WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The outgoing and incoming U.S. presidents had different Christmas holiday messages, with Democrat Joe Biden urging Americans to think and unite while Republican Donald Trump offered a holiday greeting and a series of politically focused posts on social media.
Biden recounted a video tour of White House Christmas decorations posted on YouTube late on Christmas Eve, in which he urged Americans to put aside “all the noise and all that divides us.”
“We are here on this earth to take care of each other, to love each other,” Biden says in a voiceover as the camera pans past the evergreen trees and fireplaces inside the White House. “Too often we see each other as enemies, not as neighbors, not as American citizens,” he said.
Biden urged Americans to find a moment of “quiet contemplation” to remind themselves to treat each other with dignity and respect, to “live in the light” and to remember that there is more to unite than divide Americans. “We are truly fortunate to live in this nation,” he said.
Trump posted a mid-morning “Merry Christmas” message on Truth Social on Christmas Day with a photo of himself and his wife, Melania, followed by more than two dozen retweets of articles or other social media posts supporting his policy positions on topics including the controversial defense. Secretary candidate Pete Hegseth and his quest for Greenland and the Panama Canal.
One was a meme parodying Barack Obama featuring a photo of the 44th president and Trump at a 2017 inauguration with the message “When you see the guy who said 'you'll never be president' at your inauguration.”
Biden took office in 2021 vowing to “end this brutal war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal,” and said he withdrew from the 2024 presidential race in July to unify the country.
By some measures, polarization in the country has increased instead, including during a 2024 campaign that pits Biden against Trump, once again, before Democrat Kamala Harris takes office.
Trump called for the prosecution of perceived political enemies and pledged to restructure the federal government.
