PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, May 20: Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's new book "Original Sin" shows that Joe Biden's cognitive decline was far more severe than portrayed. It comes as the Democrats are accused of covering for him during his presidency. Also, reactions after Britain and the EU sign agreements that effectively turn the page on Brexit. And, a sculpted bust of Jim Morrison, stolen from his Père Lachaise gravesite thirty-seven years ago turns up in a French police investigation!
The reactions are coming in thick and fast from the press this Tuesday after the publication of journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's book, "Original Sin". The book explores Joe Biden's mental and physical decline during his time as US president. It comes just days after the Bidens’ revealed that he has metastatic prostate cancer.
As Rolling Stone notes, the book claims that Biden’s cognitive decline was more severe behind the scenes than what was publicly visible. Furthermore, his inner circle actively engaged to cover up his diminishing memory. It’s prompting much soul searching within the Democrat Party, Rolling Stone says. The authors have also faced backlash for not focusing on Biden’s presidency while conservatives accuse the Democrats of a major cover up.
For the conservative Wall Street Journal, the book reveals a "conspiracy in plain view". Democrat elites and the media couldn’t or wouldn’t see what everyone else saw: "a doddering, senescent president who was frequently incoherent and rambling". The paper adds that "an existential meltdown over Trump made Democrats cling to Biden as a talisman. This talisman that in the end was an almighty curse." The Washington Post has published readers' letters to the editors which paint a similar picture of outrage. One reader says it’s time for Democrats to move on, find new candidates and relegate baby boomers to history. Another says Joe and Jill Biden and the Democrats owe the public an apology. The Economist offers a more tempered viewpoint, saying that Biden did not decline alone but that his party and the press lost altitude along with him.
There are mixed reactions from the British papers this Tuesday after the EU and Britain shook hands on a deal concerning defence, fisheries and energy. The Independent is triumphant: Britain and the EU have turned a page with this Brexit reset deal, the paper declares on its front page. The Financial Times calls it a showpiece summit, hailing this first step towards the reconstruction of trade links between the two parties. It comes nine years after that fateful Brexit referendum vote. The Guardian says in this analysis piece that there are clear benefits but political risks for Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He recognised for the first time yesterday something his predecessors denied for years: that Brexit has damaged Britain. This exposes him to the risk of being accused of betrayal by his rivals and possibly voters.
Not everyone feels this is a victory, however. The pro-Brexit papers are furious. "Kiss goodbye to Brexit, the Daily Telegraph says sarcastically on its front page today, with a picture of Starmer and EU Commission President embracing each other. The Daily Express says that Starmer’s ABJECT SURRENDER is a betrayal to Brexit. The paper is particularly angry over the fisheries deal. It says that in 2016, Britons votes to take back control of its fishing industry ... yesterday’s deal will undo all of that. The Sun chooses to go with a fishing pun: Britain is done up like a kipper, it says on its front page.
Here in France, the government is facing scrutiny over its plan to build a mega prison in French Guiana. This story garnered a lot of attention in France on the weekend and now in the international press. It was first reported on the weekend when French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin announced plans to build a max security wing during a visit to the overseas department and region. Weekend paper Journal du Dimanche reported that the prison wing would be reserved for Islamic terrorists and drug traffickers. The prison would be near the notorious Devil’s Island, to where prisoners were sent by Napoleon Third in the 1800s. The announcement sparked outcry by Guyanese MPs, who called the decision insulting and disrespectful, The Guardian reports.
The Doors frontman Jim Morrison knew a thing a thing or two about prison, having been sent to prison in 1967 for disrupting public order. He died four years later in Paris where he was buried at the Père Lachaise cemetery. For Morrison’s 10th death anniversary, Croatian artist Mladen Mikulin sculpted a bust in his honour at his gravesite. For seven years, it became a symbolic tribute – fans graffitied the bust, chipped off parts of it to keep as a souvenir. Then it was stolen in 1988. Now 37 years later, French police came across the marble bust while carrying out a totally unrelated fraud investigation. No word yet on who did it, where it’s been hiding for nearly forty years and whether it’ll be returned to Jim’s gravesite, Rolling Stone reports.
Finally, The Times reports that you can now register for wedding gifts at Tescos, Britain’s biggest supermarket chain. Among the choices are the really useful but totally unromantic bundle of luxury toilet paper, kitchen rolls, bin bags, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. According to Tesco, newlyweds would rather practical products than fancy ones these days. You can blame the high cost of living for that!
You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.
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