Corentin Weil

📙 I am sharing this excerpt from @JoeBiden's upcoming book in its entirety since it is paywalled: Biden: What Trump Did on January 6 ‘Should Follow Him to His Grave’ By Joe Biden The Atlantic | November 9, 2026 Eight days after the 2024 election, I honored a presidential tradition by hosting a visit from the president-elect. Jill and I met President Trump and his entourage in the Diplomatic Reception Room, and then I escorted him into the Oval Office for our formal meeting, accompanied only by our chiefs of staff, Jeff Zients and Susie Wiles. He and I sat in chairs near a roaring fire; Jeff and Susie sat on sofas. Trump was immediately chatty and surprised me by adopting a tone so friendly that I thought he might be putting me on. It bordered on fawning. “You know, Joe, if it weren’t for politics, I believe we’d be good friends.” I think I blinked, too stunned to respond. Then he kept going, as if intoxicated by the curious conversational path he had chosen. “Yes, if it weren’t for politics, we’d spend all our time golfing together.” He said my performance on job creation had been “extraordinary.” He added that he’d been relieved he didn’t have to run against me. I didn’t really understand why he was buttering me up, so I cut off his compliments to move on to the business at hand. I wanted to give him a wide-ranging overview of the issues that I thought would dominate his presidency. It was essentially a tour of the world, including Ukraine, NATO, Russia, Gaza and the Middle East, China, the Americas, and Africa. He nodded appreciatively. But I noticed a curious pattern: 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. Still, I had a lot to share with him, and our conversation, scheduled for 30 minutes, ran for close to two hours. Despite that meeting, I was worried that the successful policies pursued by my administration would be on the chopping block. All presidents must confront a feeling that their legacy is vulnerable to the pendulum of politics and the whims of their successors. In my case, that feeling was magnified by the dismissive and destructive nature of Donald Trump, who seemed unable to tolerate the idea that someone else’s accomplishments might be worth building on rather than tearing down. On day one, Trump reversed many of my decisions. I had rejoined the Paris climate accord on my first day in office; he canceled our participation, again, on his. That meant we were one of four countries outside the treaty; the other three were Iran, Libya, and Yemen. That was not a great look to the rest of the world. After that, it was like a bonfire, as one climate measure after another went up in smoke. That first day, he also signed executive orders to open up public lands to drilling for oil, to end support for electric vehicles, and to cancel projects for wind and solar energy. Not only was that going to accelerate climate change; it would cripple our ability to compete with China in some of the biggest industries of the future. Trump announced these policies at a rally as, at a five-star hotel across from the White House, oil and gas executives sipped champagne and nibbled on Pop-Tarts emblazoned with his image. He also pardoned nearly 1,600 insurrectionists who had been convicted for their violent acts on January 6, 2021. In the new regime, it was as if that terrible day had never happened at all. Indeed, that seemed to be the point. When a plaque was finally placed in the Capitol to honor the Capitol’s defenders, it was installed at 4 a.m., with no ceremony. That was an insult to the Capitol Police, and to all Americans who believe in the sanctity of our democratic elections. And we know the truth. Donald Trump led an insurrection. 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 rioters weren’t “peaceful