Trump and Biden brace for showdown as president-elect makes triumphant return to White House

One of the most tense meetings in White House history is likely happening in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

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 and West Wing picks, it will be a grand return to the place from which he was vanquished four years ago by the man now sitting at the Resolute Desk, the same desk Trump used four years ago. 

Both men have made clear they dislike the other. And neither man has held back when it comes to criticizing the other.

Biden has called Trump a threat to democracy, suggested he be locked up, and referred to his supporters as ‘garbage.’ Before he dropped 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 feels is an enemy.

‘We want this to go well,’ White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday.

The Biden White House has laid the ground work for that to happen. Biden called Trump shortly after he won last week to offer his congratulations, pledge a peaceful transfer of power, and invite him to the Oval Office for a meeting – a traditional gesture for a departing-president to offer to the incoming one.

He has notably not spoken out against Trump as he had during the heated presidential campaign. For his part, Trump also has refrained from criticizing the current administration. Instead he’s focused on filling staff and cabinet positions, announcing a flood of hires. 

Still, the dark shadow of history will loom over Wednesday’s meeting. Adding to the awkwardness, after Biden ousted Trump in 2020, Trump offered no such Oval Office meeting to Biden.

Trump even left Washington before the Jan. 20, 2021, inauguration, becoming the first president to do so since Andrew Johnson to skip the swearing-in of his successor.

The meeting between current and future presidents is essentially a photo-op but an important one, showing the world the United States is one of the few nations where leaders peacefully hand over power.

President Biden ‘wants to show the American people that the system works, to trust the institutions, to trust that the norms do matter here, that he is showing by leadership what a peaceful transition looks like,’ Jean-Pierre said.

Jean-Pierre declined to say what the two men will talk about. The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are likely on the list.

Biden will urge Trump not to abandon Ukraine, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday.

But it remains unclear if Biden will push his successor on abortion rights, voting rights or any other issue Democrats campaigned on. 

When the two men meet on Wednesday, it’ll technically be the first time since 1992 that an outgoing president sits down with an incoming one he competed against in a campaign.

That year, outgoing President George H.W. Bush met with President-elect Bill Clinton about two weeks after they squared off on Election Day.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who Trump defeated, will not join the Oval Office sitdown.

The last time a sitting Vice President lost out on a promotion was the 2000 election. Al Gore joined Clinton and incoming President George W. Bush in a meeting that was described as unpleasant.

Melania Trump will also be absent and not meet with Jill Biden. Traditionally the outgoing first lady hosts her successor for tea in the residence while the Oval Office meeting takes place. 

The two couples have met. Biden attended Trump’s 2017 inauguration in his role as outgoing vice president. Jill Biden was also there. The Bidens will attend Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, according to the White House.

Traditionally, the outgoing president welcomes the incoming one to the White House on the morning of the inauguration before riding together in the same vehicle to the Capitol building for the swearing in. The spouses also ride together.

Trump rode with then-President Barack Obama to his own inauguration. 

Additionally, both men are looking to the future. 

While Biden is in the process of packing up, Trump is already shaping his White House team.

He’s named campaign manager Susie Wiles as his chief of staff and longtime aide Stephen Miller will be his deputy chief of staff. Rep. 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 cut government waste.

The Trumps aren’t strangers making 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.

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 time, Trump appeared nervous and was unusually subdued, calling Obama ‘a good man’ and the meeting ‘a great honor.’ Previously, Trump had questioned if Obama was even an American and demanded to see his birth certificate.

Obama’s 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 that same definition.