‘I know how much you love the American people,’ Trump told Biden in 2021 letter

WASHINGTON – In his first week in office, President Joe Biden told reporters that his immediate predecessor, Donald Trump, had left him a “very generous letter” in the Oval Office. Since then, Biden has refused to discuss the contents.But in his new book, “Promise Me, America,” Biden reprints the letter in full, according to an excerpt obtained by The New York Times. The Times also reviewed a photocopy of the original letter, which was dated Jan 20, 2021, and left in an envelope addressed “To ‘46’” – a reference to Biden’s status as the 46th president.The letter, written on White House stationery with Trump’s signature black Sharpie, is a remarkable document for how discordant it is with Trump’s public comments about Biden and the 2020 presidential election. Trump did not criticize Biden or challenge the results of the election.Instead, he wrote almost poetically about his experience working in the White House and how he believed that Biden “will be true to yourself and the American people.”“Many presidents have come and gone who simply governed as Republicans or Democrats,” Trump wrote. “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.”In his book, which will be released on Nov 17, Biden, 83, writes that it was “as if there were two Donald Trumps.” He says Trump “deeply destabilized our democracy” and had “not offered the traditional meeting between presidents.”“But here he was, offering his best wishes in warm language that sounded like it was coming from an old friend,” Biden writes.During the 2020 campaign, Trump attacked Biden relentlessly. He called him “the worst candidate” in American history, warned that his election would unleash violence across US cities, questioned his mental faculties and accused him of corruption.After Biden won the election, Trump challenged the results, culminating in the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol. Afterward, he refused to attend Biden’s inauguration.To this day, Trump still falsely claims the 2020 election was rigged and blames Biden for an array of problems, a note the White House struck again on Nov 10.“Joe Biden should have heeded the president’s wise words, but instead he tried to destroy this country and weaponize the justice system against his political enemies,” Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said in a statement. “Biden is a disgrace, and America is better off with him no longer as president.”In an excerpt from his book published on Nov 9 in The Atlantic, Biden recounts the “traditional meeting” he held with Trump after his 2024 election win. He described a similar version of Trump that “surprised me by adopting a tone so friendly that I thought he might be putting me on”.“You know, Joe, if it weren’t for politics, I believe we’d be good friends,” Trump told him, according to the book.For Biden, the book comes at a complicated moment. Many Democrats are eager to move past him, still frustrated by his decision to run for a second term and how it paved the way for Trump to return to the White House.After leaving office, Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that spread to his bones. He said on Nov 8 that his cancer treatment would limit the number of public appearances he would make to promote the book.“Some days are better than others. It hasn’t stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down,” Biden wrote on social media.“What that means is, unfortunately, I won’t be able to do as many conversations about my book as I’d hoped.”Hunter Biden, the former president’s son, said in an interview over the summer that his father’s condition was worsening and causing him pain.The former president has made few public appearances since leaving the White House. He has been spotted on Amtrak trains between Delaware and Washington, attended events at the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware and given select speeches, including one on Social Security in Chicago and one for the South Dakota Democratic Party.Here is the full text of Trump’s letter, as rendered in the photocopy viewed by the Times:Dear Joe,Coming to work every day in the Oval Office is a blessing beyond imagination. History resounds from every wall, every statue, every beautiful painting, and every corner of this magical place. Each staircase, hallway, and door leads to yet another door and memory, another inflection point in the glorious story of America.I hope you take a moment every single day to take stock of where you are and the people who came before you, the titans who shaped the course of human events. You now have the opportunity to choose your place in history, and I know you will be true to yourself and the American people.Many presidents have come and gone who simply governed as Republicans or Democrats. 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.Not only are you joined by the past, but you carry the hopes and dreams of the entire nation on your shoulders. The gravity of that fact never leaves you, it is the anchor that grounds every decision you make.Your strength, your deepest reservoir of energy, comes from the knowledge that millions upon millions of people are depending on you. Their ambitions and aspirations are the reason you are here, with so many counting on your success.May God bless you and Jill, and may God bless America!Sincerely,DonaldNYTIMES.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.