One of the most tense meetings in White House history will likely take place Wednesday in the Oval Office.
President Joe Biden, who defeated Donald Trump four years ago, will host Trump, the man he always believed he could beat in a rematch.
For Trump, who has been busy this week naming top Cabinet members and West Wing picks, it will be a grand return to the place from which he was beaten four years ago by the man who now sits at the Resolute Desk, the same desk Trump used for four years. years ago.
Both men have made it clear that they do not like the other. And neither of them has hesitated to criticize the other.
Biden called Trump a threat to democracy, suggested he be locked up and referred to his supporters as “trash.” Before dropping out of the race in July, he hoped to defeat Trump for four more years in the White House.
Trump has questioned Biden’s mental health, threatened to lock up his son Hunter and prosecute any Democrat he considers an enemy.
“We want this to go well,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday.
Outgoing President Joe Biden (left) will host President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
The Biden White House has laid the groundwork for that to happen. Biden called Trump shortly after his victory last week to congratulate him, promise a peaceful transfer of power and invite him to the Oval Office for a meeting, a traditional gesture an outgoing president offers to an incoming president.
Notably, he has not spoken out against Trump as he did during the heated presidential campaign. For his part, Trump has also refrained from criticizing the current administration. Instead, he has focused on filling staff and cabinet positions, announcing a rush of hiring.
Still, the dark shadow of history will loom over Wednesday’s meeting. To increase the discomfort, After Biden ousted Trump in 2020, Trump offered him no such meeting in the Oval Office.
Trump even left Washington before the January 20, 2021 inauguration, becoming the first president to do so since Andrew Johnson skipped his successor’s inauguration.
The meeting between current and future presidents is essentially a photo op, but an important one, showing the world that the United States is one of the few nations where leaders hand over power peacefully.
President Biden ‘wants to show the American people that the system works, that he trusts the institutions, that he trusts that rules do matter here, that he is showing with his leadership what a peaceful transition looks like,’ Jean-Pierre said.
Jean-Pierre declined to say what the two men will talk about. Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are likely to be on the list.
Biden will urge Trump not to abandon Ukraine, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday.
But it’s still unclear whether Biden will pressure his successor on abortion rights, voting rights or any of the other issues Democrats campaigned on.
When the two men meet Wednesday, it will technically be the first time since 1992 that an outgoing president sits down with an incoming president he ran against in a campaign.
That year, outgoing President George HW Bush met with President-elect Bill Clinton about two weeks after they clashed on Election Day.
Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Trump defeated, will not join the meeting in the Oval Office.
The last time a sitting vice president lost a promotion was in the 2000 election. Al Gore joined Clinton and incoming President George W. Bush in a meeting that was described as unpleasant.
President Barack Obama, right, meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in November 2016.
Former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden congratulate President Donald Trump after he was sworn in on January 20, 2017.
Melania Trump will also be absent and will not meet with Jill Biden. Traditionally, the outgoing first lady hosts her successor for tea at the residence while the meeting takes place in the Oval Office.
The two couples have met. Biden attended Trump’s 2017 inauguration in his role as outgoing vice president. Jill Biden was also present. The Bidens will attend Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, according to the White House.
Traditionally, the outgoing president welcomes the incoming president to the White House on the morning of the inauguration before traveling together in the same vehicle to the Capitol building to take the oath of office. Spouses also travel together.
Trump accompanied then-President Barack Obama to his own inauguration.
Additionally, both men are looking to the future.
While Biden is packing his bags, Trump is already shaping his White House team.
He named campaign manager Susie Wiles as his chief of staff and his former aide Stephen Miller will be his deputy chief of staff. Representative Michael Walz will be his national security adviser and Senator Marco Rubio will be his secretary of state.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency, a new department Trump is creating to reduce government waste.
The Trumps are no strangers to their first visit to the White House. The couple lived there for four years during Trump’s first term. They know the residence staff, they know the layout, they know where the bathrooms are.
Donald and Melania Trump leave the White House on January 20, 2021 and do not attend Joe Biden’s inauguration
Michelle Obama hosted Melania Trump for tea in the Yellow Oval Office in November 3016
And Trump has been through this before. Then-President Barack Obama invited him to the Oval Office shortly after the 2016 election to congratulate him on his victory.
When he entered the Oval Office at that moment, Trump seemed nervous and was unusually subdued, calling Obama “a good man” and the meeting “a great honor.” Trump had previously questioned whether Obama was even American and demanded to see his birth certificate.
Obama White House press secretary Josh Earnest described the two men’s meeting as “at least a little less awkward than some might have expected.”
Wednesday’s meeting may not meet the same definition.