Every president since Ronald Reagan has left a note for his successor, and President Joe Biden could be the first to write a letter to someone who is both his successor and the predecessor who left a note for him.

As President Joe Biden was making one final lap around town this week, delivering farewell speeches to his diplomatic corps, military leaders and the nation at large, his appearances belied a grim reality: This is not how he’d hoped his half-century career in Washington would end.

President Joe Biden will cap his half-century political career on Wednesday with a final Oval Office speech, hoping to cement a legacy that has been overshadowed by Democrats' failure to stop Donald Trump from returning to the White House.