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We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society — for nothing suffocates the promise of America more than unbounded cynicism and indifference. We must reclaim the tradition of community in our society. Only by recognizing that we share a common obligation to one another and to our country can we ever hope to maximize our national or personal potential. We must reassert the oneness of America. America has been and must once again be the seamless web of caring and community. – Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. (born 20 November 1942) is an American politician serving as the 46th and current president of the United States. A member of the Democratic Party, Biden previously served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017. He represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009.

That's no malarkey, That's a fact. Taglines

Quotes

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1970s

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  • I think the Democratic Party could stand a liberal George Wallace—someone who's not afraid to stand up and offend people, someone who wouldn't pander but would say what the American people know in their gut is right.
  • I do not buy the concept, popular in the '60s, which said, 'We have suppressed the black man for 300 years and the white man is now far ahead in the race for everything our society offers. In order to even the score, we must now give the black man a head start, or even hold the white man back, to even the race.' I don't buy that. I don't feel responsible for the sins of my father and grandfather. I feel responsible for what the situation ls today, for the sins of my own generation. And I'll be damned if I feel responsible to pay for what happened 300 years ago.
  • Unless we do something about this, my children are going to grow up in a jungle, the jungle being a racial jungle with tensions having built so high that it is going to explode at some point.
  • Busing of schoolchildren (Jun. - Jul. 1977): hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, first session, on S. 1651.

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1980s

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1988 Presidential Campaign

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1990s

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  • Let me tell you what is in the bill, and I'll let you all decide whether or not this is "weak". [...] It provides 53 death penalty offenses. Weak as can be, you know? We do everything but hang people for jaywalking in this bill. That's weak stuff.
  • If Haiti, a God-awful thing to say, if Haiti just quietly sunk into the Caribbean or rose up 300 feet, it wouldn't matter a whole lot in terms of our interest.

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2000s

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2000

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  • Alan Cranston understood power not as a reflection of status but as a tool with a purpose.
    • Meet the Press (2000-12-31)

2002

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  • Saddam Hussein's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, in my view, is one of those clear dangers. Even if the right response to his pursuit is not so crystal clear, one thing is clear. These weapons must be dislodged from Saddam Hussein, or Saddam Hussein must be dislodged from power.
    • US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 2002-07-31, quoted in Tara Golshan and Alex Ward (15 October 2019), "Joe Biden's Iraq problem", Vox 

2003

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2004

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2006

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  • It's going to be very difficult. I do not view abortion as a choice and a right. I think it's always a tragedy, and I think that it should be rare and safe, and I think we should be focusing on how to limit the number of abortions. There ought to be able to have a common ground and consensus as to do that.
  • I voted for a fence, I voted, unlike most Democrats — and some of you won't like it — I voted for 700 miles of fence,... And the reason why I add that parenthetically, why I believe the fence is needed does not have anything to do with immigration as much as drugs. And let me tell you something folks, people are driving across that border with tons, tons, hear me, tons of everything from byproducts for methamphetamine to cocaine to heroin and it's all coming up through corrupt Mexico.
  • You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent ... I'm not joking.

2007

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  • Speaking on Edwards' position for immediate withdrawal of about 40,000 American troops from Iraq (February 5, 2007), reported in the New York Observer

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  • I'm not exploring. I'm in. And this is the beginning of a marathon
  • Referring to his choice not to set up an "exploratory committee" and instead enter the race directly; interview on ABC News after announcing candidacy for the 2008 Democratic president nomination (January 30, 2007)[citation needed]
  • There's good reason to be excited. You have the first woman running who is qualified, and a very attractive African-American who has demonstrated crossover appeal. I got involved in politics 40 years ago during the civil rights movement, so yes, it's an exciting thing.
  • The average voter out there understands that the next president is going to have to be prepared to immediately step in without hesitation and end our involvement in Iraq. It's very difficult to figure out how to move on to broader foreign policy concerns without fixing Iraq first.
  • People ask if I can compete with the money of Hillary and Barack. I hope at the end of the day, they can compete with my ideas and my experience.
  • I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man.
Rudy Giuliani
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  • [T]here's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb, and 9/11.
  • Democratic primary debate (October 30, 2007)

2008

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  • Like millions of Americans, they're asking questions as profound as they are ordinary. Questions they never thought they would have to ask: Should mom move in with us now that dad is gone? Fifty, sixty, seventy dollars to fill up the car? Winter's coming. How we gonna pay the heating bills? Another year and no raise? Did you hear the company may be cutting our health care? Now, we owe more on the house than it's worth. How are we going to send the kids to college? How are we gonna be able to retire? That's the America that George Bush has left us, and that's the America that George -- excuse me, if John McCain is elected president of the United States.
  • When we kicked — along with France, we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, I said and Barack said, "Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don't know — if you don't, Hezbollah will control it." Now what's happened? Hezbollah is a legitimate part of the government in the country immediately to the north of Israel.
  • Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history. The idea he doesn't realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that's the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that. And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there's a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit. The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress.
  • No, Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage. No, we do not support that.
Promises to Keep (2008)
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First, that nobody, no group, is above others. Public servants are obliged to level with everybody, whether or not they'll like what he has to say. And second, that politics was a matter of personal honor. A man's word is his bond. You give your word, you keep it. – Joe Biden
  • He wanted me to understand two big things: First, that nobody, no group, is above others. Public servants are obliged to level with everybody, whether or not they'll like what he has to say. And second, that politics was a matter of personal honor. A man's word is his bond. You give your word, you keep it. For as long as I can remember, I've had a sort of romantic notion of what politics should be- and can be. If you do politics the right way, I believe, you can actually make people's lives better. And integrity is the minimum ante to get into the game. Nearly forty years after I first got involved, I remain captivated by the possibilities of politics and public service. In fact, I believe- as I know my grandpop did- that my chosen profession is a noble calling.
    • Pages xv-xvi
  • We all know- or at least we are told continually- that we are a divided people. And we know there's a degree of truth in it. We have too often allowed our differences to prevail among us. We have too often allowed ambitious men to play off those differences for political gain. We have too often retreated behind our differences when no one really tried to lead us beyond them. But all our differences hardly measure up to the values we all hold in common... I am running for the Senate because... I want to make the system work again, and I am convinced that is what all Americans really want.
    • Pages xvi-xvii
  • Full disclosure: I do not have absolute faith in the judgment and wisdom of the American people. We're all human, and we can all be misled. When leaders don't level with citizens, we can't expect them to make good judgments. But I do have absolute faith in the heart of the American people. The greatest resource in this country is the grit, the resolve, the courage, the basic decency, and the stubborn pride of its citizens.
    • Page xx
I wasn't built to look the other way because the law demanded it. The law might be wrong. – Joe Biden
  • I wasn't built to look the other way because the law demanded it. The law might be wrong.
    • Page 42
  • I had no place to go. It was up or out.
    • Page 58
It wasn't enough to have ideas; I had to know my facts. I had to demonstrate command from the minute I started running. I understood that was the test I had to pass. – Joe Biden
  • I knew I had to be sure-footed about the issues I was talking about. When you're twenty-nine years old, who the hell is going to think you're credible? It wasn't enough to have ideas; I had to know my facts. I had to demonstrate command from the minute I started running. I understood that was the test I had to pass.
    • Page 63
  • The fabric of our complex society is woven too tightly to permit any part of it to be damaged without damaging the whole.
    • Page 64
  • I didn't argue that the war in Vietnam was immoral; it was merely stupid and a horrendous waste of time, money, and lives based on a flawed premise.
    • Pages 65-66
  • When seagull droppings landed on my head at a campaign event at Bowers Beach two days before Election Day, I chose to read it as a sign of a coming success.
    • Page 73
I didn't argue that the war in Vietnam was immoral; it was merely stupid and a horrendous waste of time, money, and lives based on a flawed premise.
  • The first few days I felt trapped in a constant twilight of vertigo, like in the dream where you're suddenly falling... only I was constantly falling. In moments of fitful sleep I was aware of the dim possibility that I would wake up, truly wake up, and this would not have happened.
    • Page 80
  • Most of all I was numb, but there were moments when the pain cut through like a shard of broken glass. I began to understand how despair led people to just cash it in; how suicide wasn't just an option but a rational option.
    • Page 80
  • I liked to go at night when I thought there was a better chance of finding a fight. I was always looking for a fight. I had not known I was capable of such rage. I knew I had been cheated of a future, but I felt I'd been cheated of a past, too. The underpinnings of my life had been kicked out from under me... and it wasn't just the loss of Neilia and Naomi. All my life I'd been taught about our benevolent God. This is a forgiving God, a just God, a God who knows people make mistakes. This is a God who is tolerant. This is a God who gave us free will to be able to doubt. This was a loving God, a God of comfort. Well, I didn't want to hear anything about a merciful God. No words, no prayer, no sermon gave me ease. I felt God had played a horrible trick on me, and I was angry. I found no comfort in the Church. So I kept walking the dark streets to try to exhaust the rage.
    • Page 81
I kept trying to tell people that just because I was young didn't mean I could speak for all young people.
  • I kept trying to tell people that just because I was young didn't mean I could speak for all young people.
    • Page 84
  • A better man might have handled the situation with more grace than I did. A better man would have been able to separate his personal life from his career.
    • Page 87
  • There is a great deal of pressure, in the one particular area at least, to prostitute our ideas, if not our integrity.
    • Page 93
  • Sleep was like a phantom I was too tired to chase.
    • Page 96
  • A convicted felon who had strong family ties, a stake in the community, and an education might get probation, while a man who had few family ties, little stake in the community, and little education might draw a ten-year sentence for the same crime.
    • Page 122
  • The system wasn't working, and I thought it was time to err on the side of a new model. What might work, I thought, was a system that promoted personal accountability, consistency, and certainty. Congress could say people who committed the same federal crime, under the same circumstances, were going to jail for the same amount of time. We could give judges a narrower set of sentencing guidelines to work with, and felons would be required to pay the same price. We'd be judging the crime, not the person.
    • Page 123
  • I think I instinctively understood that my most important duty was to be a target. People were desperate to vent their anger, and if they could yell at a united States senator, all the better. Part of being a public servant, I came to understand in 1978, was absorbing the anger of people who don't know where to turn. If I couldn't solve the problem for them, I had to at least be an outlet.
    • Page 127
  • As I pushed through to the podium, I could hear people murmuring under their breath: "There he is... Goddam Biden.... Kill the sonofabitch." And these were my voters- working-class Democrats.
    • Page 127
It required a lot less energy, intelligence, and competence to run against government than to try to make government work.
  • It required a lot less energy, intelligence, and competence to run against government than to try to make government work.
    • Page 134
  • Just because our political heroes were murdered does not mean that the dream does not still live, buried deep in our broken hearts.
    • Page 141
  • No matter how well intended our country is, we cannot expect other nations to trust us as much as we trust ourselves.
    • Page 145
  • I, too, believe there are natural rights that predate any written political or legal documents; we have these rights merely because we're children of God.
    • Page 178
  • I believe all Americans are born with certain inalienable rights. As a child of God, I believe my rights are not derived from the Constitution. My rights are not derived from any government. My rights are not denied by any majority. My rights are because I exist. They were given to me and each of my fellow citizens by our creator, and they represent the essence of human dignity....
    • Page 194
  • My own father had always said the measure of a man wasn't how many times or how hard he got knocked down, but how fast he got back up.
    • Page 208
I, too, believe there are natural rights that predate any written political or legal documents; we have these rights merely because we're children of God.
  • There is never a time when a president can act to stop a tragedy from occurring without being held politically accountable one way or the other. If he does it and fails, he's wrong. If he does it and succeeds, he was never right because it didn't happen. If we go in and stop an act of genocide, we can't prove what we stopped.
    • Page 281
  • I learned later that the surgeon who put Dole back together after he was so badly injured in World War II was an Armenian whose family had deep memories of the genocidal campaign the Turks had waged against them.
    • Page 281
  • The carnage was over, but there was still a bitter taste in my mouth.
    • Page 284
For the world to follow, we must do more than rattle our sabers and demand allegienace to our vision simply because we believe we are right. We must provide a reason for others to aspire to that vision. And that reason must come with more than the repetition of a bumper-sticker phrase about freedom and democracy. It must come with more than the restatement of failed policy. It must come with the wisdom to admit when we are wrong and resolve to change course and get it right.
  • In spite of the president's phone call, I remained a vocal critic of the Bush administration's foreign policy priorities through that summer because I didn't trust most of the people he had around him. The civilians in the Department of Defense were unlike any I'd ever seen. They seemed to think our nation was so powerful that we could simply impose our will on the rest of the world with almost no ill consequence. It seemed to me that Rumsfeld and his chief deputy at Defense, Paul Wolfowitz, were so totally in thrall to that conservative think-tank-generated ideology that they were steering the president down a dangerous path. And they were so intent on overturning President Clinton's foreign policy initiatives that they were losing sight of the bigger goal, which was keeping America safe at home and engaged in doing good in the world.
    • Page 298
  • These were al-Qaeda fighters, the first I'd ever seen up close, and they looked like badasses. As I passed on the outskirts of the grid, many of the prisoners stared directly at me. None of them cowered. I've been in a lot of prisons, but these guys showed a ferocity and a hatred unlike any I'd ever seen.
    • Page 321
  • Given Iraq's strategic location, its large oil reserves, and the suffering of the Iraqi people, we cannot afford to replace a despot with chaos. It would be a tragedy if we removed a tyrant in Iraq only to leave chaos in its wake.
    • Page 335
  • I made a mistake. I underestimated the influence of Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and the rest of the neocons; I vastly underestimated their disingenuousness and incompetence. So George W. Bush went to war again, and just the way the neocons wanted him to- without significant international backing.
    • Page 342
  • Things never got better, and Rumsfeld and Cheney never got any wiser. It became increasingly clear that those two men had eroded our country's claim to any moral high ground by flouting the Geneva Conventions. They forced policy decisions that allowed the hideous prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and encouraged the mistreatment of Muslim prisoners at our facility in Guantánamo in Cuba. I wasn't shy about hammering Rumsfeld.
    • Page 351
  • It was that hard; I still feel that way. But I believe that President Bush failed to lead. History will judge him harshly not for the mistakes he made- we all make mistakes- but for the opportunities he squandered.
    • Page 352
  • For the world to follow, we must do more than rattle our sabers and demand allegienace to our vision simply because we believe we are right. We must provide a reason for others to aspire to that vision. And that reason must come with more than the repetition of a bumper-sticker phrase about freedom and democracy. It must come with more than the restatement of failed policy. It must come with the wisdom to admit when we are wrong and resolve to change course and get it right.
    • Page 353

2009

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2010s

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2010

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2011

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  • ISIS has nothing to do with Islam.
    Let me tell you one or two things about Islam.

2012

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  • Look, I am Vice President of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don't see much of a distinction beyond that.
    • In response to the question, "You're comfortable with same-sex marriage now?" Meet the Press (May 6, 2012)
  • I resent when they talk about families like mine that I grew up in. I resent the fact that they think we're talking about envy: it's job envy, it's wealthy envy; that we don't dream. My mother believed and my father believed that if I wanted to be president of the United States, that I could be, I could be vice president! My mother and father believed that if my brother or sister wanted to be a millionaire, they could be a millionaire! My mother and father dreamed as much as any rich guy dreams! They don't get us! They don't get who we are!
Full disclosure: I do not have absolute faith in the judgment and wisdom of the American people. We're all human, and we can all be misled. When leaders don't level with citizens, we can't expect them to make good judgments.
  • Make sure of two things. Be careful — microphones are always hot, and understand that in Washington, D.C., a gaffe is when you tell the truth. So, be careful.
  • Even the oil companies don't need an incentive of $4 billion to go out and explore. As my grandpop would say, 'They're doing just fine, thank you'.
  • We got a real clear picture of what they all value. Every Republican's voted for it. Look at what they value and look at their budget and what they're proposing. Romney wants to let the — he said in the first hundred days he's going to let the big banks once again write their own rules, 'unchain Wall Street'. They're going to put y'all back in chains.

2013

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  • You can't talk about the civil rights movement in this country without talking about Jewish freedom riders and Jack Greenberg. You can't talk about the women's movement without talking about Betty Friedan. I believe what affects the movements in America, what affects our attitudes in America are as much the culture and the arts as anything else. [...] It wasn't anything we legislatively did. It was 'Will and Grace,' it was the social media. Literally. That's what changed peoples' attitudes. That's why I was so certain that the vast majority of people would embrace and rapidly embrace. Think behind of all that, I bet you 85 percent of those changes, whether it's in Hollywood or social media are a consequence of Jewish leaders in the industry. The influence is immense, the influence is immense. And, I might add, it is all to the good.
  • The Jewish people have contributed greatly to America. No group has had such an outsized influence per capita as all of you standing before you, and all of those who went before me and all of those who went before you ... You make up 11 percent of the seats in the United States Congress. You make up one-third of all Nobel laureates ... I think you, as usual, underestimate the impact of Jewish heritage. I really mean that. I think you vastly underestimate the impact you've had on the development of this nation.

2014

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We need a constant unrelenting stream of immigrants, not dribbling. Significant flows. (2014)
There's a constant unrelenting stream of immigrants. Not in little trickles, but in large numbers. [T]hat secret that allows America to constantly be able to remake itself. [A]n unrelenting stream of immigration. Nonstop, nonstop. [W]e'll be an absolute minority — [which is] not a bad thing, source of our strength (2015).
  • We need it badly from a purely – purely economic point of view — constant, unrelenting stream of immigrants, not dribbling. Significant flows.
  • 10 June 2014 comments to National Association of Manufacturers, reported later that day by Benjamin Goad of The Hill
  • [W]e need to pass an immigration bill, look at Germany, look at the rest of the world, we're the only non-xenophobic nation in the world that's a major economy
  • Remember—no serious guys till you're thirty!
  • To young women at swearing-in ceremony for new senators, quoted in Evan Osnos (28 July 2014), "The Biden Agenda", The New Yorker 

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2015

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  • Good morning everyone. This past week we've seen the best and the worst of humanity. The heinous terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut, in Iraq and Nigeria. They showed us once again the depths of the terrorist's depravity.And at the same time we saw the world come together in solidarity. Parisians opening their doors to anyone trapped in the street, taxi drivers turning off their meters to get people home safety, people lining up to donate blood. These simple human acts are a powerful reminder that we cannot be broken and in the face of terror we stand as one. In the wake of these terrible events, I understand the anxiety that many Americans feel. I really do. I don't dismiss the fear of a terrorist bomb going off. There's nothing President Obama and I take more seriously though, than keeping the American people safe.In the past few weeks though, we've heard an awful lot of people suggest that the best way to keep America safe is to prevent any Syrian refugee from gaining asylum in the United States.So let's set the record straight how it works for a refugee to get asylum. Refugees face the most rigorous screening of anyone who comes to the United States. First they are finger printed, then they undergo a thorough background check, then they are interviewed by the Department of Homeland Security. And after that the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center, the Department of Defense and the Department of State, they all have to sign off on access.And to address the specific terrorism concerns we are talking about now, we've instituted another layer of checks just for Syrian refugees. There is no possibility of being overwhelmed by a flood of refugees landing on our doorstep tomorrow. Right now, refugees wait 18 to 24 months while the screening process is completed. And unlike in Europe, refugees don't set foot in the United States until they are thoroughly vetted.Let's also remember who the vast majority of these refugees are: women, children, orphans, survivors of torture, people desperately in need medical help.To turn them away and say there is no way you can ever get here would play right into the terrorists' hands. We know what ISIL - we know what they hope to accomplish. They flat-out told us.Earlier this year, the top ISIL leader al-Baghdadi revealed the true goal of their attacks. Here's what he said: "Compel the crusaders to actively destroy the gray zone themselves. Muslims in the West will quickly find themselves between one and two choices. Either apostatize or emigrate to the Islamic State and thereby escape persecution." So it's clear. It's clear what ISIL wants. They want to manufacture a clash between civilizations. They want frightened people to think in terms of "us versus them."They want us to turn our backs on Muslims victimized by terrorism. But this gang of thugs peddling a warped ideology, they will never prevail. The world is united in our resolve to end their evil. And the only thing ISIL can do is spread terror in hopes that we will in turn, turn on ourselves. We will betray our ideals and take actions, actions motivated by fear that will drive more recruits into the arms of ISIL. That's how they win. We win by prioritizing our security as we've been doing. Refusing to compromise our fundamental American values: freedom, openness, tolerance. That's who we are. That's how we win .May God continue to bless the United States of America and God bless our troops.
  • In the 21st century, nations cannot; and we cannot allow them to redraw borders by force. These are the ground rules. And if we fail to uphold them, we will rue the day. Russia has violated these ground rules and continues to violate them. Today Russia is occupying sovereign Ukrainian territory. Let me be crystal clear: The United States does not, will not, never will recognize Russia's attempt to annex the Crimea. (Applause.) It's that saying -- that simple. There is no justification.

2016

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  • Article Two of the Constitution clearly states, whenever there is a vacancy in one of the Court's created by the Constitution itself, the Supreme Court of the United States, the president shall — not may — the president shall appoint someone to fill the vacancy with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. And advice and consent includes consulting and voting!
  • Israel will not get everything it asks for... I firmly believe that the actions that Israel's government has taken over the past several years — the steady and systematic expansion of settlements, the legalization of outposts, land seizures — they're moving us, and, more importantly, they're moving Israel in the wrong direction

2017

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2018

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  • You know, shortly after I graduated in '68, Kent State, 17 kids shot dead. And so, the younger generation now tells me how tough things are—give me a break! No, no, I have no empathy for it. Give me a break. Because here's the deal, guys—we decided we were going to change the world, and we did. We did. We finished the civil rights movement to the first stage. The women's movement came into being. So my message is "Get involved."
  • I was supposed to announce that there was another billion-dollar loan guarantee [for Ukraine]. And I had gotten a commitment from Poroshenko and from Yatsenyuk that they would take action against the state prosecutor. And they didn't... So they said they had — they were walking out to a press conference. I said, nah... we're not going to give you the billion dollars. They said, you have no authority. You're not the president. The president said — I said, call him. I said, I'm telling you, you're not getting the billion dollars... I looked at them and said: I'm leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid.

2019

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  • What happened today to @JussieSmollett must never be tolerated in this country. We must stand up and demand that we no longer give this hate safe harbor; that homophobia and racism have no place on our streets or in our hearts. We are with you, Jussie.
  • I'm sorry I didn't understand more. I'm not sorry for any of my intentions. I'm not sorry for anything that I have ever done. I have never been disrespectful intentionally to a man or a woman. So that's not the reputation I've had since I was in high school, for God's sake.
  • I mean, we may not want to demonize anybody who has made money. The truth of the matter is, you all, you all know, you all know in your gut what has to be done. We can disagree in the margins but the truth of the matter is it's all within our wheelhouse and nobody has to be punished. No one's standard of living will change, nothing would fundamentally change.
  • This guy climbed down a ravine, carried this guy up on his back, under fire, and the general wanted me to pin the Silver Star on him. I got up there- this is the God's honest truth, my word as a Biden. He stood at attention. I went to pin it on him. He said, "Sir, I don't want the damn thing. Do not pin it on me, sir. Please, sir. Do not do that. He died! He died!"
  • If you notice, I have more people supporting me in the black community that have announced for me, because they know me.

2020

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January 2020

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  • Joe Biden: You have to go vote for someone else. You're not going to vote for me in the primary.
    Ed Fallon: I'm going to vote for you in the general if you treat me right.
    Joe Biden: Yeah, I know. Well, I'm not.

February 2020

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  • You always love your dad.
    You don't always like your dad sometimes.
    But granddaughters not only love THEIR dads — their grandpops — they ALWAYS like them, and that's the GREAT thing.
    I want you to meet Finnegan.
  • This is a guy (Chinese leader Xi Jinping) who doesn't have a democratic — with a small d — bone is his body. This is a guy who is a thug.

March 2020

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You're full of shit. Now shush, shush. I support the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment — just like right now, if you yelled "fire", that's not free speech. And from the very beginning — I have a shotgun, I have a 20-gauge, a 12-gauge. My sons hunt. Guess what? You're not allowed to own any weapon. I'm not taking your gun away, at all. You need 100 rounds?
  • We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created ... by the — you know — you know, the thing.
  • This guy can change the face of what we're dealing with, with regard to guns, assault weapons, with regard to dealing with climate change. And I'm just warning Amy: If I win, I'm coming for him.

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  • The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, 9 March 2020 
  • One of the things that I did early on in my career as a U.S. Senator was I was one of the sponsors of the Endangered Species Act. And one of the other things we've done is we in the state of Delaware set up the coastal zone legislation which means that they can't build any factories or anything within one mile of the estuary of the Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake.
  • We have to take care of the cure. That will make the problem worse, no matter what. No matter what. We know what has to be done. We know you have to — you're tired of hearing the phrase, you got to flatten that curve where it's going up like this, people getting it, and then it comes down.
  • In every single crisis we have had that I have been around, going back to Jimmy Carter and the hostages all the way through to this moment, presidents' ratings have always gone up in a crisis, but that old expression, the proof is going to be in eating the pudding. What's it going to look like?

April 2020

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  • We cannot let this, we've never allowed any crisis from the Civil War straight through to the pandemic of 17, all the way around, 16, we have never, never let our democracy sakes second fiddle, way they, we can both have a democracy and elections and, at the same time, correct the public health.
    • This Week with George Stephanopoulos, ABC, 2020-04-05
  • I think it's close to criminal the way they're dealing with this guy. Not his conduct. The idea that this man stood up and said what had to be said, got it out that his troops, his Navy personnel were in danger. Look how many had the virus. I think he should have a commendation rather than be fired.
  • There are people who support the president because they like the fact that he is engaged in the politics of division. They really support the notion that, you know, all Mexicans are rapists and all Muslims are bad and ... dividing this nation based on ethnicity, race. This is the one of the few presidents who succeeded by deliberately trying to divide the country, not unite the country.
  • The people who voted Republican last time ... who don't want to vote for Trump, whether they want to vote for me or not is a different story, but they don't want to vote for Trump, they're looking for an alternative and I think, I hope to God, I can provide that alternative ... I really mean it. I think there's a chance.

May 2020

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If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black.
  • My wife Jill has a great expression. She's a doctor of Education and she's been a teacher for years and she'd say any country that out-educates us will out-compete us.
    My dad used to say I don't expect the government to solve my problems but I expect them to understand my problems give me a fighting chance.
    • Joe Biden Answers The Web's Most Searched Questions WIRED, 21 May 2020 
  • From the very beginning you weren't allowed to have certain weapons. You weren't allowed to own a cannon during the Revolutionary War as an individual.

June 2020

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  • Because we also have to fundamentally change the way police are trained. [...] And the idea that instead of standing there and teaching a cop when there's an unarmed person coming at 'em with a knife or something, shoot 'em in the leg instead of in the heart. It's a very different thing. There's a lot of different things that can change.

July 2020

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  • When it comes to COVID-19, after months of doing nothing, other than predicting the virus would disappear or maybe, if you drank bleach, you may be okay, Trump has simply given up.

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August 2020

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The violence we're seeing in Donald Trump's America. These are not images of some imagined "Joe Biden America" in the future. These are images of Donald Trump's America today. He keeps telling you if only he was president, it wouldn't happen, if he was president. He keeps telling us that if he was president, you'd feel safe. Well, he is president whether he knows it or not.

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September 2020

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If Donald Trump has his way, the complications from COVID-19, which are well beyond what they should be — it's estimated that 200 thousand people have died — probably by the time I finish this talk.

October 2020

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November 2020

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Victory speech as US President-elect
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Tonight, the whole world is watching America. I believe at our best America is a beacon for the globe.
And we lead not by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.
Victory speech as US President-elect (7 November 2020), as quoted in Hope, Healing And 'Better Angels': Biden Declares Victory And Vows Unity (7 November 2020), NPR

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December 2020

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  • My dad used to say, "Joey, I don't expect the government to solve my problems. But I expect it to understand my problems."
    Folks out there aren't looking for a handout — they just need help. They're in trouble through no fault of their own, and they need us to understand.
  • If we cannot make significant progress on racial equity, this country is doomed. It's doomed not just because of African Americans, but because by 2040, this country is going to be minority white European. You hear me? ... And you guys are going to have to starting [sic] working more with Hispanics.
  • I also don't think we should get too far ahead ourselves on dealing with police reform in that, because they've already labeled us as being 'defund the police' anything we put forward in terms of the organizational structure to change policing — which I promise you, will occur.
  • That's how they beat the living hell out of us across the country, saying that we're talking about defunding the police. We're not. We're talking about holding them accountable. We're talking about giving them money to do the right things. We're talking about putting more psychologists and psychiatrists on the telephones when the 911 calls through. We're talking about spending money to enable them to do their jobs better, not with more force, with less force and more understanding.

2021

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January 2021

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  • At this hour, our democracy's under unprecedented assault. Unlike anything we've seen in modern times. An assault on the citadel of liberty, the Capitol itself. An assault on the people's representatives and the Capitol Hill police, sworn to protect them. And the public servants who work at the heart of our Republic... Let me be very clear. The scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not reflect a true America. Do not represent who we are. What we're seeing are a small number of extremists dedicated to lawlessness. This is not dissent. It's disorder. It's chaos. It borders on sedition. And it must end now.
    • [2], CNN.com (January 6, 2021)
  • The words of a president matter, no matter how good or bad that president is. At their best, the words of a president can inspire. At their worst, they can incite. Therefore, I call on President Trump to go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege...Threatening the safety of elected officials, it's no protest. It's insurrection. The world's watching. Like so many other Americans, I am shocked and saddened that our nation, so long the beacon of light and hope for democracy, has come to such a dark moment...President Trump: Step up.
    • [3], CNN.com (January 6, 2021)
  • We expect these additional 200 million doses to be delivered this summer. And some of it will come as early — begin to come in early summer, but by the mid — by the mid-summer, that this vaccine will be there. And the order — and that increases the total vaccine order in the United States by 50 percent — from 400 million ordered to 600 million. This is enough vaccine to fully vaccinate 300 Americans by the end of the summer, beginning of the fall. But we want to make — look, that's — I want to repeat: It'll be enough to fully vaccinate 300 Americans to beat this pandemic — 300 million Americans.
Remarks by President Biden at Signing of an Executive Order on Racial Equity
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Remarks by President Biden at Signing of an Executive Order on Racial Equity (January 26, 2022)
  • We have never fully lived up to the founding principles of this nation, to state the obvious, that all people are created equal and have a right to be treated equally throughout their lives. And it's time to act now, not only because it's the right thing to do, but because if we do, we'll all be better off for it.
  • Housing is a right in America, and homeownership is an essential tool to wealth creation and to be passed down to generations.

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Presidential Inaugural Address (2021)
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Joe Biden's presidential inaugural address, delivered 2021-01-20 in Washington, D.C.

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February 2021

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Remarks by President Biden on America's Place in the World
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Remarks by President Biden on America's Place in the World (February 4, 2021)
  • And, by the way, I want you all to know in the press I was the Benjamin Franklin Professor of Presidential Politics at Penn. And I thought they did that because I was as old as he was, but I guess not.[humor]
Remarks by President Biden on the More Than 500,000 American Lives Lost to COVID-⁠19
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Remarks by President Biden on the More Than 500,000 American Lives Lost to COVID-⁠19 (February 22, 2022)
  • We often hear people described as "ordinary Americans." There's no such thing; there's nothing ordinary about them. The people we lost were extraordinary. They spanned generations. Born in America. Immigrated to America. But just like that, so many of them took final breath alone in America.

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Remarks by President Biden to Department of Defense Personnel, February 10, 2021
[edit]
Remarks by President Biden to Department of Defense Personnel (10 February 2021)
  • So often, our Armed Forces and the Department of Defense staff are how the rest of the world encounters America. And you all know as well as anyone that our country is safer and stronger when we lead not just with the example of our power, but with the power of our example.
  • As your Commander-in-Chief, I will never hesitate to use force to defend the vital interests of the American people and our allies around the world when necessary. The central, indispensable mission of the Department of Defense is to deter aggression from our enemies and, if required, to fight and win wars to keep America safe.
  • I believe force should be a tool of last resort, not first. I understand the full weight of what it means to ask young, proud Americans to stand in the breach. As was referenced by the Secretary, my son Beau served in Iraq for a year. I'm the first President in 40 years, I'm told, who had a son or daughter who served in a warzone. So I know what it's like. Being Commander-in-Chief is an enormous responsibility and one that I will never take lightly or easily.
  • I also know that you are essential to the work of our diplomacy — not only as the ultimate guarantor of our security, but as diplomats yourselves.
  • You know, to the incredible individuals who serve in our Armed Forces: You are unquestionably part of the finest fighting force in the history of the world. You're warriors. The work you do each and every day is vital to ensuring the American people — your families, friends, and loved ones — are able to live in peace and security and growing prosperity. And for those of you who raise your hands and sign up to wear the uniform of the United States: We owe you an incredible debt.
  • I've said for many years, less than one percent of Americans do what you do: put yourself on the line for the rest of the 99 percent of the Americans you represent. The 99 percent of us owe you. We owe it to you to keep the faith with our sacred obligation to properly prepare and equip you when we send you into harm's way, and to care for you and your families, both while you are deployed and after you return home. You're incredible heroes and incredible patriots. I will never, ever dishonest you — dishonor you. I will never disrespect you. I will never politicize the work you do. That goes for our civilian professionals as well as the career military.
  • It's on all of us to stand up, to speak out when you see someone being abused. This is an organization that's defined American — excuse me, defeated American enemies on land, sea, and air, and been defined by the way we treat others.
  • I know this is the honor of my lifetime. The honor of my lifetime is to serve as your Commander-in-Chief.

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March 2021

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  • We will not shy away from engaging in the hard work to take on the damaging legacy of slavery and our treatment of Native Americans, or from doing the daily work of addressing systemic racism and violence against Black, Native, Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and other communities of color.
Remarks by President Biden Before Economic Briefing with Treasury Secretary Yellen
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Remarks by President Biden Before Economic Briefing with Treasury Secretary Yellen (March 5, 2021)
  • All of those empty storefronts aren't just shattered dreams, they're warning lights that are going off and state and local budgets that are being stretched because of the lack of tax revenue.
  • [S]ome of last month's job growth is a result of the December relief package. But without a rescue plan, these gains are going to slow. We can't afford one step forward and two steps backwards. We need to beat the virus, provide essential relief, and build an inclusive recovery.

April 2021

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  • There's no reason someone needs a weapon of war with 100 rounds, 100 bullets, that can be fired from that weapon. Nobody needs that, nobody needs that
  • The murder of George Floyd launched a summer of protest we hadn't seen since the Civil Rights era in the '60s — protests that unified people of every race and generation in peace and with purpose
Within our climate response lies an extraordinary engine of job creation and economic opportunity ready to be fired up. (Speech at the Virtual Leaders Summit on Climate April 22, 2021)
Remarks by President Biden on the Way Forward in Afghanistan
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Remarks by President Biden on the Way Forward in Afghanistan (April, 2021)

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Remarks by President Biden on Russia
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Remarks by President Biden on Russia (April 15, 2021)
  • Russia[ns] and Americans are both proud and patriotic people. And I believe the Russian people, like the American people, are invested in peaceful and a secure future of our world.
Remarks by President Biden on the Shooting in Boulder, Colorado
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Remarks by President Biden on the Shooting in Boulder, Colorado (March 23, 2021)
  • I just can't imagine how the families are feeling — the victims whose futures were stolen from them, from their families, from their loved ones who now have to struggle to go on and try to make sense of what's happened.

May 2021

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  • I'm especially honored to share the stage with Brittney, and Jerdan, and Nathan, and Margrit Katherine. I love those barrettes in your hair, man. I tell you what — and look at her; she looks like she's nineteen years old, sitting there with her — like a little lady with her legs crossed.
Remarks by President Biden on a Future Made in America
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Remarks by President Biden on a Future Made in America (May 18, 2022)
  • My name is Joe Biden and I'm a car guy.
  • I want to say something else up front: I'm standing here because, about 180 years ago, when I first got elected to the Senate, the UAW elected me.
  • It's not labor; it's union. Because what you allow people do is hold their heads up, make a decent living, and have pride in what they do — pride in what you build, pride in what you give this nation.

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June 2021

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  • This is not about trust. This is about self-interest and verification of self-interest.
    The proof of the pudding is in the eating. We're going to know shortly.
  • The Second Amendment, from the day it was passed, limited the type of people who could own a gun and what type of weapon you could own. You couldn't buy a cannon.
    Those who say the blood of lib- — "the blood of patriots," you know, and all the stuff about how we're going to have to move against the government.
    Well, the tree of liberty is not watered with the blood of patriots.
    What's happened is that there have never been — if you wanted or if you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons.

July 2021

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  • These steps will enhance our productivity — raising wages without raising prices. That won't increase inflation. It will take the pressure off of inflation, give a boost to our workforce, which leads to lower prices in the years ahead. So, if your primary concern right now is inflation, you should be even more enthusiastic about this plan. And as we promote — as we promote fair competition in our economy through the executive order I mentioned, it will drive down prices even further.
Remarks by President Biden on the Drawdown of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan
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Remarks by President Biden on the Drawdown of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, as quoted in "Remarks by President Biden on the Drawdown of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan", WhiteHouse.gov (8 July 2021)
  • The Afghan troops have 300,000 well-equipped — as well-equipped as any army in the world — and an air force against something like 75,000 Taliban.
  • Do I trust the Taliban? No. But I trust the capacity of the Afghan military, who is better trained, better equipped, and more re — more competent in terms of conducting war.
  • And the likelihood there's going to be one unified government in Afghanistan controlling the whole country is highly unlikely.
  • But the likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.
  • Keep in mind, as a student of history, as I'm sure you are, never has Afghanistan been a united country, not in all of its history. Not in all of its history.
Remarks by President Biden At Signing of An Executive Order Promoting Competition in the American Economy
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Remarks by President Biden At Signing of An Executive Order Promoting Competition in the American Economy, as quoted in "Remarks by President Biden At Signing of An Executive Order Promoting Competition in the American Economy", WhiteHouse.gov (9 July 2021)
  • Capitalism without competition isn't capitalism; it's exploitation.

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August 2021

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Address on the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan
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Video and transcript (31 August 2021), Rev.com
Video coverage (31 August 2021), CNBC, YouTube
  • The Taliban has made public commitments broadcast on television and radio across Afghanistan on safe passage for anyone wanting to leave, including those who worked alongside Americans. We don't take them by their word alone, but by their actions. And we have leverage to make sure those commitments are met.

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  • For now, I urge all Americans to join me in grateful prayer for our troops and diplomats and intelligence officers who carried out this mission of mercy in Kabul at a tremendous risk with such unparalleled results. An air-lift that evacuated tens of thousands. To a network of volunteers and veterans who helped identify those needing evacuation, guide them to the airport and provided them for their support along the way. We're going to continue to need their help. We need your help and I'm looking forward to meeting with you. And to everyone who is now offering or who will offer to welcome Afghan allies to their homes around the world, including in America, we thank you.
  • I take responsibility for the decision. Now some say we should have started mass evacuation sooner and, "Couldn't this have been done in a more orderly manner?" I respectfully disagree. Imagine if we'd begun evacuations in June or July, bringing in thousands of American troops and evacuated more than 120,000 people in the middle of a civil war. There still would have been a rush to the airport, a breakdown in confidence and control of the government, and it still would have been a very difficult and dangerous mission.
    The bottom line is there is no evacuation from the end of a war that you can run without the kinds of complexities, challenge and threats we faced. None. There are those who would say we should have stayed indefinitely, for years on end. They ask, "Why don't we just keep doing what we were doing? Why do we have to change anything?" The fact is, everything had changed.
  • My predecessor had made a deal with the Taliban. When I came into office, we faced a deadline, May one. The Taliban onslaught was coming, we faced one of two choices. Follow the agreement of the previous administration, or extend to have more time for people to get out. Or send in thousands of more troops and escalate the war.
    To those asking for a third decade of war in Afghanistan I ask, "What is of vital national interest?" In my view, we only have one. To make sure Afghanistan can never be used again to launch an attack on our homeland. Remember why we went to Afghanistan in the first place, because we were attacked by Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda on September 11th, 2001, and they were based in Afghanistan.
    We delivered justice to bin Laden on May 2nd, 2011 over a decade ago. Al-Qaeda was decimated. I respectfully suggest you ask yourself this question, "If we've been attacked on September 11th, 2001 from Yemen, instead of Afghanistan, would we have ever gone to war in Afghanistan, even though the Taliban controlled Afghanistan in the year 2001?" I believe the honest answer is no. That's because we had no vital interest in Afghanistan other than to prevent an attack on America's homeland and our friends, and that's true today.
  • We succeeded in what we set out to do in Afghanistan over a decade ago, then we stayed for another decade. It was time to end this war. This is a new world. The terror threat has metastasized across the world, well beyond Afghanistan. We face threats from al-Shabab in Somalia, al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria and the Arabian Peninsula, and ISIS attempting to create a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and establishing affiliates across Africa and Asia.
    The fundamental obligation of a president, in my opinion, is to defend and protect America. Not against threats of 2001, but against the threats of 2021 and tomorrow. That is the guiding principle behind my decisions about Afghanistan. I simply do not believe that the safety and security of America is enhanced by continuing to deploy thousands of American troops and spending billions of dollars a year in Afghanistan. But I also know that the threat from terrorism continues in its pernicious and evil nature. But it's changed, expanded to other countries. Our strategy has to change too.
  • We will maintain the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and other countries. We just don't need to fight a ground war to do it. We have what's called Over The Horizon capabilities, which means we can strike terrorists and targets without American boots on the ground, or very few if needed. We've shown that capacity just in the last week. We struck ISIS-K remotely, days after they murdered 13 of our service members and dozens of innocent Afghans. And to ISIS-K, we are not done with you yet.
  • As Commander in Chief I firmly believe the best path to guard our safety and our security lies in a tough, unforgiving, targeted, precise strategy that goes after terror where it is today, not where it was two decades ago. That's what's in our national interest.
    Here's a critical thing to understand, the world is changing. We're engaged in a serious competition with China. We're dealing with the challenges on multiple fronts with Russia. We're confronted with cyber attacks and nuclear proliferation. We have to shore up America's competitiveness to meet these new challenges in the competition for the 21st century. We can do both, fight terrorism and take on new threats that are here now, and will continue to be here in the future. And there's nothing China or Russia would rather have, would want more in this competition than the United States to be bogged down another decade in Afghanistan.
    As we turn the page on the foreign policy that has guided our nation in the last two decades, we've got to learn from our mistakes. To me there are two that are paramount. First, we must set missions with clear, achievable goals. Not ones we'll never reach. And second, I want to stay clearly focused on the fundamental national security interest of the United States of America.
  • This decision about Afghanistan is not just about Afghanistan. It's about ending an era of major military operations to remake other countries. We saw a mission of counter-terrorism in Afghanistan, getting the terrorist and stopping attacks, morph into a counterinsurgency, nation building, trying to create a democratic cohesive and United Afghanistan. Something that has never been done over many centuries of Afghan's history.
    Moving on from that mindset and those kinds of large scale troop deployments will make us stronger and more effective and safer at home. And for anyone who gets the wrong idea, let me say clearly, to those who wish America harm, to those engage in terrorism against us our allies know this, the United States will never rest. We will not forgive, will not forget. We'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth and you will pay the ultimate price.
  • Let me be clear, we'll continue to support the Afghan people through diplomacy, international influence and humanitarian aid. We'll continue to push for regional diplomacy engagement to prevent violence and instability. We'll continue to speak out for the basic rights of the Afghan people, especially women and girls. As we speak out for women and girls all around the globe.
    And I've been clear that human rights will be the center of our foreign policy, but the way to do that is not through endless military deployments, but through diplomacy, economic tools and rallying the rest of the world for support.
  • My fellow Americans, the war in Afghanistan is now over. I'm the fourth president who has faced the issue of whether and when to end this war. When I was running for president, I made a commitment to the American people that I would end this war. Today, I've honored that commitment. It was time to be honest with the American people again.
    We no longer had a clear purpose and an open-ended mission in Afghanistan. After 20 years of war in Afghanistan, I refuse to send another generation of America's sons and daughters to fight a war that should have ended long ago.

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September 2021

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  • Today, Texas law SB 8 went into effect. This extreme Texas law blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade and upheld as precedent for nearly half a century
  • My administration is deeply committed to the constitutional right established in Roe v. Wade nearly five decades ago and will protect and defend that right
  • Look, I don't want to punish anyone's success, but the wealthy have been getting a free ride at the expense of the middle class for too long.
  • I intend to pass one of the biggest middle class tax cuts ever — paid for by making those at the top pay their fair share.
  • I give you my word as a Biden: If you make under $400,000 a year, I'll never raise your taxes one cent, but, I'm going to make those at the top start to pay their share. It's only fair.

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Remarks by President Biden While Receiving a COVID-⁠19 Booster Shot
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Remarks by President Biden While Receiving a COVID-⁠19 Booster Shot (September 27, 2021)
  • Now, I know it doesn't look like it, but I am over 65.
  • [L]et me be clear: Boosters are important, but the most important thing we need to do is get more people vaccinated.

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Remarks by President Biden on the Economy
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Remarks by President Biden on the Economy (September 16, 2021)
  • That isn’t about raising their taxes. It’s about the super-wealthy finally beginning to pay what they owe — what the existing tax code calls for — just like hardworking Americans do all over this country every Tax Day.
  • Let’s not look backward, just trying to rebuild what we had. Let’s look forward, together, as one America — not to build back, but to build back better.

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October 2021

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  • We're going to get this done. It doesn't matter when. It doesn't matter whether it's in six minutes, six days, or six weeks.
    • 1 October 2021
  • At least 55 corporations in America didn't pay a single penny in federal income tax last year. [And t]hat's got to change.
Remarks by President Biden on the Need to Raise the Debt Ceiling
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Remarks by President Biden on the Need to Raise the Debt Ceiling (October 6, 2021)
  • We haven't failed to do that since our inception as a country. We need to act. These leaders know the need to act.
  • It's about paying for what we owe and preventing a catastrophic event occurring in our economy.
  • Today's discussion won't be partisan. It shouldn't be. Raising the debt limit is usually bipartisan.

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Remarks by President Biden on Restoring Protections for National Monuments
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Remarks by President Biden on Restoring Protections for National Monuments (October 8, 2021)

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Remarks at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
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Remarks by President Biden at the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Dedication of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial (21 October 2021)
  • In our nation, we now face an inflection point in the battle, literally, for the soul of America. And it's up to us, together, to choose who we want to be and what we want to be.
    I know — I know the progress does not come fast enough. It never has. And the process of governing is frustrating and sometimes dispiriting. But I also know what's possible if we keep the pressure up, if we never give up, if we keep the faith.
  • In our time, it's about recognizing that for much too long we've allowed a narrowed and cramped view of the promise of America — a view that America is a zero-sum game, particularly of the recent past. "If you succeed, I fail." "If you get ahead, I fall behind." And maybe worst of all, "If I can hold you down, I lift myself up."
    Instead of what it should be — and it's just self-evident — "If you do well, we all do well." That's keeping the promise of America.
  • I've never seen a time when working folks did well that the wealthy didn't do very well.
    Look, it's the core of our administration's economic vision, and it's a fundamental paradigm shift for this nation. For the first time in a couple generations, we're going to be investing in working families — putting them first and helping them get ahead, rather than the wealthy and the biggest and most powerful people out there.
  • To make real the full promise of America, we have to protect that fundamental right: the right to vote — the sacred right to vote. You know, it's democracy's threshold of liberty. With it, anything is possible. Without it, nothing is.
    Today, the right to vote and the rule of law are under unrelenting assault from Republican governors, attorneys general, secretaries of state, state legislators. And they're following my predecessor — the last President — into a deep, deep black hole and abyss.
  • Some state legislatures want to make it harder for you to vote. And if you do vote, they want to be able to tell you whether or not your vote counts. That's not happened before.
    They want the ability to reject the final vote and ignore the will of the people if their preferred candidate — Black or white or Asian or Latino, doesn't matter — if that — if their candidate doesn't win.
    And they're targeting not just voters of color, as I said, but every voter who doesn't vote the way they want.
    I have to admit to you, having been as senator in my whole of 36-year career involved in — I worked with a lot of folks out here on civil rights issues — I thought, "Man, you can't turn this back." I bet you could defeat hate. What if we could actually defeat hate?
    But the most un-American thing that any of us can imagine — the most undemocratic and the most unpatriotic — and yet, sadly, not unprecedented. Time and again, we've witnessed threats to the right to vote in free and fair elections come to fruition. Each time, we fought back. And we've got to continue to fight back today.
  • The U.S. Department of Justice has doubled the voting rights enforcement staff.
    We got a long way to go though. It's using authorities to challenge the onslaught of state laws undermining voting rights, whether in old or new ways.
    It's something like 20 percent of the Re- — or half the Republicans — the registered Republicans: I am not your President; Donald Trump is still your President. As we Catholics say, "Oh, my God."
  • I know the moment we're in; you know the moment we are in. I know the stakes; you know the stakes. This is far from over.
    And finally, we're confronting the stains of what remains — the deep stain on the soul of the nation: hate and white supremacy [...] that hate never goes away. It never – I thought — in all of the years I've been involved, I thought once we got through it, it would go away. But it doesn't; it only hides. It only hides until some seeming-legitimate person breathes some oxygen under the rocks where they're hiding and gives it some breath.

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November 2021

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UN Climate Conference in Scotland, UK
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When I talk to the American people about climate change, I tell them it's about jobs. It's about workers [and the] communities that will revitalize themselves around new industries and opportunities.
Excerpts from Remarks by President Biden at the COP26 Leaders Statement at whitehouse.gov (November 1, 2021)

December 2021

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2022

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January 2022

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Remarks to Mark One Year Since The January 6th Deadly Assault On The U.S. Capitol
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Remarks By President Biden To Mark One Year Since The January 6th Deadly Assault On The U.S. Capitol (6 January 2021) · CNN video
  • To state the obvious, one year ago today, in this sacred place, democracy was attacked — simply attacked. The will of the people was under assault. The Constitution — our Constitution — faced the gravest of threats.
    Outnumbered and in the face of a brutal attack, the Capitol Police, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, the National Guard, and other brave law enforcement officials saved the rule of law.
    Our democracy held. We the people endured. And we the people prevailed.
    For the first time in our history, a president had not just lost an election, he tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol.
    But they failed. They failed.
    And on this day of remembrance, we must make sure that such an attack never, never happens again.
  • We've all heard the police officers who were there that day testify to what happened. One officer called it, quote, a ... "medieval" battle, and that he was more afraid that day than he was fighting the war in Iraq.
    They've repeatedly asked since that day: How dare anyone — anyone — diminish, belittle, or deny the hell they were put through?
    We saw it with our own eyes. Rioters menaced these halls, threatening the life of the Speaker of the House, literally erecting gallows to hang the Vice President of the United States of America.
    But what did we not see?
    We didn't see a former president, who had just rallied the mob to attack — sitting in the private dining room off the Oval Office in the White House, watching it all on television and doing nothing for hours as police were assaulted, lives at risk, and the nation's capital under siege.
    This wasn't a group of tourists. This was an armed insurrection.
    They weren't looking to uphold the will of the people. They were looking to deny the will of the people.
    They ... weren't looking to uphold a free and fair election. They were looking to overturn one.
    They weren't looking to save the cause of America. They were looking to subvert the Constitution.
    This isn't about being bogged down in the past. This is about making sure the past isn't buried.
    That's the only way forward. That's what great nations do. They don't bury the truth, they face up to it. Sounds like hyperbole, but that's the truth: They face up to it.
    We are a great nation.

  • My fellow Americans, in life, there's truth and, tragically, there are lies — lies conceived and spread for profit and power.
    We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie.
    And here is the truth: The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He's done so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own interests as more important than his country's interests and America's interests, and because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution.
    He can't accept he lost, even though that's what 93 United States senators, his own Attorney General, his own Vice President, governors and state officials in every battleground state have all said: He lost.
    That's what 81 million of you did as you voted for a new way forward.
    He has done what no president in American history — the history of this country — has ever, ever done: He refused to accept the results of an election and the will of the American people.    

  • While some courageous men and women in the Republican Party are standing against it, trying to uphold the principles of that party, too many others are transforming that party into something else. They seem no longer to want to be the party — the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower, Reagan, the Bushes.
    But whatever my other disagreements are with Republicans who support the rule of law and not the rule of a single man, I will always seek to work together with them to find shared solutions where possible. Because if we have a shared belief in democracy, then anything is possible — anything.
    And so, at this moment, we must decide: What kind of nation are we going to be?
    Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm?
    Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people?
    Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth but in the shadow of lies?
    We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation. The way forward is to recognize the truth and to live by it.

  • The Big Lie being told by the former president and many Republicans who fear his wrath is that the insurrection in this country actually took place on Election Day — November 3rd, 2020.
    Think about that. Is that what you thought? Is that what you thought when you voted that day? Taking part in an insurrection? Is that what you thought you were doing? Or did you think you were carrying out your highest duty as a citizen and voting?
    The former president and his supporters are trying to rewrite history. They want you to see Election Day as the day of insurrection and the riot that took place here on January 6th as the true expression of the will of the people.
    Can you think of a more twisted way to look at this country — to look at America? I cannot.
    Here's the truth: The election of 2020 was the greatest demonstration of democracy in the history of this country.
    More of you voted in that election than have ever voted in all of American history. Over 150 million Americans went to the polls and voted that day in a pandemic — some at grea- — great risk to their lives. They should be applauded, not attacked.
    Right now, in state after state, new laws are being written — not to protect the vote, but to deny it; not only to suppress the vote, but to subvert it; not to strengthen or protect our democracy, but because the former president lost.
    Instead of looking at the election results from 2020 and saying they need new ideas or better ideas to win more votes, the former president and his supporters have decided the only way for them to win is to suppress your vote and subvert our elections.
    It's wrong. It's undemocratic. And frankly, it's un-American.
  • You can't love your country only when you win.
    You can't obey the law only when it's convenient.
    You can't be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies.
    Those who stormed this Capitol and those who instigated and incited and those who called on them to do so held a dagger at the throat of America — at American democracy.
    They didn't come here out of patriotism or principle. They came here in rage — not in service of America, but rather in service of one man.
    Those who incited the mob — the real plotters — who were desperate to deny the certification of the election and defy the will of the voters.
    But their plot was foiled. Congressmen — Democrats and Republicans — stayed. Senators, representatives, staff — they finished their work the Constitution demanded. They honored their oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
    Look, folks, now it's up to all of us — to "We the People" — to stand for the rule of law, to preserve the flame of democracy, to keep the promise of America alive.
    That promise is at risk, targeted by the forces that value brute strength over the sanctity of democracy, fear over hope, personal gain over public good.
    Make no mistake about it: We're living at an inflection point in history.
    Both at home and abroad, we're engaged anew in a struggle between democracy and autocracy, between the aspirations of the many and the greed of the few, between the people's right of self-determination and ... the self-seeking autocrat.    

  • From China to Russia and beyond, they're betting that democracy's days are numbered. They've actually told me democracy is too slow, too bogged down by division to succeed in today's rapidly changing, complicated world.
    And they're betting — they're betting America will become more like them and less like us. They're betting that America is a place for the autocrat, the dictator, the strongman.
    I do not believe that. That is not who we are. That is not who we have ever been. And that is not who we should ever, ever be.
  • Our Founding Fathers, as imperfect as they were, set in motion an experiment that changed the world — literally changed the world.
    Here in America, the people would rule, power would be transferred peacefully — never at the tip of a spear or the barrel of a gun.
    And they committed to paper an idea that ... they couldn't live up to but an idea that couldn't be constrained: Yes, in America all people are created equal.
    We reject the view that if you succeed, I fail; if you get ahead, I fall behind; if I hold you down, I somehow lift myself up.
    The former President, who lies about this election, and the mob that attacked this Capitol could not be further away from the core American values.
    They want to rule or they will ruin — ruin what our country fought for at Lexington and Concord; at Gettysburg; at Omaha Beach; Seneca Falls; Selma, Alabama. What — and what we were fighting for: the right to vote, the right to govern ourselves, the right to determine our own destiny.
    And with rights come responsibilities: the responsibility to see each other as neighbors — maybe we disagree with that neighbor, but they're not an adversary; the responsibility to accept defeat then get back in the arena and try again the next time to make your case; the responsibility to see that America is an idea — an idea that requires vigilant stewardship.
    As we stand here today — one year since January 6th, 2021 — the lies that drove the anger and madness we saw in this place, they have not abated.
    So, we have to be firm, resolute, and unyielding in our defense of the right to vote and to have that vote counted.
  • Don't kid yourself: The pain and scars from that day run deep.
    I said it many times and it's no more true or real than when we think about the events of January 6th: We are in a battle for the soul of America. A battle that, by the grace of God and the goodness and gracious — and greatness of this nation, we will win.
    Believe me, I know how difficult democracy is. And I'm crystal clear about the threats America faces. But I also know that our darkest days can lead to light and hope.

  • I did not seek this fight brought to this Capitol one year ago today, but I will not shrink from it either.
    I will stand in this breach. I will defend this nation. And I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of our democracy.
    We will make sure the will of the people is heard; that the ballot prevails, not violence; that authority in this nation will always be peacefully transferred.
    I believe the power of the presidency and the purpose is to unite this nation, not divide it; to lift us up, not tear us apart; to be about us — about us, not about "me."
    Deep in the heart of America burns a flame lit almost 250 years ago — of liberty, freedom, and equality.
    This is not a land of kings or dictators or autocrats. We're a nation of laws; of order, not chaos; of peace, not violence.
    Here in America, the people rule through the ballot, and their will prevails.
    So, let us remember: Together, we're one nation, under God, indivisible; that today, tomorrow, and forever, at our best, we are the United States of America.
    God bless you all. May God protect our troops. And may God bless those who stand watch over our democracy.

February 2022

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"For too long, our government, our courts haven't looked like America. . . . . [T]oday, I'm pleased to introduce [Ketanji Brown Jackson] to the American people [as a candidate for the Supreme Court]."

March 2022

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  • The idea that we're going to send in offensive equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in with American pilots and American crews, just understand ... that's called World War III, okay? Let's get it straight here, guys. We will not fight the third world war in Ukraine.
State of the Union Address
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Tonight, we meet as Democrats Republicans and Independents. But most importantly as Americans.
With a duty to one another to the American people to the Constitution.
And with an unwavering resolve that freedom will always triumph over tyranny.
State of the Union (1 March 2022)
From President Zelenskyy to every Ukrainian, their fearlessness, their courage, their determination, inspires the world.
  • Last year COVID-19 kept us apart. This year we are finally together again.
    Tonight, we meet as Democrats Republicans and Independents. But most importantly as Americans.
    With a duty to one another to the American people to the Constitution.
    And with an unwavering resolve that freedom will always triumph over tyranny.
  • Six days ago, Russia's Vladimir Putin sought to shake the foundations of the free world thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways. But he badly miscalculated.
    He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead he met a wall of strength he never imagined.
    He met the Ukrainian people.
    From President Zelenskyy to every Ukrainian, their fearlessness, their courage, their determination, inspires the world.
    Groups of citizens blocking tanks with their bodies. Everyone from students to retirees teachers turned soldiers defending their homeland.

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Remarks to members of the 82nd Airborne Division in Poland
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You all decided to be here for your country. Every one of you volunteered. Every single one of you stepped up. And the rest of the 99 percent of the rest of the country, including me, owes you and owes you big ...
Remarks by President Biden During Visit with Service Members of the 82nd Airborne Division (25 March 2022)
Who is going to prevail? Are democracies going to prevail ... and the values we share? Or are autocracies going to prevail? And that's really what's at stake.
So what you're doing is consequential — really consequential.
  • First of all, thank you. You represent 1 percent of the American people. None of you have to be here. You all decided to be here for your country. Every one of you volunteered. Every single one of you stepped up. And the rest of the 99 percent of the rest of the country, including me, owes you and owes you big, number one.
    Number two, you know, we're a unique country in many ways. And we're the only country — the only country in the world not based — organized based on geography or ethnicity or religion or race or anything else; we're based on an idea. Literally the only country in the world based on an idea that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all women and men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.
    Sounds corny, but it's the truth of who we are. We've never lived up to it, but we never walked away from it. And the rest of the world looks to us. Because, you know, we not only lead by the example of our power, but by the power of our example. And your generation combines both.
  • The rest of the world looks at you and sees who you are. They see you are a multi-ethnic group of Americans that are, in fact, together and united into one so — resolve: to defend your country and to help those who need help. That's why you're here.
  • The last 10 years, there have been fewer democracies that have been formed than we've lost in the world.
    So this is — what you're engaged in is much more than just whether or not you can alleviate the pain and suffering of the people of Ukraine.
    We're in a new phase — your generation. We're at an inflection point. About every four or five generations, there comes along a change — a fundamental change takes place. The world ain't going to be the same — not because of Ukraine, but — not going to be the same 10, 15 years from now in terms of our organizational structures.
    So the question is: Who is going to prevail? Are democracies going to prevail ... and the values we share? Or are autocracies going to prevail? And that's really what's at stake.
    So what you're doing is consequential — really consequential.
  • The fact of the matter is that you are the finest — this is not hyperbole — you are the finest fighting force in the history of the world. Let me say it again: the finest fighting force in the history of the world.
  • I came for one simple, basic reason — not a joke: to say thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your service. Thank you for who you are. And thank you for what you're doing.
    And as my grandfather would say every time I walked out of his house — he'd yell at me, "Joey" — in Scranton — he said, "Keep the faith." And my grandmother — my grandmother would yell, all kidding aside — this is serious — she'd yell, "No, spread it." You're spreading the faith.
    Thank you, thank you, thank you. May God bless you all and keep you safe. May God protect our troops.
United Efforts of the Free World to Support the People of Ukraine
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Remarks by President Biden on the United Efforts of the Free World to Support the People of Ukraine (26 March 2022)
Time and again, history shows that it's from the darkest moments that the greatest progress follows. And history shows this is the task of our time, the task of this generation. ... We will have a different future — a brighter future rooted in democracy and principle, hope and light, of decency and dignity, of freedom and possibilities.
  • Over the last 30 years, the forces of autocracy have revived all across the globe. Its hallmarks are familiar ones: contempt for the rule of law, contempt for democratic freedom, contempt for the truth itself.
  • Over the long term, as a matter of economic security and national security and for the survivability of the planet, we all need to move as quickly as possible to clean, renewable energy. And we'll work together to help get that done so that the days of any nation being subject to the whims of a tyrant for its energy needs are over. They must end. They must end.
    And second, we have to fight the corruption coming from the Kremlin to give the Russian people a fair chance.
    And finally, and most urgently, we maintain absolute unity — we must — among the world's democracies.
    It's not enough to speak with rhetorical flourish, of ennobling words of democracy, of freedom, equality, and liberty. All of us, including here in Poland, must do the hard work of democracy each and every day. My country as well.
    That's why — that's why I came to Europe again this week with a clear and determined message for NATO, for the G7, for the European Union, for all freedom-loving nations: We must commit now to be in this fight for the long haul. We must remain unified today and tomorrow and the day after and for the years and decades to come.
    It will not be easy. There will be costs. But it's a price we have to pay. Because the darkness that drives autocracy is ultimately no match for the flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere.
  • It's not enough to speak with rhetorical flourish, of ennobling words of democracy, of freedom, equality, and liberty. All of us, including here in Poland, must do the hard work of democracy each and every day. My country as well. That's why—[applause]. That's why I came to Europe again this week with a clear and determined message for NATO, for the G-7, for the European Union, for all freedom-loving nations: We must commit now to be in this fight for the long haul. We must remain unified today and tomorrow and the day after and for the years and decades to come. It will not be easy. There will be costs. But it's a price we have to pay. Because the darkness that drives autocracy is ultimately no match for the flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere.
  • Time and again, history shows that it's from the darkest moments that the greatest progress follows. And history shows, this is the task of our time, the task of this generation. Let's remember: The hammer blow that brought down the Berlin Wall, the might that lifted the Iron Curtain were not the words of a single leader, it was the people of Europe who, for decades, fought to free themselves.

April 2022

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Russia is the aggressor. No if, ands, or buts about it. Russia is the aggressor. And the world must and will hold Russia accountable.
Statement by President Biden on Veterans Unemployment Matching Historic Low
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Statement by President Biden on Veterans Unemployment Matching Historic Low (April 21, 2022)
  • Jill and I believe that our nation has a sacred obligation to America's veterans and their families. Among other things, this means providing veterans with the tools and resources for economic opportunity, security, and dignity.

May 2022

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  • This week, my administration released new information that contains that we're on track to cut the federal deficit by another — another $1.5 trillion by the end of this fiscal year — the biggest decline in a single year ever in American history. And the biggest decline on top of us having a $350 billion drop in the deficit last year, my first year as President.
  • I want every American to know that I am taking inflation very seriously and it is my top domestic priority
  • If the Court overturns Roe, it will fall on our nation's elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman's right to choose. And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November.
  • The idea that we're going to make a judgment that is going to say that no one can make the judgment to choose to abort a child, based on a decision by the Supreme Court, I think goes way overboard
  • The actions and policies of certain former members of the Government of Yemen and others in threatening Yemen's peace, security, and stability continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.
  • The regime's brutality and repression of the Syrian people, who have called for freedom and a representative government, not only endangers the Syrian people themselves, but also generates instability throughout the region.
  • I urge [the] Congress to move promptly on the COVID funding bill. This virus knows no borders; we must continue to save lives here at home and around the world.
  • Quantum computers, one of the many promising applications of QIS, are not a replacement to traditional computers. Rather, they are a fundamentally different kind of computer, with the ability to analyze information in ways that traditional computers cannot.
  • I am so tired of acronyms in Washington. I can't stand it. I cannot stand it. But I'm going to have to learn, aren't I?
  • I've been to every major fire but two this year, because FEMA is working again. We show up; we don't wait. We don't have to wonder.
  • Our policy toward Taiwan has not changed at all. We remain committed to supporting peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and ensuring that there is no unilateral change to the status quo.
  • It is time that we acknowledge the legacy of systemic racism in our criminal justice system and work together to eliminate the racial disparities that endure to this day. Doing so serves all Americans.
  • We must work together to create an America where everyone feels safe in their community, where children feel safe in their schools. And, of course, that responsibility that we collectively have to ensure that all people feel safe in their community is what brings us together today.
  • Every day, Ukrainians pay with their lives, and they fight along — and the atrocities that the Russians are engaging in are just beyond the pale. And the cost of the fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is even more costly. That's why we're staying in this.
  • The bottom line is the deficit went up every year under my predecessor, before the pandemic and during the pandemic. And it's gone down both years since I've been here — period.

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Remarks By President Biden on the Affordable Connectivity Program
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Remarks By President Biden on the Affordable Connectivity Program (May 9, 2022)
  • That old saying, "All that needs to be said has already been said, but I'm going to say it again."
  • You know, the need for high-speed Internet is — is a little bit like what used to be probably what my grandfather talked about: needing to have a telephone. It's pretty consequential. And it's only going to keep growing, this need. High-speed Internet is not a luxury any longer, it's a necessity.
  • [H]ere in the United States of America, how many times have you seen a mom or a dad drive up to a parking lot outside a McDonald's and — just so they could get connected to the Internet so their kid could do their homework during the pandemic, literally? It's just not right. It's not who we are.
A Proclamation on National Immigrant Heritage Month, 2022
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A Proclamation on National Immigrant Heritage Month, 2022 (May 31, 2022)

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President Biden Delivers Remarks on Building a Better America
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President Biden Delivers Remarks on Building a Better America (May 6, 2022)
  • My dad used to say "A job's about a lot more than a paycheck, it's about your dignity, it's about place in the community." What these guys do is they care about the dignity of the worker, and I see things are really beginning to change. I really believe it. And Senator Portman, since he's not running again, I can say all the nice things about him that I want.
  • ...[W]e reduced the deficit by a total of 350 billion dollars, that's reduced the deficit, last year, and this year, by the end of the fiscal, by October 1st, We will of reduced this year's deficit by 1 Trillion, 500 Billion dollars. Never in the history of America has that happened before.
  • I'm tired of trickle-down-economics, I've never seen it really work, but I tell you what, I'm a capitalist, I want to build this economy [from] the bottom up and the middle out, because when that happens everybody does well, the poor have a way up, the middle class do fine, and the wealthy do very very well. [They] never get hurt when that happens.
  • That's no malarkey, That's a fact.
  • I've spent more time with Xi Jinping, [the] leader of China, than any other world leader has, over seventy six hours, nine of them on a telephone, the rest in person.
  • We're making "Buy America" a reality, not just a slogan.

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Remarks Honoring the Lives Lost in Buffalo, New York, and Calling on All Americans to Condemn White Supremacy
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Remarks by President Biden and First Lady Biden Honoring the Lives Lost in Buffalo, New York, and Calling on All Americans to Condemn White Supremacy (17 May 2022)

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Remarks on the School Shooting in Uvalde, Texas (24 May 2022)
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Remarks on the School Shooting in Uvalde, Texas (24 May 2022)
  • As a nation, we have to ask: When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God's name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?

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June 2022

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  • And I hope we all walk away from days like this and moments like this when we go back to the places where we work every day, often being one of the only like us in a room or who has had the life experience we’ve had — I think these are moments that are very important to remember that we are not alone. There are all of us who are in these rooms together, even if we don’t see each other at a particular moment. So, it’s a good time to be together. So, thank you all.
A Proclamation on Father's Day, 2022
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A Proclamation on Father's Day, 2022 (June 17, 2022)
  • Too many of us know a dad who was lost too soon or a father who has lost a child. The pain runs deep, but we draw strength from knowing that our loved ones will always remain with us.

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Statement by President Biden on Bipartisan Senate Gun Safety Proposal
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Statement by President Biden on Bipartisan Senate Gun Safety Proposal (June 12, 2022)

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Remarks by President Biden in a Briefing on the New Mexico Wildfires
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Remarks by President Biden in a Briefing on the New Mexico Wildfires (June 11, 2022)

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  • Just so you know, I've done too many individual and mass funerals for firefighters and hotshots and, you're an incredible group of people. I mean, a truly incredible group of people.
  • [T]he overwhelming human instinct is you run away from a fire, not into it. And the only thing that protects firefighters is more firefighters — the only thing. More firefighters.
Remarks by President Biden on Inflation and Actions Taken to Lower Prices and Address Supply Chain Challenges
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Remarks by President Biden on Inflation and Actions Taken to Lower Prices and Address Supply Chain Challenges (June 10, 2022)

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  • We're going to make sure that everybody knows Exxon's profits. Why don't you tell them what Exxon's profits were this year — this quarter? Exxon made more money than God this year. And, by the way, nothing has changed.
A Proclamation on Flag Day And National Flag Week
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A Proclamation on Flag Day And National Flag Week, 2022 (June 10, 2022)

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Remarks by President Biden at the Inaugural Ceremony of the Ninth Summit of the Americas
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Remarks by President Biden at the Inaugural Ceremony of the Ninth Summit of the Americas (June 8, 2022)
  • As we meet again today, in a moment when democracy is under assault around the world, let us unite again and renew our conviction that democracy is not only the defining feature of American histories, but the essential ingredient to Americas' futures.
  • And no longer is this a question of what will we do — what will the United States do for the Americas. The question is what we accomplish by working together as true partners with diverse capabilities but equal and mutual respect, recognizing both our individual sovereignty and our shared responsibilities.
  • [W]hen we invest in strengthening workers and the middle class, the poor have a ladder up, and those at the top do just fine. That's how we can increase opportunity and decrease persistent inequity.
  • We need to break the cycle where marginalized communities are hit the hardest by disasters and have the fewest resources to recover from crises and prepare for the next one.
  • When I hear "climate," I think jobs — good-paying, high-quality jobs that will help speed our transition to a green economy of the future and unleash sustainable growth; jobs in developing and deploying clean energy; jobs in decarbonizing the economy; jobs in protecting biodiversity of our hemisphere; jobs that will provide dignity of being able to feed your family, give your children a better life, and envision a future of possibilities.
  • That's what this is all about: responding to basic human desires that we share for dignity, for safety, and for security. And when those basics are absent in one place, that's when people make the desperate decision to seek them elsewhere.

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Remarks by Vice President Harris on Corinthian Student Loan Forgiveness
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Remarks by Vice President Harris on Corinthian Student Loan Forgiveness (June 2, 2022)
  • Students who simply wanted to better their prospects in life and instead found themselves taken advantage of by a scam that took their money and gave them nothing in return except heartache.
  • So, it's one thing to say "there should be accountability," but when we think about and define "accountability" based on bad actors and bad deeds, part of our system of justice tells us that, yes, there should be serious, swift, and severe consequence, but also we must look to those who were harmed and ask, "Are we doing enough to allow them the ability to recover from that harm?"
Statement by President Joe Biden on the 101st Anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre
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Statement by President Joe Biden on the 101st Anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre (June 1, 2022)
  • We cannot bury pain and trauma forever. As I said in Tulsa, great nations do not hide from their histories. We are a great nation, and by reckoning with and remedying the injustices of the past, America will become greater still.

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Remarks by President Biden During Virtual Meeting on Accelerating Infant Formula Production Through Operation Fly Formula
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Remarks by President Biden During Virtual Meeting on Accelerating Infant Formula Production Through Operation Fly Formula (June 1, 2022)
  • Look, as a father and a grandfather — and I'm sure we all feel the same way — I understand how difficult this shortage has been for families all across the country. There is nothing more stressful than the feeling like you can't get what your child needs — what he or she needs.
  • Without Operation Fly Formula, we would have taken three weeks to get this product to the United States. Because of our actions, it took three days. And it's heeded the request that people had, and it's headed to American shelves.
President Biden Statement on the UN-Mediated Truce Extension in Yemen
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Yemen's civil war
The last two months in Yemen, thanks to the truce brokered in April, have been among the most peaceful periods since this terrible war began seven years ago. Thousands of lives have been saved as fighting receded. For the first time in seven years, Yemenis are able to fly from Sana'a to destinations outside Yemen. – President Biden Statement on the UN-Mediated Truce Extension in Yemen (June 2, 2022)
President Biden Statement on the UN-Mediated Truce Extension in Yemen (June 2, 2022)

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Remarks on Gun Violence in America
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On Memorial Day this past Monday, Jill and I visited Arlington National Cemetery.
As we entered those hallowed grounds, we saw rows and rows of crosses among the rows of headstones, with other emblems of belief, honoring those who paid the ultimate price on battlefields around the world. – Remarks on Gun Violence in America (June 2, 2022)
Remarks by President Biden on Gun Violence in America (June 2, 2022) · C-SPAN video
The day before, we visited Uvalde — Uvalde, Texas. In front of Robb Elementary School, we stood before 21 crosses for 19 third and fourth graders and two teachers.
I couldn't help but think there are too many other schools, too many other everyday places that have become killing fields, battlefields here in America.


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  • After Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Charleston, after Orlando, after Las Vegas, after Parkland, nothing has been done.
    This time, that can't be true. This time, we must actually do something.
    The issue we face is one of conscience and common sense.
  • For so many of you at home, I want to be very clear: This is not about taking away anyone's guns. It's ... not about vilifying ... gun owners. In fact, we believe we should be treating responsible gun owners as an example of how every gun owner should behave. I respect the culture and the tradition and the concerns of lawful gun owners.
    At the same time, the Second Amendment, like all other rights, is not absolute. ... It was Justice Scalia who wrote, and I quote, "Like most rights, the right..." — Second Amendment — the rights granted by the Second Amendment are "not unlimited." Not unlimited. It never has been.
    There have always been limitations on what weapons you can own in America. For example, machine guns have been federally regulated for nearly 90 years. And this is still a free country.
    This isn't about taking away anyone's rights. It's about protecting children. It's about protecting families. It's about protecting whole communities. It's about protecting our freedoms to go to school, to a grocery store, and to a church without being shot and killed.
  • According to new data just released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, guns are the number one killer of children in the United States of America. The number one killer. More than car accidents. More than cancer.
    Over the last two decades, more school-aged children have died from guns than on-duty police officers and active-duty military combined. Think about that: more kids than on-duty cops killed by guns, more kids than soldiers killed by guns.
    For God's sake, how much more
    are we willing to accept? How many more innocent American lives must be taken before we say "enough"? Enough.
  • I know that we can't prevent every tragedy. But here's what I believe we have to do. Here's what the overwhelming majority of the American people believe we must do. Here's what the families in Buffalo and Uvalde, in Texas, told us we must do.
    We need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. And if we can't ban assault weapons, then we should raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21. Strengthen background checks. Enact safe storage laws and red-flag laws. Repeal the immunity that protects gun manufacturers from liability. Address the mental health crisis deepening the trauma of gun violence and as a consequence of that violence.
    These are rational, commonsense measures. And here's what it all means. It all means this: We should reinstate the assault weapons ban and high-capacity magazines that we passed in 1994 with bipartisan support in Congress and the support of law enforcement. Nine categories of semi-automatic weapons were included in that ban, like AK-47s and AR-15s.
    And in the 10 years it was law, mass shootings went down. But after Republicans let the law expire in 2004 and those weapons were allowed to be sold again, mass shootings tripled. Those are the facts.
  • A few years ago, the family of the inventor of the AR-15 said he would have been horrified to know that its design was being used to slaughter children and other innocent lives instead of being used as a military weapon on the battlefields, as it was designed — that's what it was designed for.
    Enough. Enough.
  • Stronger background checks are something that the vast majority of Americans, including the majority of gun owners, agree on.
    I also believe we should have safe storage laws and personal liability for not locking up your gun.
    The shooter in Sandy Hook came from a home full of guns that were too easy to access. That's how he got the weapons — the weapon he used to kill his mother and then murder 26 people, including 20 first graders.
  • We should also have national red-flag laws so that a parent, a teacher, a counselor can flag for a court that a child, a student, a patient is exhibiting violent tendencies, threatening classmates, or experiencing suicidal thoughts that makes them a danger to themselves or to others.
  • In Uvalde, the shooter was 17 when he asked his sister to buy him an assault weapon, knowing he'd be denied because he was too young to purchase one himself. She refused.
    But as soon as he turned 18, he purchased two assault weapons for himself. Because in Texas, you can be 18 years old and buy an assault weapon even though you can't buy a pistol in Texas until you're 21.
    If we can't ban assault weapons, as we should, we must at least raise the age to be able to purchase one to 21.
  • Look, I know some folks will say, "18-year-olds can serve in the military and fire those weapons." But that's with training and supervision by the best-trained experts in the world. Don't tell me raising the age won't make a difference.
    Enough.
  • We should repeal the liability shield that often protects gun manufacturers from being sued for the death and destruction caused by their weapons. They're the only industry in this country that has that kind of immunity.
    Imagine — imagine if the tobacco industry had been immune from being sued — where we'd be today. The gun industry's special protections are outrageous. It must end.
  • And let there be no mistake about the psychological trauma that gun violence leaves behind.
    Imagine being that little girl — that brave little girl in Uvalde who smeared the blood off her murdered friend's body onto her own face to lie still among the corpses in her classroom and pretend she was dead in order to stay alive. Imagine — imagine what it would it be like for her to walk down the hallway of any school again.
    Imagine what it's like for children who experience this kind of trauma every day in school, in the streets, in communities all across America.
    Imagine what it is like for so many parents to hug their children goodbye in the morning, not sure whether they'll come back home.
    Unfortunately, too many people don't have to imagine that at all.
  • Even before the pandemic, young people were already hurting. There's a serious youth mental health crisis in this country, and we have to do something about it.
    That's why mental health is at the heart of my Unity Agenda that I laid out in the State of the Union Address this year.
    We must provide more school counselors, more school nurses, more mental health services for students and for teachers, more people volunteering as mentors to help young people succeed, more privacy protection and resources to keep kids safe from the harms of social media.
    This Unity Agenda won't fully heal the wounded souls, but it will help. It matters.
  • I just told you what I'd do. The question now is: What will the Congress do?
    The House of Representatives has already passed key measures we need. Expanding background checks to cover nearly all gun sales, including at gun shows and online sales. Getting rid of the loophole that allows a gun sale to go through after three business days even if the background check has not been completed.
    And the House is planning even more action next week. Safe storage requirements. The banning of high-capacity magazines. Raising the age to buy an assault weapon to 21. Federal red-flag law. Codifying my ban on ghost guns that don't have serial numbers and can't be traced. And tougher laws to prevent gun trafficking and straw purchases.
    This time, we have to take the time to do something. And this time, it's time for the Senate to do something.
    But, as we know, in order to do any- — get anything done in the Senate, we need a minimum of 10 Republican senators.
    I support the bipartisan efforts that include a small group of Democrats and Republican senators trying to find a way. But my God, the fact that the majority of the Senate Republicans don't want any of these proposals even to be debated or come up for a vote, I find unconscionable.
    We can't fail the American people again.
  • Since Uvalde, just over a week ago, there have been 20 other mass shootings in America, each with four or more people killed or injured, including yesterday at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
    A shooter deliberately targeted a surgeon using an assault weapon he bought just a few hours before his rampage that left the surgeon, another doctor, a receptionist, and a patient dead, and many more injured.
    That doesn't count the carnage we see every single day that doesn't make the headlines.
  • I've been in this fight for a long time. I know how hard it is, but I'll never give up. And if Congress fails, I believe this time a majority of the American people won't give up either. I believe the majority of you will act to turn your outrage into making this issue central to your vote.
    Enough. Enough. Enough.
  • Over the next 17 days, the families in Uvalde will continue burying their dead.
    It will take that long in part because it's a town where everyone knows everyone, and day by day they will honor each one they lost.
    Jill and I met with the owner and staff of the funeral home that is being strong — strong, strong, strong — to take care of their own.
    And the people of Uvalde mourn. As they do over the next 17 days, what will we be doing as a nation?
  • Jill and I met with the sister of the teacher who was murdered and whose husband died of a heart attack two days later, leaving behind four beautiful, orphaned children — and all now orphaned.
    The sister asked us: What could she say? What could she tell her nieces and nephews?
    It was one of the most heartbreaking moments that I can remember. All I could think to say was — I told her to hold them tight. Hold them tight.
  • After visiting the school, we attended mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church with Father Eddie.
    In the pews, families and friends held each other tightly. As Archbishop Gustavo spoke, he asked the children in attendance to come up on the altar and sit on the altar with him as he spoke.
    There wasn't enough room, so a mom and her young son sat next to Jill and me in the first pew. And as we left the church, a grandmother who had just lost her granddaughter passed me a handwritten letter.
    It read, quote, "Erase the invisible line that is dividing our nation. Come up with a solution and fix what's broken and make the changes that are necessary to prevent this from happening again." End of quote.
    My fellow Americans, enough. Enough. It's time for each of us to do our part. It's time to act.
    For the children we've lost, for the children we can save, for the nation we love, let's hear the call and the cry. Let's meet the moment. Let us finally do something.
  • God bless the families who are hurting. God bless you all.
    From a hymn based on the 91st Psalm sung in my church:
May He raise you up on eagle's wings
and bear you on the breath of dawn
make you to shine like the sun
and hold you in the palm of His hand.
That's my prayer for all of you. God bless you.
Remarks on the Supreme Court Decision to Overturn Roe v. Wade (24 June 2022)
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Remarks by President Biden on the Supreme Court Decision to Overturn Roe v. Wade (24 June 2022) · "Biden's reaction to Roe v. Wade ruling", CNN (24 June 2022)
I call on everyone, no matter how deeply they care about this decision, to keep all protests peaceful.
  • Fifty years ago, Roe v. Wade was decided and has been the law of the land since then.
    This landmark case protected a woman’s right to choose, her right to make intensely personal decisions with her doctor, free from … interference of politics.
    It reaffirmed basic principles of equality — that women have the power to control their own destiny. And it reinforced the fundamental right of privacy — the right of each of us to choose how to live our lives.
    Now, with Roe gone, let’s be very clear: The health and life of women in this nation are now at risk.
  • I believe Roe v. Wade was the correct decision as a matter of constitutional law, an application of the fundamental right to privacy and liberty in matters of family and personal autonomy.
    It was a decision on a complex matter that drew a careful balance between a woman’s right to choose earlier in her pregnancy and the state’s ability to regulate later in her pregnancy. A decision with broad national consensus that most Americans of faiths and backgrounds found acceptable and that had been the law of the land for most of the lifetime of Americans today.
    And it was a constitutional principle upheld by justices appointed by Democrat and Republican Presidents alike.
  • Roe v. Wade was a 7 to 2 decision written by a justice appointed by a Republican President, Richard Nixon. In the five decades that followed Roe v. Wade, justices appointed by Republican Presidents — from Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, George W. [H.W.] Bush — were among the justices who voted to uphold the principles set forth in Roe v. Wade.
    It was three justices named by one President — Donald Trump — who were the core of today’s decision to upend the scales of justice and eliminate a fundamental right for women in this country.
    Make no mistake: This decision is the culmination of a deliberate effort over decades to upset the balance of our law. It’s a realization of an extreme ideology and a tragic error by the Supreme Court, in my view.
  • The Court has done what it has never done before: expressly take away a constitutional right that is so fundamental to so many Americans that had already been recognized.The Court’s decision to do so will have real and immediate consequences. State laws banning abortion are automatically taking effect today, jeopardizing the health of millions of women, some without exceptions.
  • This a sad day for the country, in my view, but it doesn’t mean the fight is over. Let me be very clear and unambiguous: The only way we can secure a woman’s right to choose and the balance that existed is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law. No executive action from the President can do that. And if Congress, as it appears, lacks the vote — votes to do that now, voters need to make their voices heard.This fall, we must elect more senators and representatives who will codify a woman’s right to choose into federal law once again, elect more state leaders to protect this right at the local level. We need to restore the protections of Roe as law of the land. We need to elect officials who will do that.This fall, Roe is on the ballot. Personal freedoms are on the ballot. The right to privacy, liberty, equality, they’re all on the ballot. Until then, I will do all in my power to protect a woman’s right in states where they will face the consequences of today’s decision.
  • While the Court’s decision casts a dark shadow over a large swath of the land, many states in this country still recognize a woman’s right to choose. So if a woman lives in a state that restricts abortion, the Supreme Court’s decision does not prevent her from traveling from her home state to the state that allows it. It does not prevent a doctor in that state — in that state from treating her. As the Attorney General has made clear, women must remain free to travel safely to another state to seek the care they need. And my administration will defend that bedrock right. If any state or local official, high or low, tries to interfere with a woman’s ex- — exercising her basic right to travel, I will do everything in my power to fight that deeply un-American attack.
  • My administration will also protect a woman’s access to medications that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration — the FDA — like contraception, which is essential for preventative healthcare; mifepristone, which the FDA approved 20 years ago to safely end early pregnancies and is commonly used to treat miscarriages.Some states are saying that they’ll try to ban or severely restrict access to these medications. But extremist governors and state legislators who are looking to block the mail or search a person’s medicine cabinet or control a woman’s actions by tracking data on her apps she uses are wrong and extreme and out of touch with the majority of Americans.
  • I’ve warned about how this decision risks the broader right to privacy for everyone. That’s because Roe recognized the fundamental right to privacy that has served as the basis for so many more rights that we have come to take — we’ve come to take for granted that are ingrained in the fabric of this country: the right to make the best decisions for your health; the right to use birth control — a married couple — in the privacy of their bedroom, for God’s sake; the right to marry the person you love. Now, Justice Thomas said as much today. He explicitly called to reconsider the right of marriage equality, the right of couples to make their choices on contraception. This is an extreme and dangerous path the Court is now taking us on.
  • Let me close with two points. First, I call on everyone, no matter how deeply they care about this decision, to keep all protests peaceful. Peaceful, peaceful, peaceful. No intimidation. Violence is never acceptable. Threats and intimidation are not speech. We must stand against violence in any form regardless of your rationale. Second, I know so many of us are frustrated and disillusioned that the Court has taken something away that’s so fundamental. I know so many women are now going to face incredibly difficult situations. I hear you. I support you. I stand with you. The consequences and the consensus of the American people — core principles of equality, liberty, dignity, and the stability of the rule of law — demand that Roe should not have been overturned. With this decision, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court shows how extreme it is, how far removed they are from the majority of this country. They have made the United States an outlier among developed nations in the world. But this decision must not be the final word. My administration will use all of its appropriate lawful powers. But Congress must act. And with your vote, you can act. You can have the final word. This is not over.
Remarks at Signing of S.2938, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (25 June 2022)
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"Remarks at Signing of S.2938, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act" (25 June 2022)
  • While this bill doesn’t do everything I want, it does include actions I’ve long called for that are going to save lives. It funds crisis intervention, including red-flag laws. It keeps guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves and to others. And it finally closes what is known as the “boyfriend loophole.” So if you assault your boyfriend or girlfriend, you can’t buy a gun or own a gun.
    It requires young people ages 18 to 21 to undergo enhanced background checks. It includes the first-ever federal law that makes gun trafficking and straw purchases distinct federal crimes for the first time. It clarifies who needs to register as a federally licensed gun dealer, and run background checks before selling a single weapon.
    You know, this is — also provides historic funding to address the youth mental health crisis in this country, especially — especially the trauma experienced by the survivors of this gun violence.
  • When it seems impossible to get anything done in Washington, we are doing something consequential. If we can reach compromise on guns, we ought to be able to reach compromise in other critical issues, from veterans’ healthcare to cutting-edge American innovation, and so much more.
    I know there’s much more work to do, and I’m never going to give up. But this is a monumental day. God bless us with the strength to continue to work to get the work that’s left undone done, and the lives lost that can’t be saved that obviously are gone but will be an inspiration for us to do more.

July 2022

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  • Congress must act to codify Roe and the filibuster should not stand in the way. But right now, we don't have the votes to change the filibuster. That means we need to elect more Democratic senators and reelect our House majority in November to get this bill to my desk.

Quotes about Biden

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(Alpha order by author/source)

"Biden and Harris show where the nation is heading: a blend of ethnicities, lived experiences and worldviews that must find a way forward together if the American experiment is to survive." - Edward Felsenthal, editor in chief of Time magazine.
"Beau was the kind of guy who inspired people to be a better version of themselves. He really was the best of us. And when I would ask him, 'Where'd this come from?' he'd always talk about his dad." - Kamala Harris, discussing her relationship with Beau Biden when they both served as state attorneys general.
  • One of the things I like about the fact of the Biden-Harris plan is that they are, number one, not talking about taking people's healthcare.... The Biden-Harris plan is talking about raising people's living wages, $15 an hour. The Trump-Pence plan is talking about giving more money to the wealthy. In fact, the Trump-Pence-McConnell plan, they refuse to pass a stimulus because they want another $200 billion in tax cuts, they want money for a fighter jet, and they want to protect corporations from liability when those corporations didn't protect their people from coronavirus. So, what we have is two different worlds operating.... So, on the one hand, while Pence and — while Biden and Harris may not be every, fully where the Poor People's Campaign are, they are in the world of wanting to do more. They're in the sphere of wanting to increase. They're in the sphere of wanting to make sure that the people have what they need, as opposed to wanting to only secure the wealthy and the greedy.
  • It was very obvious that Vice President Biden cared, as he extended to Jacob Jr. a sense of humanity, treating him as a person worthy of consideration and prayer
  • You have hundreds of thousands of people pouring across every month
    Not only are they letting them through, they're farming them out all across the country, putting them on planes, putting them on buses. Do you think they're worrying about COVID for that? Of course not.
    Whatever variants there are around the world, they're coming across that southern border.
    He's not shutting down the virus. He's helping facilitate it.
    Why don't you get this border secure?
    Until you do that, I don't want to hear a blip about COVID from you.
  • I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades
    • Robert Gates, former U.S. Defense Secretary, says of Joe Biden in his book Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War (2014).
  • On Monday, President Biden expressed his support for a ceasefire in Gaza during a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu. But Biden stopped short of directly demanding Israel halt its assault, despite growing pressure from Congress, where over two dozen Democratic senators have backed an immediate ceasefire. After Biden's call, Israel continued its attack on Gaza, which has now entered its ninth day. At the United Nations, the United States once again blocked the U.N. Security Council from backing a ceasefire. Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid, receiving some $3.8 billion a year. In recent weeks, the Biden administration approved the sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons to Israel
  • Ever since I received Joe's call [asking me to be his running mate], I've been thinking . . . about the first Biden that I really came to know. Beau was the kind of guy who inspired people to be a better version of themselves. He really was the best of us. And when I would ask him, "Where'd this come from?" he'd always talk about his dad.
  • The civil rights struggle is nothing new to Joe. It's why he got into public service. It's why he helped reauthorise the Voting Rights Act and restore unemployment discrimination--and employment discrimination laws. And today, he takes his place in the ongoing story of America's march toward equality and justice as only--as the only, as the only who has served alongside the first black president and has chosen the first Black woman as his running mate.
  • This is a genuine crisis for America because if President Biden is frustrated in his attempt to pass his Build Back Better legislation (that is overwhelmingly supported by Americans across the political spectrum) — all because business groups, giant corporations and rightwing billionaires are asserting ownership over their two "made" senators — there's a very good chance that today's cynicism and political violence is just a preview of the rest of the decade.
  • You have the great fortune of being young, I remember I was two years older than you when I went to the House. But the main point is you can remember that she was there when you won a great victory, and you enjoyed it together. And now I'm sure that she'll be watching you from now on. Good luck to you.
  • Short, owlish, with a smooth Kentucky accent, McConnell seemed an unlikely Republican leader. He showed no aptitude for schmoozing, backslapping, or rousing oratory. As far as anyone could tell, he had no close friends even in his own caucus, nor did he appear to have any strong convictions beyond an almost religious opposition to any version of campaign finance reform. Joe told me of one run-in he'd had on the Senate floor after the Republican leader blocked a bill Joe was sponsoring; when Joe tried to explain the bill's merits, McConnell raised his hand like a traffic cop and said, "You must be under the mistaken impression that I care." But what McConnell lacked in charisma or interest in policy he more than made up for in discipline, shrewdness, and shamelessness- all of which he employed in the single-minded and dispassionate pursuit of power.
  • We have never had a president with a longer paper trail than Joe Biden. He's taken so many different positions on the same issues so many times throughout his career that I sometimes wonder if Biden even knows anymore what he actually thinks about a particular issue. Joe Biden might tell you one thing one day and really believe it, and then the next day he's doing the exact opposite because he's cut some side deal that maybe we'll hear about in some years. Above all, Biden is an empire politician. He is someone who believes that questions of war don't really matter on a moral level, but how does it impact America's credibility, security and prestige
  • The Intercept conducted an exhaustive analysis of Biden's political career with a focus on his positions on dozens of U.S. wars and military campaigns, CIA covert actions, and abuses of power; his views on whistleblowers and leakers; and his shifting stance on the often contentious relationship between the executive and legislative branches over war powers.
    The picture that emerges is of a man who is dedicated to the U.S. as an empire, who believes that preserving U.S. national interests and "prestige" on the global stage outweigh considerations of morality or even at times the deaths of innocent people. It also reveals a politician who consistently claims to hold bedrock principles but who often strays from those positions in support of a partisan agenda or because he wants a policy adopted regardless of the hypocrisy or contradictions. Nowhere is this dynamic more pronounced than on U.S. wars.
  • Biden's election slogan was "America is back." The truth is that "America" never left. There will be no major departures from the imperial course under Biden. While the drone wars continue, and the shift back to Cold War posturing in Europe and Asia accelerates, Biden will maintain the hostile stance toward left movements and governments throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. On climate change, Biden will reverse some of Trump's most extreme stances, while still placing the profits of major corporations and the military industry over the health of the planet. The militarization of the borders and the maltreatment of refugees will remain, and the vast domestic surveillance apparatus will endure. The stark truth is this: The interests of the War Party trump any political disputes between the Democrats and the Republicans.
  • I think you could say it's a good thing that Joe Biden did this, and that is the withdrawal from Afghanistan...
    There was an enormous amount of pressure on Joe Biden to keep the war in Afghanistan going from within his own party, certainly from the military brass. I think Biden deserves credit for standing up to them. I am not sure that if Barack Obama had been the commander-in-chief during this period he actually would have followed through as Biden did on a total withdrawal of conventional American forces. I do think someone who is this career politician specializing in foreign policy, I think Joe Biden knew the history well enough to know that he would have been taking a catastrophic gamble by keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan. I think outside of Bernie Sanders, I think there were almost no Democratic candidates that would have had the spine to follow through on Trump's withdrawal plan. Regarding China, I think it is a bit of a wash because you have both the Democrats and Republicans taking an increasingly hostile posture.
  • Biden, a Democrat who owns guns, wants to ban the manufacture of high-capacity magazines for civilians.
    Existing owners would have to register them under more restrictive federal regulations or sell them to the government.
    Magazines holding more than 10 rounds are used in assault rifles,
    which the gun industry calls modern sporting rifles,
    and which are targeted in Biden's proposed ban.
  • Running against the worst candidate in the history of presidential politics puts pressure on me . . . Could you imagine if I lose? My whole life, what am I going to do? I'm going to say, 'I lost to the worst candidate in the history of politics.' I'm not going to feel so good. Maybe I'll have to leave the country?


Is China Really a Threat? Noam Chomsky Slams Biden For Increasingly Provocative Actions in Region (November 23, 2021), Democracy Now!

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  • Right at the same time as Keating's article, Australia's leading military correspondent Brian Toohey, highly knowledgeable, did an assessment of the relative military power of China, in their own region of China and the United States and its allies Japan and Australia. It's laughable. One U.S. Trident submarine, now being replaced by even more lethal ones — one U.S. submarine can destroy almost 200 cities anywhere in the world with its nuclear weapons. China in the South China Sea has four old noisy submarines which can't even get out because they're contained by superior U.S. and Allied Force...
    In the face of this, the United States is sending a fleet of nuclear submarines to Australia. That's the AUKUS deal—the Australia, U.K., United States—which have no strategic purpose whatsoever.
    They will not even be in operation for 15 years, but they do incite China almost certainly to build up its lagging military forces, increasing the level of confrontation. There are problems in the South China Sea that can be met with diplomacy and negotiations, the regional powers taking the lead, could go into the details.
    But the right measure is not increasing provocation, increasing the threat of an accidental development which could lead to devastating, even Earthly-terminal nuclear war. But that is the direction the Biden administration is following, expansion of the Trump programs. That is the core of their foreign policy programs.

Taglines

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  • That's no malarkey, That's a fact.

See also

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