Outgoing and incoming US presidents were sending entirely different messages into Christmas: Democrat Joe Biden urging Americans to reflect and unite was a stark contrast to holiday greeting and politically focused blitz of social media posts released by Republican Donald Trump over the weekend.
Biden narrated a video tour of White House Christmas decorations that was published late on Christmas Eve on YouTube, in which he urges Americans to put aside "all the noise and everything that divides us.
We're here on this Earth to care for one another, to love one another," Biden says in a voiceover as a camera pans past adorned evergreen trees and bedecked fireplaces inside the White House. "Too often we see each other as enemies, not as neighbors, not as fellow Americans," he said.
Biden urged Americans to find a moment of “quiet reflection” to remind themselves to treat each other with dignity and respect, “live in the light” and remember there was more to unite than divide Americans. “We’re truly blessed to live in this nation,” he said.
On Christmas Day, he released a mid-morning "Merry Christmas" message on Truth Social that featured himself and his wife Melania in a photo and more than two dozen retweets of articles or other social media posts that supported his political views on matters such as a contested choice for Defense Secretary in the form of Pete Hegseth, as well as pursuit of Greenland and the Panama Canal.
One of these is a sarcastic meme on Barack Obama showing a picture of the 44th President and Trump during his inauguration in 2017 with the caption "When you see the guy who said 'you'll never be president' at your inauguration".
Biden took office in 2021 vowing to "end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal," and said he bowed out of the 2024 presidential race in July to unite the country.
By some measures, polarization in the country has increased instead, including during the 2024 campaign that pits Biden against Trump, again, before Democrat Kamala Harris took over.
Trump has called for the prosecution of perceived political enemies and vowed to restructure the federal government.
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