The Josh Innes Show - New Joe Biden Book Is Everything That I Hate

Episode Date: May 21, 2025

Jake Tapper of CNN has written a book about the years long decline of Joe Biden. Why now? If you knew the guy was declining and you had access, why did you wait until now? This is a great example of why I don't trust media. I don't really trust anything for that matter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the themes of this podcast a lot of the time aside from general tomfoolery and grab assery Is we talk about a lack of trust for most things like I don't trust a lot of stuff I don't believe in a lot of stuff. I don't trust a lot of people I certainly do not trust media people at all because I believe media people are biased and I believe that media people are Are easily swayed by the public, especially in the era of social media. They're worried about what they're going to be thought of by social media and they write and they report based on the reaction for social media or from social media. So I just don't trust anybody and people say, well, you're crazy and then

you're some people have told me that they think actually no it was it was Bootsy who told me that Paul Galaan who told me that you know you're bordering on on tin foil hat uncle on Facebook and I'm like well fuck you like I don't believe things I just I don't on the surface because there is more incentive ever to be full of shit like this isn't difficult like look at all the people to be full of shit. Like this isn't difficult. Like look at all the people who are full of shit and just pander like are we to assume that everybody's just really dumb or that they are pandering and playing a game to appeal to the lowest common

denominator of people and I tend to believe that yes, while people are stupid. I believe that a lot of people are just saying what they need to say to build up their currency with social media or YouTube or whatever which will help them become financially stable, will help them make money, will keep them relevant. I wish I didn't feel that way. I wish I had something that I trusted. I wish there was a news outlet that I trusted. I wish that. I don't. And you can say that I'm tinfoil hat uncle on Facebook guy and you can say all these things about me if you want. That's all well and

good. But you know, like the legit question, have we ever gotten an update on what happened with the alleged death threat for Lance McCullers Jr. and his family? Has there been a follow up on that? Has anybody said, Hey, what did the investigation? If so, like the then cool. I'm not saying, but has there been? You ever notice that we get a lot of these stories that are these big kind of hot button stories, then we never really get a resolution on them? Like, we're not going to get a resolution on this Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Indianapolis fever thing.

There's gonna be nothing that comes of that. These things just disappear. They're hot and people talk about them for five minutes and then it's on to the next one. I just have a great distrust for everything and it's a weird way to live. It's a crappy way to live to tell you the truth. I wish I could open up, you know,

wake up one morning and say, I believe what I heard here. I believe nothing, man. I don't trust people. I don't believe things. That's just how I operate. And I get judged a lot for that. First off, let me play a couple commercials and we'll continue because like this this new Biden book is just another great example of that. Like, why would you trust anybody? But we'll do that after these words. What's better than a well marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered.

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has written a book about the decline of Joe Biden and how it was recognizable that he started declining in 2019, 2020, blah, blah, blah. And then it really came to a head in 2024. And there's a line from an interview with Jake Tapper that I just read that really pops to me. Says, looking back now, Tapper says he regrets not covering Biden's decline more aggressively, quote, I can point to times where I asked him this or I asked him that, but knowing what I know now, I barely scratched the surface, he says, I need to run more towards the discomfort of questions about

health because they're so important and they're so under covered in Washington. So you had these opportunities and you saw these things and you knew this person was probably not fit to run the country and the more stuff you read in this book, it sounds like he wasn't. Had to have multiple aides. It was Joe Biden and multiple aides run the country. And the more stuff you read in this book, it sounds like he wasn't. Had to have multiple aides. It was Joe Biden and multiple aides running the country. He would have to run meetings with note cards and there were times he

would forget dating back to 2019. He would forget names of people that he's known for a long time. And none of this was something you guys felt that you should have covered when it was happening. Now though, that he's out of the office and now that Trump is back in, you guys feel a little bit more comfortable writing an entire book about how this guy was a fucking tomato and had no business being in the White House. Right? But now you're making money off of it and you're writing a book about it and everything is fine. Like, hey, look out guys, we have written a book about the decline of Joe Biden. Let me tell you, we were all seeing it, okay? We were all seeing it for years

and years. But now that he's been out of the White House for a year, now we're going to just write a book about how this guy was a vegetable in the White House and really had no business running anything. But yet, we in the media kept pimping him out to you and saying that this guy should be the president. We had all of our celebrity friends giving him all this money for donations and everything. And he was raising all this money. Yet according to this, so many people could see that the guy was just withering away. And then you ask me, Josh, why don't you trust people? Why don't you trust the news? Why don't you trust the media? Why don't you trust people? Why don't you trust the news?

Why don't you trust the media? Why don't you trust people? Like don't you want to trust something? Don't you want to believe in something? Yes, I would. But people are full of shit. And that's the unfortunate part. Everybody and I know we talk about this at least once a

week, but it like when people say you've got to stand for something or your fall for anything. This is something I stand for. And I don't stand for a lot of shit. I'm kind of wishy-washy on a lot of things and I wish I stood for more shit. I wish you could tune into me and you would go, this is what this guy believes. But part of that is being someone who's down the middle on a lot of stuff. Part of that is recognizing nuance. When you're able to look at nuance, I think that impacts your ability to stand for something. Like I could never be right wing, left wing. A lot of people can and that's what they build their whole life around and to a degree I'm

envious of that. I think about that all the time. Like how it must feel kind of awesome to truly believe in something. So like when you read a story on social media that says, you know, Biden, the cover-up for Biden, blah blah blah. You're a right-wing guy and you're just hammering that like you're like, I've been justified or something. You're like, I'm envious of those types of people to a degree because I do believe that nuance impacts your ability to stand for a lot of shit because you can find the gray area in a lot of shit and in a lot of stories. Thus you look at things differently. Whereas like if you're a right wing talk show host, you have your core set of beliefs and

generally speaking, you're not going to deviate from those. I can deviate from certain beliefs based on situations because I don't believe that everything that happens is cut and dry black and white clear as crystal. I don't believe that everything that happens is cut and dry black and white, clear as crystal. I don't believe that. So it's difficult. I wish I did. But then you see stories like this. And one of the things that I am steadfast a believer in, one of the things if you listen to this podcast at all, you know that I'm a big believer in I believe that social media has been one of the great detriments to our society especially lately. I think there were times that you could argue it served a good purpose when there were

bad things happening to people and then there was video of the bad things happening to people and and it revealed the bad things and it helped like there are moments that there is a benefit of it. But I think as we continue to go on and we continue to become a more divided people, social media is doing nothing to help that. And what we're seeing is you're getting the people who are smart know how to exploit it and get wealthy off of it. They're doing exactly what you need to do to exploit and take advantage of all of

this and take advantage of the dumb people. Now, one of the other core beliefs I have is that if you're dumb and you allow yourself to be taken advantage of, you kind of deserve it. But where we're at right now is people are like, to the point back to that podcast a couple podcasts ago with when Lance Zerlin was saying that this is all done by social media, the Caitlin Clark thing. A lot of it is. But the smart people are the ones that go out and continue to exploit the dumb people. It goes down to what you put in a tease for a podcast. You want to get people to click. Everything is about getting

people to click. Everything is about getting people to get on your side. Everything is about getting people to read your shit. Everything is to have your tribe be successful. And then you look at this thing with this book and it's truly mind blowing that we're in a world where this person was watching this happen to the most important person. Now how much power he would have in that situation I don't know, but he could sure as fuck write about it. I think there's now I will defend Jake Tapper to one degree because you're CNN, CNN very pro-Trump or very pro, well, they are pro-Trump. They won him

there because he in theory used to help their ratings, but they're very pro-Biden, they're very pro-left wing. And you know the people who are consuming your product are also left wing. There is a risk if you go out and you say, well, you know what, I'm seeing a massive decline in Joe Biden, because we saw it during the election cycle last time.

You know that if you go out and you say Biden's declining, and this is not good, a bunch of feeble-minded, soft-brained people will then yell back at you and say, why are you trying to hurt his chance to win? What do you like, Trump? It's kind of a losing proposition there, right? But that's also part of being a good reporter, knowing that you're going to face blowback. If you believe you are right, you go with it. If you believe it is true. Like Woodward and Bernstein are held in such high regard because they took down Richard Nixon while Richard Nixon was still president. Watergate happened while Richard Nixon was in the office.

They got him booted from the office or he resigned the presidency in noon tomorrow. him booted from the office or he resign the presidency noon tomorrow. That happened because of that investigation. Like what exactly are we getting out of this now? Oh we get to find out that the guy that we all thought was a tomato was in fact a tomato, yet you guys covered for him for four years. And maybe had you not covered for him for four years and somebody else stood in there, maybe that person would have had a chance of winning in the next election, whatever. Like it could have altered a lot of stuff but instead you rode this horse because you refused to write about it. Is it because you didn't want to lose access? Maybe that's part of it. I mean I assume it is a possibility that someone could lose access if they do that, if they write about that. I don't know,

I've never been in the White House press corps. I have been in the media before. I have covered sports teams before and I have seen how people lose access to things if they write things or say things that teams don't like but that's on a much smaller scale than the President of the United States. So I just I find the idea that you're putting out a book now to be kind of gross. Like yeah I mean it's not even because the guy has cancer the idea that you're putting out a book now to be kind of gross like yeah I mean it's not because the guy has cancer and like now you're just piling on It's because I'm not even looking at it from the standpoint of gross to Joe Biden because I don't like Joe Biden and his family Seems gross to me like they all like all politicians seem gross to me So this isn't like oh, I feel bad for Joe Biden

I know way feel bad for Joe Biden as it relates to this book being released. It's actually got cancer. I don't feel bad for you that some book is coming out about how you're scummy and how about how the whole thing was a cover up, right? What I don't like is that you had the opportunity to say things when the ship was actually happening. You had a chance to have your voice heard and be the guy that steps up and says something's not right with this guy but you didn't do it and you probably didn't do it because you probably faced a backlash from CNN. They probably said we don't want to lose our people and if you go out there and CNN is telling you that Joe Biden's not capable and he's forgetting people's fucking names then they'll turn on you and they'll turn on us. Now that is an indictment

of the populace. The populace, the people are dumber than they've ever been and that is again back to social media. I believe social media and podcasts in a lot of instances have made us dumber as people because we're very tribal. So there's a lot of people who are, they have arrested development, they have arrested development, they don't know how to handle conflict. And like they say, wait a second, this guy's talking bad about Biden, he's against us. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I do believe there was a time in the world that people actually wanted to know the truth, whether it was good or bad about their person. And maybe I'm just being naive. That could very well be. Because we didn't get to see that all the time because there weren't 5,000 news channels and 20 million podcasts and social media. So maybe these things existed this whole time and we just didn't know it and I just didn't know it.

But people don't want to know the truth anymore. So like to defend Jake Tapper a touch and again this is where I get myself in trouble because there is a such thing as nuance and everything. I believe that overall this was a scummy thing to do because you had information about the President of the United States that you now say, oh, it's pretty obvious, but you did nothing about it until you could sell a book because he wasn't in the office anymore. That's scummy, that's gross, you fucking suck. But from the standpoint of being a guy who's got a job to do and knowing what the blowback would be and knowing what the issue would be and knowing you'd probably deal with shit from CNN and

everything else, was it worth doing that at the time? I'll defend him to a degree there but it's still scummy and gross and you had all this information five fucking years ago and now you're like hey come check on our book. That means you let this guy like you didn't write about this shit while this guy was declining in front of your eyes. You had access that the average person doesn't have and you let these people go out and make, and like, if I'm like a George Clooney, I'm like, fuck all you sons of bitches. Because really, George Clooney ends up looking like a stooge because he's out there like campaigning for this guy, getting all this money raised

for buying when he's a vegetable. The other hard part is most of the world could see the guy. That was the other issue you probably deal with if you're this Jake Tapper is that the whole world, like the right wing view of Biden was that he was a vegetable and that he had dementia and he couldn't function whatever. So if you at all said that that might be kind of right, you're viewed as with them. You're viewed as a right winger. So that's part of the problem. That's why when you say Josh, why don't you trust things? I don't trust things because people are too tribal and too cultist. I just I don't trust things. I trust me and I don't even trust myself that often. So that's

kind of where we are. But scummy shit, writing a book about this after the fact, especially when we're in such a weird time in society to write shit. And it's particularly scummy because it's about a guy that has the fucking button. You know what I'm saying? He's got the red button. He could blow shit up if he wanted to. And you're like, we didn't say anything about it. We were just kind of like, we'll let it go. He's fine. We'll just try to make do and then you write a fucking book about it that's why I find you to be heinous and that's why I find you to

be gross anywho more to come