May 14, 2025: The book Joe Biden doesn’t want you to read

The Playbook Podcast

POLITICO

News, Daily News, Government, Politics

3.9 • 699 Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s Washington’s buzziest new book, and Joe Biden would probably prefer not to talk about it. And there’s a reason for that: It has ignited a ferocious discourse about the former president’s mental acuity and alleged decline and prompted uncomfortable questions for his former staffers and aides about who knew what and when. Playbook managing editor and author Jack Blanchard and chief Playbook correspondent Dasha Burns talk about the D.C. zeitgeist and how it all unfolded. Plus, Trump remains in the Middle East, where his Qatari jet fiasco is only picking up speed.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Presented by BP.
0:08.8	Hello, I'm Jack Blanchard.
0:10.7	And I'm Dasha Burns.
0:11.8	It is Wednesday, May 14th.
0:14.0	And this is the Playbook podcast.
0:16.6	How you doing, Dasha?
0:17.6	Good morning.
0:18.6	Good morning.
0:19.4	I'm hanging in.
0:20.4	All right.
0:20.7	Here are some headlines driving the day.
0:24.1	Donald Trump is still in the Middle East. He has spent the morning while you were all in bed in Saudi Arabia. And just about the time we're putting this podcast out, he is headed to Qatar for the next leg of his journey, where he will be talking about peace in the Middle East,
0:37.7	big investment deals, and indeed free jumbo jets for his own presidential library.
0:42.6	We'll get into all that in a minute.
0:44.3	Other big story that everyone's been talking about, Dasher, this week is Joe Biden,
0:49.1	the book that's coming out about Joe Biden next week.
0:51.9	A lot of tea being spilled.
0:53.7	A lot of tea being spilled. A lot of teet being spilled.
0:55.2	You can say that again. The excerpts started being published on Monday night. We're expecting
1:00.5	more to be published this morning. And it's definitely got people talking in Washington,
1:04.9	which is kind of the point of these books, right? Are you surprised by what you've been reading
1:08.0	about Joe Biden and his decline? Yes and no, and I will
	...

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