Former U.S. President Joe Biden asserts in his upcoming memoir “Promise Me, America” that Donald Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021, should “follow him to his grave.”
“Here’s my view: You don’t get to turn a blind eye to cops being punched, speared, sprayed, and brutalized and call yourself a friend of law enforcement,” Biden writes, adding that Trump’s actions “should never be forgotten. It should follow him to his grave.”
Despite this political hostility, the memoir reveals a jarring personal dynamic. Trump left Biden a private, two-page letter on January 20, 2021, handwritten in black Sharpie on White House stationery and addressed “To ‘46,” denoting Biden’s place as the nation’s 46th president.
In his new memoir, Joe Biden writes how he wishes he had a second debate with Trump, settles scores, and remains angry he was driven from the race. An unrepentant, unreflective Biden makes the case that he was ready to be president again. My look: https://t.co/vp8mQjMxQ9
The note offered warm, cordial wishes and praised the gravity of the presidency without mentioning voter fraud or his election defeat, presenting a striking contrast to the political hostility that defined their relationship.
That cordiality continued during a nearly two-hour meeting in the Oval Office on November 13, 2024, where Biden says Trump adopted a tone that “bordered on fawning.”
Biden's mom had a saying: "Joey, never bow; never bend; never kneel; never yield." That sentiment runs through his memoir, as he recounts four years as president, his decision to run for reelection, and an attempt to stay in the race. My look at the book: https://t.co/vp8mQjMxQ9
“Yes, if it weren’t for politics, we’d spend all our time golfing together,” Trump told him, according to the memoir.
Biden mounts an aggressive defense of his choice to seek a second term in 2024, maintaining that he “was doing the job” despite widespread concerns over his age. He writes that his initial meetings with senior advisors yielded support to run, reflecting on past political grievances, including how former President Barack Obama had benefited from political breaks during his own career.
“I was also thinking about the people who wanted me to stay in. The Congressional Black Caucus. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. John Fetterman. Bernie Sanders. Jim Clyburn. Labor.”https://t.co/umqdA7AdwV
The book pushes back against narratives surrounding his June 27, 2024, debate against Trump in Atlanta, which ultimately upended his candidacy. Biden blames media pundits and party elites for manufacturing a consensus that his performance was fatal, even though internal Democratic polls showed him in danger of losing blue states such as Virginia, New Jersey, New Mexico, Maine, and New Hampshire.
“The difference in 2024 was not that I had a bad debate. Lots of presidents had bad debates. The difference was that every other president was given the chance to redeem themselves in a second debate,” he writes. Throughout the encounter, he was reminded of the rapid-fire cascade of falsehoods and the refusal to accept responsibility.
“What should have been a highlight of the debate became Exhibit A that I was too old to do the job,” he writes, while praising Kamala Harris’s subsequent 107-day campaign as “masterful.”
The memoir addresses foreign policy friction, including Biden’s dealings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas.
Biden writes that his hopes for permanent peace were shattered that day, prompting immediate calls to Netanyahu to express solidarity and demand restraint. However, Biden notes a frustrating pattern where Netanyahu made promises to protect civilians that he had no power or intention to keep, concluding that he became fed up with the Israeli leader prioritizing short-term political needs over long-term interests.
While Biden acknowledges that promotional activities for the book remain limited due to ongoing treatment for prostate cancer, his publisher proceeds with the scheduled November 17 release across the United States.
When Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer visited his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, home in mid-July to urge him to withdraw from the race, Biden told him he had a lot of gumption coming to his home to deliver that message.
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