What was the purpose of Jake Tapper’s book on Joe Biden’s mental decline? We all know it was to correct the record, but why?
Was he just worried about his own reputation for posterity? Was it to make money? Probably not; books don’t make a lot of money for their authors. They serve other purposes.
Was the book a setup for what we’re seeing now, where Tapper is trying to plant the seeds of the narrative that President Donald Trump is in cognitive decline?
Intrepid presidential health reporter Jake Tapper has doctor on to claim that Trump’s speech performance is evidence that he’s unwell.
“Very, very disturbing.”
Jake said recently that the reason he’s obsessively covering Trump’s health because the media failed to do so with… pic.twitter.com/3ZbQG84qCQ
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) December 19, 2025
A case can be made that it’s starting to look like that’s what Tapper is up to. In typical passive-aggressive style, Tapper asks the doctor in the clip a few simple questions. His defense for the whole report most likely is, “Hey, I’m just asking the questions.”
One thing is certain: Tapper and this good doctor didn’t innocently watch Trump give a speech this week and come away thinking, “You know, we need to start speculating on Trump’s mental health.”
If CNN is good for anything, it’s to help Trump’s opponents inside and outside of government wage a propaganda war against him, and to come up with new fake news narratives that do just that.
So, Tapper turned to Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a medical school professor, cardiologist, and regular CNN contributor. Tapper tells us that Reiner was Dick Cheney’s cardiologist, so there’s that. This is how narratives start. Doctors “innocently” concern troll on X.
No one should be happy to see the president like this. He looks unwell.
— Jonathan Reiner (@JReinerMD) December 18, 2025
Tapper then had Reiner on his show to elaborate. Because they care.
Reiner then told Tapper that it wasn’t what the president said in his address this week, but it was the cadence of his speech. He called Trump’s delivery “manic,” “disturbing,” and “almost frantic.”
That’s it. Trump may have talked a little faster. That’s all he’s got.
I watched Trump’s remarks and didn’t get that at all, but there you have it. From a doctor who never weighed in on Joe Biden’s bizarre whispering into microphones or his clear mental lapses on stage. But the fact that Trump spoke with more energy one day is cause for concern?
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This is the same medical doctor who, in January 2024, while Joe Biden was president, decided to key in on candidate Trump’s mental health.
While there’s been an important conversation recently about the health of Joe Biden, it bears repeating that we know absolutely nothing about the health of Donald Trump. All that we know is that he’s loud and reportedly can correctly identify a camel. That’s it. https://t.co/a9REG2UuSr
— Jonathan Reiner (@JReinerMD) July 13, 2024
In fact, in April of 2024, Reiner deflected questions about Biden’s health by trying once again to turn the question on Trump.
The @nytimes doesn’t see much difference between the recent detailed 6-page report of Biden’s health, and Trump’s 3 paragraphs of data-empty platitudes. We actually know a lot about the health of Biden, and almost nothing about Trump. https://t.co/Ih6xrscWFQ
— Jonathan Reiner (@JReinerMD) April 6, 2024
In other words, for whatever reasons, Reiner has been trying to pin “mental health concerns” on Trump, to no avail. And now, thanks to Jake Tapper seeing the light, Reiner has found a sympathetic ear and a new microphone. But only when the president is Trump, you see.
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