WASHINGTON — Retiring President Joe Biden said that the “soul of America” remains “at stake” in a farewell letter to the nation Wednesday — reprising his familiar anti-Donald Trump talking points ahead of Inauguration Day.
“I ran for president because I believed that the soul of America was at stake. The very nature of who we are was at stake. And, that’s still the case,” Biden, 82, wrote ahead of an 8 p.m. Oval Office speech capping off his four-year term.
“America is an idea stronger than any army and larger than any ocean. It’s the most powerful idea in the history of the world. That idea is that we are all created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” he added.
President Joe Biden attends a ceremony in the White House on Jan. 14, 2025. AFP via Getty Images“We’ve never fully lived up to this sacred idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I do not believe the American people will walk away from it now.”
Biden reclaimed the anti-Trump lines as he prepares to attend his successor’s inauguration on Monday, despite declaring him a fascist who threatened to unravel American democracy throughout the 2024 campaign.The outgoing president used similar anti-Trump framing in his “Battle for the Soul of the Nation” speech outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia ahead of the 2022 midterms.
That primetime event yielded negative blowback for Biden owing to its hellishly red backlighting and the use of uniformed members of the military in the starkly political speech, which focused on Trump’s actions ahead of the 2021 Capitol riot that disrupted certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory.
“Four years ago, we stood in a winter of peril and a winter of possibilities,” Biden wrote in his farewell letter.
“We were in the grip of the worst pandemic in a century, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War. But we came together as Americans, and we braved through it. We emerged stronger, more prosperous, and more secure.”
Biden called it the privilege of his life to serve the country for over 50 years sharing his “modest” beginnings to the Oval Office.
Biden signs proclamations creating the Chuckwalla National Monument on Jan. 14, 2025. Getty Images“It has been the privilege of my life to serve this nation for over 50 years. Nowhere else on Earth could a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, one day sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as President of the United States. I have given my heart and my soul to our nation. And I have been blessed a million times in return with the love and support of the American people.”
“History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands. We just have to keep the faith and remember who we are. We are the United States of America, and there is simply nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together.”
Biden put the final spin on his record as Trump, 78, prepares to shake up Washington — blaming the Democrat for record-high illegal immigration and inflation that spiked consumer costs by about 22% over four years.
Trump is preparing for large-scale deportations, the rollback of environmental initiatives and reforms to the Justice Department, which he says Biden politicized in an attempt to tank his political comeback.
Earlier this month, Trump accused Biden of making his return to the Oval Office “as difficult as possible.
“Biden is doing everything possible to make the TRANSITION as difficult as as [sic] possible, from Lawfare such as has never been seen before, to costly and ridiculous Executive Orders on the Green New Scam and other money wasting Hoaxes,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Biden released the letter days before his term ends. The White House“Fear not, these ‘Orders’ will all be terminated shortly, and we will become a Nation of Common Sense and Strength. MAGA!!!”
Biden will be joined by first lady Jill Biden — as well as former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — at the Jan. 20 inaugural ceremony.
Michelle Obama will not be present at the ceremony. The former first lady’s team did not provide a reason for skipping the inauguration.
She was also a no-show up for Jimmy Carter’s funeral at Washington National Cathedral on Jan. 9. Barack Obama wound up sitting next to Trump, where the two were seen yukking it up in a viral moment.
