Between Donald Trump’s two presidencies, Joseph Biden served four years as president.
The former longtime senator and vice president, Biden was the oldest president in history, and his age often overshadowed other aspects of his presidency, including whether he would run for re-election.
President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks on defense manufacturing investments by Anduril Industries to build a submarine and autonomous vessel shipyard at Sparrows Point, Baltimore, Maryland, Tuesday, October 6, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
Donald Trump At Air Force One Creative Commons Image
After a disastrous presidential debate with Trump, Biden ultimately dropped his re-election bid in the summer of 2024, leading Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him at the top of the ticket and to her loss to Trump that November.
Biden announced a cancer diagnosis in 2025 and has largely been out of sight for most of the last two years.
But now, Biden’s presidential memoir, “Promise Me, America,” is set for publication, and it includes some shots at Trump, both his predecessor and successor.
The book comes out November 17, and The Atlantic published the first excerpts from Biden’s memoir on Monday, which shared details about Biden’s post-election meeting with Trump and the former president’s reflections on what Trump has done, both after his 2024 election loss and since returning to the White House.
What Biden Said
The excerpt begins with Biden telling the story of the day he and Trump met in the White House days after the 2024 election- a traditional meeting that did not take place four years earlier, when Trump refused to acknowledge that he had actually lost the 2020 election to Biden.
The 2024 meeting lasted over two hours, even though it was originally scheduled for just 30 minutes.
“You know, Joe, if it weren’t for politics, I believe we’d be good friends,” Biden says Trump told him in that meeting, before suggesting that the two could have been golf partners.
Trump even praised Biden for “extraordinary” job creation and said he was thankful he didn’t have to run against Biden in 2024.
Biden then briefed Trump on a series of foreign policy issues, such as China and Russia-Ukraine, that required Trump’s attention.
But Biden also noticed something about how Trump was reacting: “He focused on the personalities of the leaders, as if we were sharing gossip about people at a dinner party, not discussing issues of global significance.”
But if any good feeling came from that meeting, it wouldn’t last once Trump assumed the presidency the following January.
Climate Backsliding
After Trump returned to the White House in 2025, he undid many of Biden’s signature achievements, including withdrawing once again from the Paris climate accords and eliminating other Biden-era climate initiatives.
But what really angered Biden, he wrote in the book, was his pardoning of more than 1,600 people convicted of their roles in the January 6 riots.
Then Biden teed off at Trump for inciting January 6 itself, which took place the day his own election as president was certified.
“Donald Trump led an insurrection,” Biden writes in the book. “His goal was to remain in power after the American people had voted him out of office. That’s the truth. It was a violent assault.”
The January 6 insurrectionists, Biden writes, were not “peaceful protesters.” Instead, he said, they “came armed to stop the official certification of a legitimate election.”
Biden believes the insurrectionists deserve real punishment and that the January 6 episode is a major stain on Trump’s legacy.
“What Trump did on January 6, 2021, should never be forgotten. It should follow him to his grave,” Biden writes.
“The Damage Deepened”
The excerpt also shows Biden expressing his disapproval of other things Trump did in his second term, whether policy moves like the DOGE period or his remaking of Washington and the White House itself.
This, the former president says, was done despite Trump not winning any kind of massive victory in 2024.
“Trump took a wrecking ball to our traditions and institutions—at times literally, as when he tore down the East Wing of the White House (after promising that he would not),” Biden writes.
Biden also attacked Trump’s character, especially after the Supreme Court instituted presidential immunity shortly before Trump’s return.
“Donald Trump was a convicted felon and a sexual abuser,” Biden writes in the book excerpt. “He had mishandled classified documents. He had led an insurrection. Now the Supreme Court seemed to grant Trump blanket immunity.”
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
