Original Sin: The Five Communication Sins That Created the Biden Cover-Up

The PR Breakdown with Molly McPherson

Jake Tapper’s new book Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again is making headlines—but not just for what’s in it. The backlash, the omissions, the PR fallout—it’s all part of a larger failure in messaging that started long before the first leak.

In this episode, I’m breaking down the five communication sins at the core of the Biden coverup. It’s not about politics. It’s about power, spin, and what happens when leaders forget that concealment is not strategy.

You’ll hear:

• The five sins: from silencing to filtering the message
• The Tapper media tour misfire
• Why crisis spin can’t beat truth—even with a teleprompter
• How these same mistakes show up in boardrooms, campaigns, and C-suites

This isn’t about politics or who you voted for. It’s about what not to do when people are watching—and when they’re not.

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Chapters

1. Jake Tapper's Book Backlash (00:00:00)

2. The Five Original Communication Sins (00:05:15)

3. Sin 1: Obfuscation Over Honesty (00:09:52)

4. Sin 2: Silencing Dissent (00:13:00)

5. Sin 3 & 4: Loyalty and Filtered Feedback (00:16:47)

6. Sin 5: Short-Term Wins, Long-Term Damage (00:20:00)