POTUS In Crisis: George Stephanopoulos Takes ElectionLine Podcast Inside The Real Situation Room; Biden’s New Age Issue, D-Day Heroes Remembered

By Dominic Patten, Ted Johnson

June 7, 2024 7:05am

Editor’s note: Running until the final general election results come in, the Deadline ElectionLine podcast spotlights the 2024 campaign and the blurred lines between politics and entertainment in modern America. Hosted by Deadline’s political editor Ted Johnson and executive editor Dominic Patten, the podcast features commentary and interviews with top lawmakers and entertainment figures. At the same time, you can follow all the news in the Biden & Trump rematch and more on the ElectionLine hub on Deadline.

“We had a dry run in 2016, we saw more of it in 2020, it’s going to be worse than ever here in 2024,” George Stephanopoulos told the Deadline ElectionLine podcast this week on the disinformation campaigns and tactics that are going to be unleashed on America as we get closer to this year’s general election in November – as you can hear above.

One of the most recognizable journalists in America, Stephanopoulos has been at the highest level in the White House and has covered national politics from the highest level at ABC News.

Now the GMA co-anchor & This Week host has a new book out called The Situation Room, looking at the vital work & historical moments in the Executive Mansion’s basement. Stephanopoulos takes the ElectionLine podcast into the real story behind some very well-known crises & not so well-known insiders.

“I think there’s an awful good chance that they’re going to have to be called on to identify and not authenticate, but prove that some of the stuff that we’re that we’re being flooded with is not true,” the former top aide to Bill Clinton adds of the job the staff in the White House Situation Room are going to have to do to counter deepfakes, AI generated audio and video, and much more.

Having literally been in the Situation Room (and no, we don’t mean Wolf Blitzer’s CNN show), Stephanopoulos takes readers of The Situation Room on sometime bumpy intelligence road from the Kennedy years all the way up to Joe Biden’s administration right now. As you would expect – there are some incredible stories of the scope and reach of American power, and its limitations due to people and technology.

And, there’s some Michael J Fox in the mix too. No lie.

And, there’s even more

The Wall Street Journal blasted out a story this week with the provocative headline, “Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs Of Slipping.” The story seemed like a bombshell, but within minutes the White House was going on the attack, with the communications director calling it an “utter editorial fail.” The only on-the-record negative voice about the president’s mental acuity was former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and he has offered varying versions of his experiences with Biden. Age is an issue for the election, and Biden’s best chance to counter that he’s too old for the job will not be via media criticism or even sitdowns, but the upcoming debate.

Plus: President Biden joined world leaders and others in France this week and spoke at the Normandy ceremony honoring the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Also among those present were Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, a reminder of the role that Hollywood has played in ensuring that the history of that day remains alive. As the ranks of WWII veterans declines year and year, we discuss the significance of films and series like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers in reminding us all of these true heroes who really did save the world.

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