Former President Joe Bidens forthcoming memoir, Promise Me, America, due out November 17, reprints the January 20, 2021, letter President Donald Trump left for him in the Oval Office, a note Biden had described as very generous on Inauguration Day but had not made public for more than five years, and The New York Times reviewed a copy of the original and reprinted its text.
Coming to work every day in the Oval Office is a blessing beyond imagination, Trump wrote. You now have the opportunity to choose your place in history, and I know you will be true to yourself and the American people, the letter continued.
The note also said, 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. It closed that stretch by saying, This will not happen to you because I know how much you love the American people.
The handwritten note, signed Sincerely, Donald in Trumps black Sharpie, also told Biden he would carry the hopes and dreams of the entire nation on your shoulders and that millions upon millions of people are depending on you, before closing, May God bless you and Jill, and may God bless America! In the memoir, Biden writes that it was as if there were two Donald Trumps, and that here he was, offering his best wishes in warm language that sounded like it was coming from an old friend.
Biden had told reporters on January 20, 2021, that the letter was very generous and treated it as private. The Associated Press also reviewed a photocopy of the two-page letter on White House stationery, and the envelope was marked To 46.
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