journalists acquiesced so easily and at times enthusiastically. Were they really that easily fooled when all the rest of us in America theoretically less well informed than they? We were not. Here's Blair's appealingly simple theory to explain this mystery. Again, from last year.

[00:08:48] That the media did not miss it at all. They didn't miss it. Everybody knew. And the sorts of people who would have normally pursued these whispers about Biden's remoteness simply decided not to because it was not in the best interests of the Democratic Party to do so, at least as perceived by the herd mind of the media. The left tinged blob of assignment editors, investigative reporters and liberal commentators across Washington. And do you know how I know this?

[00:09:18] He says. I just look at their coverage. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina, just a quick drive up the mountain? And Cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal, or get family and friends together for a big ol' reunion, Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that truly matter.

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[00:10:47] In 2019, when Joe Biden was in the primary and everybody just considered him to be some hopelessly boring retread with no chance of winning, the New York Times was more than happy to report about Biden's age. When he captured the nomination and then went into the quasi-hibernation basement campaign, which coincidentally timed perfectly to conceal his weakening state, that was it for any investigations into that topic. Right?

[00:11:16] So they did cover it in the primary. But when he got the nomination, then it was off. Off the table. And then in the fall of 2022, there was a brief window when it looked like Biden might decide to pass the torch instead of running again. And the window to discuss Biden's age was once again open. Washington Post then did a story. Once Biden chose to run for a second term, back into storage, do not cover this story. That's how you know that they didn't miss the story.

[00:11:45] I played clips from the Megyn Kelly show yesterday with Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson. I did not play four clips about Jake Tapper's own role in all of this. And Megyn Kelly lit into him for about 20 minutes, just nonstop. Here's how it started. You didn't cover mental acuity hardly at all.

[00:12:12] I mean, time and time again, when issues came up, you seemed to be running cover for the president. I don't think that's true. Well, I mean, we'll start with the Laura Trump issue that you referred. Here it is. This happened in 2020. Joe Biden, as we all know, his work to overcome a stutter. How do you think it makes little kids with stutters feel when they see you make a comment like that? First and foremost, I had no idea that Joe Biden ever suffered from a stutter.

[00:12:41] I think what we see on stage with Joe Biden, Jake, is very clearly a cognitive decline. That's what I'm referring to. It makes me uncomfortable. You are no. I think it's so amazing. You're trying to tell me that what I was suggesting was. I think you were mocking his stutter. Yeah, I think you were mocking his stutter. And I think you have absolutely no standing to diagnose somebody's cognitive decline. And it's very concerning to a lot of people that this could be the leader of the free world. That is all I'm saying.

[00:13:09] I genuinely feel sorry for Joe Biden. I appreciate it. I'm sure it was from a place of concern. We all we all believe that. Laura Trump, thank you so much. Do you want to apologize to Laura Trump now? I've already apologized to her. I called her months ago. And what did she say? I mean, I don't want to disclose the contents of a private conversation, but I thought the conversation went well. And she said she has said this publicly, so I feel fine sharing it.

[00:13:37] She said that she would never mock anybody's stutter. But I mean, you know, after we did the research for this book and I realized how bad his acuity issues were, I mean, I called Laura Trump and I said, you were right. She was totally right. That's the thing, because when I watched that clip and I'm giving voice to what a lot of people watching the show are feeling, Jake, I feel angry because she was right.

[00:14:07] And not only did you not allow her to make her comments, but you seemed to try to humiliate her. You had a hostility toward the position, but she was totally right. And then you lectured her on how she was in no position to diagnose cognitive decline, which you guys do at length, including on page four of your book. You describe at length his cognitive decline, which is all she tried to do with you. But you had such a visceral reaction to her.

[00:14:35] And my feeling is that's because you didn't want to hear it. No, I mean, I'm happy to talk about this. I didn't come here thinking that you weren't going to ask me about this. I'm happy to talk to you about it. The first time I saw the coverage of Laura Trump's comment, which were interpreted as her mocking Joe Biden's stutter, was in January 2020. I read it in conservative media. I read it in the Daily Mail.

[00:15:01] And that's where I saw that her comments were being interpreted that way. After those comments were publicized, it got a lot of coverage. And Sully Sullenberger wrote an op-ed in the New York Times criticizing her about this. So that's the context for that, that I was following up on a story that had been out there months before.

[00:15:29] This is also in the context of October 2020, a very intense time. People on the Biden side are saying crazy things about Trump. People on the Trump side are saying crazy things about Biden, including Don Jr. suggesting that Joe Biden is a pedophile. So that is the larger context. But as I said, her comments have aged well. My comments have aged poorly. I own that. But I think what is significant is, in addition to me owning that,

[00:16:00] the reporting that Alex and I have done, which is beyond just, and when I say just, I don't mean to diminish it, but the comments of Joe Biden making gaffes, saying things stupid, tripping, are all important and all deserved to be aired and all deserve scrutiny. But as you know, Megan, because even though you look 30 years younger than me, we're roughly the same age, Joe Biden has been saying stupid things for decades. Okay. That is true. Okay.

[00:16:29] I have to give Tapper that. He, so that's good. Oh, he didn't realize he was in cognitive decline because he's always been this stupid. Oh, that, that was it. No, no, I'm not buying that either. Back to Jeffrey Blair. He says, if the media chose not to explore Biden's mental decline because of partisan allegiance to the Democrats or dislike of Trump, then they have forfeited their credibility in a devastatingly permanent way. In that case,

[00:16:59] they would have willingly participated in what I consider to be the single worst scandal in presidential history, a mentally incapacitated president concealed from the public and controlled by his advisors. Now, if they have not done this, if they truly were taken by surprise, then we are in little better position. We are now cursed with the most useless media class in the world,

[00:17:25] a mass of despairingly hopeless incompetence who failed in the most important duty that they were ever asked to perform in their jobs. I'm not sure which verdict they would prefer. Yeah. Corruption or incompetence among the media class. And neither one of those is good. Neither one. They're both horrifying for different reasons.

[00:17:56] And by the way, he made these accusations, he made these points in December of 2024. Right? Long before Original Sin came out. All right. If you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events. And I know you do too. And you've probably heard me say, get your news from multiple sources. Why? Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with Ground News. It's an app and it's a website

[00:18:24] and it combines news from around the world in one place so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check.ground.news slash Pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. I started using Ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The Blind Spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself.

[00:18:53] Check.ground.news slash Pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get 15% off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast but it also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. Let me get David on real quick here. Hey David, welcome to the show. Hey, how are you? Hey, I'm good. What's up? Well, here's another comment I want to make about the Democratic Party and the media.

[00:19:23] I guess, you know, one and the same, but anyway. You know, you ask most people why did Joe Biden get forced out? They'll say, well, because of his cognitive decline. He was not pushed out because of his cognitive decline. He was pushed out because he couldn't win. They had no problem putting him back in office for four more years with his cognitive decline. He just got pulled because they didn't think he could win. Right, and they, right. You're exactly right and it became obvious in the debate that the American public

[00:19:52] had caught on to it. His polling numbers were terrible and yeah, and so that's it. You're exactly right. No, that's it. I appreciate the call, David. I want to get to this next soundbite here. This is, again, Jake Tapper on the Megyn Kelly show and she is grilling him over his coverage. Okay. I get what you're saying, but this minimizes it too because it was more than saying stupid things. But I'm just, I'm telling you like over here in my ecosphere,

[00:20:21] we were covering all of these. It wasn't just falling down. It was getting lost. It was some of the stuff you report in your book. We knew and we were reporting on like the multi-jump cuts in the videos of him where it was obvious he couldn't get through a one-minute take so they had to use those. It was clear to us that he was using teleprompter and there was some reporting on that at the time, all of which the White House was denying. Now, with the current White House, I have some connections. With the Joe Biden White House, I had none,

[00:20:51] but you did. You did. And so while you've been in Washington 30 years, Jake, you guys, you and CNN have White House connections, but there was no effort, none to get to the bottom of this. And now for you guys to write this book, like there was a cover-up. It's like you, there was a cover-up and there was an attempted cover-up. It could only ever work if you allowed it, if the press allowed it. Some of us tried not to and some of us were complicit. First of all,

[00:21:21] the Biden White House did not like me. Okay? This is, I do not have great connections with the Biden White House. Well, clearly you have a lot of sources. You say you talked to over 200 sources for this book. So you have some you could have called and worked. I know. That's the point, is that they were not being honest. That's the point. Well, how did the Wall Street Journal get it in June of 2024? And Jake Tapper and CNN couldn't find sources for this story then before he dropped out? Annie Linsky and Siobhan Hughes

[00:21:50] did an amazing job in their reporting and they should be heralded and I heralded them. I had them on my show right after the debate to talk about their great reporting. After the debate. But you did not put them on when they published that story. When it was safe. Which was before the debate. Right, when it was safe. Correct. I don't know what the booking situation was but it wasn't because I didn't want them. I'm sure I said that day let's book. I'm sure I said that day let's book. Did they? Yeah, you put on a Democrat

[00:22:18] and you allowed the Democrat to rip on the report as a Rupert Murdoch sponsored hit piece. No, no, no. It's just Megan. That's what happened. If we're going to do this let's just stick to the facts here. Okay. When there is a damaging report. That's what I've been doing all along. I'm talking about what you just said. Didn't miss the biggest story of the century when it comes to presidential politics and one of us did. Boom. Okay. So the

[00:22:49] there is a difference okay between the clips of Joe Biden falling on a stage at the Air Force Academy graduation. There is a difference between the clip of Joe Biden embarrassingly forgetting that a Republican member of Congress who he's talking about has died. Those are embarrassing. Those are important. But there is a difference between that and the investigative journalism that Alex and I were able to do

[00:23:18] and only able to do after the election. And I know you know this because you've been talking about the scoops in the book and you've been talking about I don't diminish the importance of the book. I don't. I have supported the importance of the book and we'll talk about the contents of the book at length. But there is no way we can have that conversation with an audience that is as skeptical of your ability to tell the story as mine is without addressing your role in this. Right? Like Alex is a different story but you know you've watched the coverage since it came out

[00:23:48] that you wrote this book. There are there's a legion of articles about how comparing you in some instances to like OJ instead of if I did it this is if I hid it. That like you are not the right messenger to bring the story about the cover up because you helped you allowed it and you likely did that out of a desire to help Joe Biden and hurt Donald Trump. You didn't want to do anything that might improve

[00:24:17] Trump's chances. I do not think that that is accurate. I do not think that that is true at all. The idea that Siobhan and Annie do their piece and we have on the co-chair of the Biden campaign is not me trying to cover for the Biden campaign that is me putting the questions of the reporting that were made to him and saying things like so you really haven't seen any moment or you would acknowledge that you wouldn't you acknowledge that he's lost a step he's 81 etc etc.

[00:24:46] Like I said before do if I had known then what I know now would I have been more aggressive? Yes of course. Okay well then all is forgiven I guess. How did I know and you didn't know? I'm just curious because when I saw that Wall Street Journal report in June of 24 I scoffed at it like okay it's an attempt but it's lame everybody on the right wing ecosystem and the independent media ecosystem knew it was a lame attempt that only

[00:25:15] scratched the surface. We had all been discussing his serious cognitive problems for years by that point. Jake in June of 2022 this show did a full two hour program on his cognitive decline. I heard it. It was I know we want to pretend I'm mentioning the Wall Street Journal as a courtesy but those of us on this side of the aisle had been reporting in depth on his multiple problems and the obvious lies we were being told for years for years. You really want the audience to believe

[00:25:44] you were fooled? What do you mean I was fooled? I'm not saying I was fooled I'm saying we all saw these moments before the camera and they were obviously concerning and he was obviously aging and that was significant but the people at the White House I'm trying to answer the question but so the people at the White House when I would call when others would call when Alex would call would lie he's fine he's fine you'd call Democrats and say what are you seeing

[00:26:14] behind the scenes here because this is concerning he's fine he's fine this is just a moment he's 79 he's 80 he has moments like that but he's fine his decision making's fine they're still saying that they're still saying that and let me defend Annie and Siobhan there for a second because you just said that their Wall Street Journal story just scratched the service they got what they could get in June 2024 and I went back and Alex and I went back to report some of the same things that they reported on

[00:26:44] for example there was a meeting in the White House about Ukraine funding in January 2024 and we were able to get people to say things as a Democratic member of Congress that look I don't know who Annie and Siobhan's sources are but they were not able to get them to do that I assume that you know they had dozens of sources for that article but not one of the Democrats that they talked to would even talk on background it is a complicated thing to try to get to

[00:27:13] but your commentary on your show yes I'm going to bring you in but your commentary on your show Jake consistently ran in one direction occasionally you would ask some tough questions I don't think that's true I mean here you are on September 2023 saying that Biden was sharp mentally September of 2023 you said hold on you said he's sharp mentally I think the question is physically right he's sharp mentally and then you pointed out that his opponent Donald Trump was only a couple of years younger than he was

[00:27:42] there are many examples where you're doing that kind of coverage okay so let's let's be honest and full about what you're talking about Frank there's no problem with honesty on this show mmm spicy for the past 20 years Jeffrey Blair says I watched those cords of trust fray with the media one tiny braid after another pulling itself apart while the center still held until with the Biden cover-up the coil snapped

[00:28:11] and unraveled with such finality that it seems as if most journalists haven't yet realized they are now untethered to the American populace I wrote an op-ed about this why I'm voting for Trump and this was why because I could see it and I was sick of the gaslighting and I knew only one way to lodge a protest against the profession of journalism and that was it

[00:28:40] is to put this guy in office in order to collapse your facade of the Biden presidency alright so spring is here a time of renewal and celebrations you got graduations weddings anniversaries and the special days for mom and dad your family's making memories that are going to last a lifetime but let me ask you are all of those treasured moments from days gone by are they hidden away on old VCR tapes 8mm films photos slides are they preserved

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[00:29:38] create a video preserving family memories since 1997 located in Mint Hill just off 485 mail orders are accepted too get all the details at createavideo.com one final clip again Megyn Kelly program the Megyn Kelly show Jake Tapper Alex Thompson and this is the final clip where she is just dragging Jake Sullivan who she says is her friend that they're friends and this is the way she's treating him about his coverage

[00:30:08] of Joe Biden yeah Frank Ford came on with a biography about Joe Biden Frank Ford came on to talk about his biography with Joe Biden and I'm trying to summarize what his conclusions were so he is saying that Biden was where is the part where you say he's not sharp mentally Frank we've seen the following 10 examples in the past year never mind three years I wasn't I've already said I wish I had covered this more aggressively

[00:30:38] Frank Ford had come to the show to talk about his book about President Biden this was in September 2023 and I interviewed him about his book and that was the end of that now I suppose in retrospect I say again I wish I had been more aggressive I do but our reporting suggests and like I said we've talked to more than 200 people Democratic insiders that the real deterioration

[00:31:07] of President Biden and yes there was a degression or regression whatever you want to call it deterioration since 2015 but it really started to intensify in the summer of 2023 when Bo Biden I'm sorry when Hunter Biden's plea deal fell apart and Joe Biden was terrified about what that effect would have on his son I accept that I accept that it got worse than 2023 and people close to him say that was a real demarcation and in October

[00:31:37] 2023 there is the last cabinet meeting for almost a year and cabinet secretaries tell us that that began that fall 2023 began what they call a weird period where they were kept at bay where they were kept away from President Biden and that now we're getting this which I do want to talk about I'm about to switch to that but let me let me just ask you because when we got to leading up to the debate which you anchored that June 27th debate 2024 there was a ton of news

[00:32:06] leading into that debate in that month and we looked back at your coverage and found that you ignored it not only did you ignore the Jackie Wolorski moment when you had him 13 days later but you ignored the freeze up that he had at the Juneteenth celebration you ignored what happened at the G7 when he wandered off and Georgia Maloney Prime Minister of Italy had to go find him you ignored the freeze up at the George Clooney LA fundraiser you didn't cover it you only covered it after

[00:32:36] the debate after George Clooney wrote his op-ed Jake nobody made you do that there was your network at every turn was telling us those were quote cheap fakes and you were not combating that narrative CNN was actively misleading us on what our very eyes were showing us that's the truth that's the record I will acknowledge that after I was named

[00:33:07] moderator co-moderator of the debate I tried to make sure that my coverage was fairly vanilla both about Trump and about Biden because I just wanted to get to the debate interesting would that be bias would that be some external pressure influencing your coverage and what you've chosen to focus on you were afraid of not being in the chair for the debate so you tailored your coverage

[00:33:36] right and this is supposed to be the cover story no this is covering that's what he's doing he's covering the media were not Joe Biden's victims they were his enablers and as Jeffrey Blair writes at National Review there are two original sins Biden's run for

[00:34:06] re-election I would submit the first run but also the media all right that'll do it for this episode thank you so much for listening I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast so if you'd like please support them too and tell them you heard it here