Written in trademark black Sharpie on White House stationery and addressed simply to “46,” a newly disclosed 2021 farewell letter reveals Donald Trump privately wishing Joe Biden well as the incoming administration took shape, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.
Dated January 20, 2021, the two-page note stood in sharp contrast to Trump’s public denials of the 2020 election results and his absence from Biden’s swearing-in ceremony. “Many presidents have come and gone who simply governed as Republicans or Democrats,” Trump wrote in the letter, which is published in full within Biden’s forthcoming memoir, Promise Me, America, slated for release on November 17, as reported by the Winnipeg Free Press.
“Largely, they did not change history, they were just swept along in its relentless tide. This will not happen to you because I know how much you love the American people,” Trump continued in the excerpt.
Biden had previously alluded to receiving a “very generous letter” from his predecessor upon taking office, but he declined to disclose its specific contents until now. In the memoir, Biden writes that reading the note felt “as if there were two Donald Trumps,” noting that the private correspondence struck a warm, friendly tone that contrasted heavily with the bitter aftermath of the 2020 election, CTV News reported.
The letter’s emergence arrives alongside other revelations from Biden’s upcoming book, including an account of a private Oval Office meeting between the two men after the 2024 election. HuffPost reported that Biden described Trump as unusually chatty and complimentary during that session, recalling that Trump remarked, “You know, Joe, if it weren’t for politics, I believe we’d be good friends.”
I want to share a brief update. My presidential memoir, PROMISE ME, AMERICA, is coming out on November 17th. I hope you'll read it. It covers my years as President. The challenges we faced, the decisions I made, and why I made them. It's about who we are as a nation. What we…
During that November 13, 2024, Oval Office encounter, Biden recalled that Trump was so friendly he initially thought he might be putting him on, describing the interaction as bordering on fawning and leaving him too stunned to respond.
Biden also noted that Trump remarked they would spend all their time golfing together if not for politics, while also praising Biden’s job-creation efforts as extraordinary and stating he was relieved he did not have to run against him.
In the 2021 farewell note, Trump also emphasized the weight of the presidency, writing that the nation’s hopes and dreams rested on Biden’s shoulders and that his deepest reservoir of energy would come from knowing millions of people depended on him.
Trump later remarked during a September 2023 interview on NBC’s Meet the Press that he took a lot of time thinking about the message and considered it a nice note, adding that he believed it was up to Biden to share it.
Despite the moments of private cordiality, Biden uses the memoir to harshly criticize Trump’s broader political legacy, particularly focusing on the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters attempting to disrupt the certification of the election. “What Trump did on January 6, 2021, should never be forgotten,” Biden wrote, adding that the event “should follow him to his grave,” according to The Times of India.
