The gap between the letter and reality
But it was the gap between the letter and the political relationship between the two men that gave the disclosure its main interest. Trump wrote these words after months in which he refused to acknowledge Biden's victory, claimed the election was rigged, and tried to challenge the certification of the results. On January 6, 2021, just two weeks before the transfer of power, his supporters stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to prevent the confirmation of Biden's victory.
Even the transfer-of-power ceremony itself did not proceed as usual: Trump did not attend Biden's inauguration, breaking with the established tradition of sitting and former American presidents. He also skipped hosting the president-elect and his wife for tea at the White House, as is customary in the transfer ceremony. Against this backdrop, the personal letter he left behind stood out all the more.
Biden writes in his book that when he read the letter, he struggled to reconcile the warm words Trump wrote with his public conduct. "It was as if there were two Donald Trumps," the former president wrote. He noted that Trump had deeply undermined American democracy, did not offer him the traditional transition meeting between outgoing and incoming presidents, and waged a fierce battle against the election results. "But here he was, offering his best wishes in warm language that sounded as if it came from an old friend," Biden wrote.
It turns out Biden did not completely hide the letter's existence at the time. After his inauguration in 2021, he told several staff members he had received a note from Trump, and even described it as "a very generous letter." However, he did not allow them to read its contents and made clear it was a private document.
Trump himself has addressed the letter in the past. In an interview with NBC in September 2023, on "Meet the Press," he said the decision whether to publish it rested with Biden. He called it "a nice note" and added: "I put a lot of thought into writing it."
The renewed disclosure did not end with Biden's book alone. The White House responded to the publication through communications director Steven Cheung, who did not miss an opportunity to attack the former president. "If only Joe Biden had listened to the president's wise advice, instead of trying to destroy the country and weaponize the justice system against his political opponents," Cheung said. He added: "Biden is a disgrace, and America is better off now that he is no longer president."
Promise Me, America does not focus solely on the letter. Biden seeks to present his four years in office, the decisions he made, and the circumstances that led him to run again for president in 2024, before he was forced to withdraw from the race and pass the nomination to Kamala Harris. In the chapters disclosed so far, he levels sharp criticism at Trump's policies, at the reversal of decisions from his administration's time, and at his conduct surrounding the events of January 6.
In one of the book's sharpest passages, Biden wrote that what Trump did that day "should never be forgotten," adding that it should haunt him for the rest of his life. The book is scheduled to reach stores on November 17, and even before its publication it is generating interest due to the personal and political details Biden chose to reveal—chief among them that extraordinary farewell letter, written at a time when the two presidents were in the midst of one of the sharpest political confrontations in American history.
