However, polls from August of last year suggest that not only are the majority of Americans more sympathetic to Ukraine than Russia, but more Americans want to continue supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes. US support has been critical to Ukraine’s effort to repel the Russian invasion, and has inspired Nato allies to do the same.

3. Affordable healthcare

Biden has managed to double the number of Americans who have access to affordable healthcare. The administration recently announced that almost 25 million Americans have signed up during the 2025 open enrolment period, compared with the 12 million who signed up during the last year of the Trump administration.

As part of the 2021 America Rescue Plan, Democrats were able to increase tax credits for those who qualified for assistance and also capped health insurance premiums. However, the future of the healthcare plan, introduced by President Obama, will be up for debate in Congress in 2025. Trump has been a long-term critic of the Obamacare initiative, which aimed to make health insurance more affordable.

4. Economic improvements

The administration’s economic performance exceeded many forecasters’ expectations, especially in job creation. Biden will be the first president under whom jobs were created during every month they were in office.

The economy created 2.23 million jobs in the final year of Biden’s term. Although it was just 12,000 jobs in October, the statistics for the remainder of his term are impressive. This has been driven by significant moves such as the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, which instigated significant federal investment in national infrastructure, and the Chips and Science Act, which saw significant investment in the building of microprocessor chip plants.

So, why didn’t Biden get re-elected if he got all of these things right? The Democrats have been criticised for not communicating these successes effectively. But more importantly, Biden underperformed significantly in other economic areas. These were:

1. Not lowering inflation

As much as Biden got right, the administration failed to solve the inflation crisis. It averaged 5.4% per year during his time in the White House, and made him an easy target for Trump to criticise during the 2024 election. Inflation was identified by 41% of Americans polled in May 2024 as their most important financial worry.

2. Chaotically pulling out of Afghanistan

The US’s withdrawal from Afghanistan was decided during the Trump administration, but the surprise evacuation in August 2021 under Biden was chaotic and left allies in the lurch. Although the majority of Americans (54% of those polled) agreed with leaving Afghanistan, 69% said Biden did a poor job in handling the departure. UK defence chiefs stated the US decision was not what they had hoped for.

3. Tackling immigration

Immigration has been a weight around the Biden administration’s neck. Despite attempts to push through a number of bills such as the US Citizenship Act 2021 (which, for various reasons, Republicans have blocked), the administration has failed miserably in controlling illegal immigration. Biden’s polling numbers on immigration have been in terminal decline, revealing a nation that lacked any confidence in his ability to solve the crisis.

4. Staying in the election

Biden’s refusal to withdraw from the presidential campaign looked desperate. Even when significant donors and Democrats refused to support him, he stayed in the race. But his performance in the presidential debate finally brought his ambitions for a second term in office to an end. By not bowing out gracefully, his legacy has been tarnished – and those images of him struggling in the debate will last long in the memory.

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“Dear President Trump, As I take leave of this sacred office I wish you and your family all the best in the next four years,” Biden wrote. “The American people – and people around the world – look to this house for steadiness in the inevitable storms of history, and my prayer is that in the coming years will be a time of prosperity, peace, and grace for our nation.”

“May God bless you and guide you as He has blessed and guided our beloved country since our founding,” Biden concluded the note, before signing it and dating it Jan. 20.

It is customary for outgoing presidents to leave a note for their successor on inauguration day.

The video of Trump finding the letter in the presidential office’s desk as he was signing executive orders went viral on social media.

He said he only checked the drawer for the letter after Doocy suggested that he do so, with Trump joking, “It could have been years before we found this.”

Doocy responded that he was “happy to help.”

Although Trump opted not to share its contents on camera, he told reporters later on Tuesday that it was a “very nice letter.”

“It was a little bit of an inspirational type of letter,” he said, according to The Hill. “Enjoy it, do a good job. Important, very important. How important the job is.”

In 2021, Trump left his own letter to Biden, who later called it “shockingly gracious” but decided to keep the exact contents private, according to Politico.

Obama’s message to Trump in 2017 was the longest presidential transition letter on record. He politely reminded his political adversary of the responsibility “to leave those instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them.”

Perhaps the most famous president-to-president missive is George H.W. Bush’s note to Bill Clinton, which is often upheld as a paradigm of cross-aisle decorum.

“I wish you great happiness here. I never felt the loneliness some Presidents have described,” Bush wrote. “There will be very tough times, made even more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair. I’m not a very good one to give advice; but just don’t let the critics discourage you or push you off course.”

The letter tradition was started in 1989 by Ronald Reagan, who wrote to Bush, his former vice president, “George, I treasure the memories we share and I wish you all the very best. You’ll be in my prayers.”

Trump Finds Biden’s Parting Letter, Tells Reporters ‘We Should Read It Together’

President Donald Trump discovered former President Joe Biden’s parting letter in the Resolute Desk on Monday night following a question from a reporter as he signed executive orders from the Oval Office, prompting a teasing response.

“Wait,” Trump told the reporter while he fiddled with a drawer. “Don’t they leave it in the desk?”

He then spotted the letter, a tradition between outgoing presidents and incoming ones.

“Ooh! Thank you, Peter, it could have been years before we found this thing,” Trump told the reporter.

He waved the white envelope around for the room, joking that “maybe we should all read it together” before adding, “Maybe I’ll read it first and then make that determination.”

Trump set the letter aside and returned to his executive orders, remarking that he left Biden a similar note in 2021 on the “unification of our country.”

Biden confirmed shortly after his inauguration that Trump — despite not attending Biden’s inauguration — had left “a very generous letter,” but he declined to comment on the specifics, calling it “private.”

The contents of former President Barack Obama’s letter to Trump at the start of his first term were swiftly made public back in 2017. Obama told the then-incoming president that “all of us, regardless of party, should hope for expanded prosperity and security during your tenure” and went on to give a couple words of advice, although he noted, “This is a unique office, without a clear blueprint for success, so I don’t know that any advice from me will be particularly helpful.”

Obama emphasized the gravity of the office of the presidency and its impact on Americans and people around the world.

Eight years previously, former President George W. Bush had told Obama that he could look forward to being “inspired by the character and compassion of the people you now lead.” And former President Bill Clinton had told Bush, “The burdens you now shoulder are great but often exaggerated. The sheer joy of doing what you believe is right is inexpressible.”

The pardons for Fauci, Milley and Biden’s family members specifically cover any “offences against the United States” that may have been committed from January 1 2014 through to the date of the pardon.

At various times in recent years, Trump has indicated his intention to go after those he believes had crossed or criticised him, either during his previous presidency or following the insurrection of the Capitol.

Presidential pardons are usually issued to provide relief to those who have been convicted of an offence and have served all or part of a prison sentence. There is usually also a justifiable reason for doing so.

The novelty of Biden’s use of the pardon power is that none of those covered by his preemptive pardons had committed or been charged with any offence. Nor had they been accused of wrongdoing, apart from comments made by Trump or his supporters. This has concerned some on both the left and right.

Rather, Milley, Fauci, Cheney and the others are protected from any potential future criminal charges that could be brought by the Trump administration.

Who can be pardoned?

The pardon power was written into the US Constitution when it was drafted in 1787. It gives the president the power

The only constitutional limitations on the president’s pardon power are that it cannot include those who have violated a state law (it only covers federal offences) and it cannot absolve anyone who has been successfully impeached.

Beyond these two limitations, it is the only presidential power that is not subject to the usual array of checks and balances on which the Constitution is built.

As such, Congress cannot override a presidential pardon and the Supreme Court would have no grounds for declaring a presidential pardon unconstitutional.

This is because the Constitution doesn’t say anything about the grounds on which a president can grant a pardon. It also says nothing about the reasons why he can’t issue one.

In a case heard back in 1886, the Supreme Court declared the pardon power was unlimited and has generally held to that position ever since.

Is there precedent for Biden’s action?

Biden has now expanded and extended the scope of the pardon power by issuing preemptive pardons.

There is some precedent. In 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned his predecessor, Richard Nixon, following Nixon’s resignation over the Watergate scandal. However, Nixon had not been charged or convicted of any criminal offence at the time. And, of course, he escaped likely impeachment by resigning.

Essentially, Ford pardoned Nixon for offences he may have committed or may be charged with in the future. Ford’s purpose, of course, was to attempt to end the damaging consequences of Watergate and restore some normality to government.

Biden is taking this power further, using the pardon to constrain and limit the actions of his successor, who has clearly indicated his intention to pursue legal action where there is no apparent justification for doing so.

Biden’s action is therefore intended to protect innocent individuals from prosecution, as well as the massive costs entailed in defending themselves in a court of law.

In defending his action, Biden said:

These are exceptional circumstances and I cannot in good conscience do nothing.

The pardons, however, will not stop Trump or a Republican-led Congress from initiating investigations of these individuals. But they go a long way to thwart Trump’s stated intentions of bringing criminal proceedings against those who have upset him merely by performing their public duties.

The real problem

Biden has been praised by some for his actions, while others have worried about the precedent it sets.