MSNBC’s Symone Sanders Goes Off On Furor Over Tapper Book — Defends Biden To The Hilt When Grilled By NBC Host

MSNBC host and former Biden White House senior adviser Symone Sanders went off on the furor over Jake Tapper’s book, and defended former President Joe Biden to the hilt over accusations he was cognitively unfit to serve.

Tapper and co-author Alex Thompson have been dropping excerpt after excerpt to promote their upcoming book Original Sin, a tome that has resurrected the issues that surfaced after a disastrous debate performance led to Biden’s bombshell exit from the presidential race.

The book has generated a lot of heat and very little in the way of defense for the former president, other than from the Bidens themselves.

But on Friday’s edition of NBC’s Meet The Press NOW, Sanders defended Biden’s acuity to host Gabe Gutierrez, and slammed the focus on Biden while President Donald Trump exists:

SYMONE SANDERS TOWNSEND: Um, what is the “this?”.

Did the book say that Joe Biden has dementia? No, not to my knowledge.

Did the book say that a doctor has diagnosed the former president with Parkinson’s?

I think the book just says Joe Biden was old.

GABE GUTIERREZ: It did, but it also said that his aides limited how much time he would work during the day and that it brought up some concerns, potentially for national security, that he wouldn’t have been available at 2 a.m.

SYMONE SANDERS TOWNSEND: I think… I think it’s crazy! Because Donald Trump is the president and he left his Middle Eastern trip and he’s tweeting or posting on his social media site about Taylor Swift! It is laughable, frankly, to me, the idea that this is a concern!

It’s not a concern for Democratic voters. I can tell you because I’ve talked to them. I’ve been talking to DNC members and Democratic voters for the last couple of days, actually.

I do think, though, if this book tells us anything, it is this. Was the president in cognitive decline? I vehemently don’t believe that, as someone who saw the president a week before inauguration and someone that spoke to him recently.

But was Joe Biden in denial about the political realities of the situation? I think so. And we have to ask ourselves if that’s the case, why?

Well, have to look at the people that were advising the president, what were they telling him? What weren’t they telling them?

But if we explore that, I think then some people who have yet to show up and take responsibility, then there are questions for them. It’s easier though to just say, oh, well, you know, the president was old.

GABE GUTIERREZ: Well, I’ll ask you what I asked the congressman earlier in the broadcast. What should be the main message for Democrats heading into 2026-2028? Is it economy? Is it Trump’s cuts? What would you advise any potential candidate?

SYMONE SANDERS TOWNSEND: I think it is, I would advise candidates to, particularly because midterm election is about your district, right? This is not a national election, as though I think some Democrats would like to make I think that you need to know the issues of your district.

And if you talk to voters in the key districts across the country, it is affordability, that is housing, that is the economy.

And you can tie in the chaos that the president has created with his tariffs to that issue. And not just talk about what Donald Trump is doing, but talk about you will do if elected.

Watch above via NBC’s Meet The Press NOW.