A new book is pulling back the curtain on what was happening behind closed doors as Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign started to fall apart — and it’s clear things were far more chaotic than anyone let on publicly. Face the Nation reported that in Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History, author Chris Whipple details just how deep the concerns ran, even among Biden’s closest allies.
One of the biggest revelations? Nancy Pelosi — a longtime supporter of Biden — had serious private doubts about his cognitive fitness long before anyone else dared to say it out loud. According to the book, when Pelosi visited the White House in May 2024 to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, she was taken aback by what she saw.
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Whipple writes that Pelosi was “startled by how much the president had aged” and described the event as “awkward, even painful.” She reportedly couldn’t shake the feeling that Biden was no longer the same man — that he was, as Whipple put it, “a shadow of himself.” The visit left her worried not just about Biden personally but about what his condition could mean for Democrats in the upcoming election.
Despite her private fears, Pelosi kept up a public front of unity — until public pressure started mounting. In June, the Wall Street Journal published a piece titled Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping, which quoted both Democrats and Republicans who had seen Biden struggle behind the scenes. While the article echoed what Pelosi had witnessed, she didn’t back it. Instead, she hit back on X, saying, “Many of us spent time with @WSJ to share on the record our first-hand experiences with @POTUS, where we see his wisdom, experience, strength and strategic thinking.”
Her office didn’t respond when asked about the clear gap between her private concerns and her public support. And she wasn’t alone in defending the president. Media outlets like MSNBC’s Morning Joe called the WSJ piece a “Trump hit piece,” and Media Matters dismissed it as “comically weak.” CNN’s Oliver Darcy even claimed, “The Wall Street Journal owes its readers — and the public — better.”
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But then came the June 27 debate.
Biden’s performance was rough. He appeared confused and struggled to complete thoughts — and suddenly, everything the Journal had reported seemed validated. The calls for him to drop out came fast, from all corners of the political world. Weeks later, on July 21, he officially stepped out of the race.
Whipple’s book also reveals that Biden felt “betrayed” by Pelosi, believing she had helped push him out. He paints a picture of a president surrounded by advisers who weren’t being honest with him. Pelosi, according to Whipple, believed Biden’s team was feeding him sugar-coated polling data. She never trusted them — thought they were just an “old boys’ club” that talked only to each other and refused to face reality.
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