The 2020 presidential election was one of the ugliest political battles in the history of this country.
It was held amid a pandemic and civil unrest across the country and was plagued by widespread claims of voter fraud.
Given the hostile atmosphere surrounding the election, one would think that Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the men at the center of the fight, would be sworn enemies and have absolutely nothing good to say about (or to) each other.
However, a new book suggests that while there may be little love lost between these political adversaries, all may not be lost when it comes to America’s political climate.
On Tuesday, Politico reported that the upcoming book “The Fight of His Life” by Chris Whipple, which recounts the first two years of the Biden administration, contains a short passage about a message Trump left for Biden in the White House.
According to the book, Trump followed the tradition set by his predecessors and left Biden a letter on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. The book claims that Biden reacted to the letter by saying, “That was very gracious and generous… Shockingly gracious.”
This follows a podcast interview with Jen Psaki in February in which the former White House press secretary spoke about the letter, saying, “It was very long. The script, from where I could see, was very lovely.”
Shortly after taking office, Biden himself told reporters that Trump’s letter was “very generous,” according to Mediaite.
We don’t know what was in the letter, but by all accounts, it did not contain any of Trump’s famous insults; it appears it was a genuinely gracious letter to his successor.
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What makes this all the more impressive is that it came two weeks after the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when a group of Trump supporters entered the Capitol while Congress was certifying the results of the election.
The Capitol incursion was and continues to be described by the left as an “insurrection” and an attempt by Trump and the MAGA Republicans to overthrow democracy. Now, the Jan. 6 committee has recommended that Trump face criminal charges for the events of that day.
Yet even after all that, after the civil unrest, after the ugly debates, after the hotly contested election, Trump was still able to follow the presidential tradition and write a generous letter to Biden, thus completing the peaceful transition of power.
This offers us hope as Americans. If Trump can write a nice letter to his political nemesis in the midst of all this controversy, we too can be gracious to those with whom we disagree.
And, while he may be flawed and make mistakes, Trump is not the evil monster the media tries to portray him as.
We are just coming off a hotly contested midterm election, and the 2024 general election, in which Trump will once again be a contender, will be another competitive and possibly ugly race.
Trump’s letter should remind us that despite our massive political differences, we are all Americans and need to treat each other with courtesy and respect. If we cannot manage to say even one nice thing about our political opponents, then we cannot function as a nation.
