Excerpts cover January 6 certification, pardons and presidential legacy
Excerpts from Joe Biden’s memoir Promise Me America published by The Guardian examine the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which put hundreds of thousands of people out of work without producing the savings the department had touted. The Guardian described the department’s creation as chaotic and included it among the actions Biden scrutinizes after President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025. Promise Me America is scheduled for publication on 17 November.
The book is Biden’s account of a one-term presidency that began in 2021, in the shadow of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. The Guardian said the deadly violence in Washington DC was fomented by supporters of Donald Trump, who was seeking to remain in office after his defeat by Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Congress was due to meet to certify Biden’s victory when the violence occurred, after Trump urged his supporters at a rally near the White House to go to Congress and “fight” for him.
The Guardian described the Capitol violence as a historic shame and said Biden wrote in his book that it should follow the current president, Donald Trump, “to his grave.” In the excerpts, Biden wrote: “Donald Trump led an insurrection.” He added: “The rioters weren’t ‘peaceful protesters’. They came armed to stop the official certification of a legitimate election.”
Biden noted in the excerpts that Trump later pardoned more than 1,500 people convicted of offenses related to the January 6 riot. Biden wrote: “To this day, Trump and his supporters continue to preen and posture like they’re supporters of law enforcement.” He added: “Here’s my view: You don’t get to turn a blind eye to cops being punched, speared, sprayed, and brutalized and call yourself a friend of law enforcement. What Trump did on January 6, 2021, should never be forgotten. It should follow him to his grave.”
Biden also examines the vulnerability of a president’s legacy to political change. “All presidents must confront a feeling that their legacy is vulnerable to the pendulum of politics and the whims of their successors,” he wrote. “In my case, that feeling was magnified by the dismissive and destructive nature of Donald Trump, who seemed unable to tolerate the idea that someone else’s accomplishments might be worth building on rather than tearing down.”
In a post on X on Sunday night, Biden said the number of speaking engagements he can manage in support of the book’s publication will be limited because his advancing cancer sometimes slows him down. “Some days are better than others,” he wrote. “It hasn’t stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down. What that means is, unfortunately, I won’t be able to do as many conversations about my book as I’d hoped.” Biden said he was hopeful the words on the page speak for themselves, and said he and his wife, Jill, were touched and grateful for the support of the American people since his condition became known. Biden was diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer in May 2025, four months after leaving office.
In the same post, Biden said the book explores “the challenges we faced, the decisions I made, and why I made them,” covering a pivotal period in US history that included the Covid-19 pandemic, economic troubles and trying to restore alliances and relationships with allies frayed during Trump’s first term. Biden said he realized as soon as Trump took office again that much of what he had worked to achieve was soon to be dismantled. He said Trump “took a wrecking ball to our traditions.”
Biden previously published a memoir called Promise Me, Dad about the death of his elder son, Beau, from cancer.
Joe Biden speaks to a crowd during a fundraising event with the South Carolina Democratic Party on 27 February 2026 in Columbia, South Carolina. Photograph: Sean Rayford/Getty Images.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.