Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2022

June 10, 2022

The President. Those who know me and know my familyâthe story of my granddaughterâ hearing that was worth the trip. [Laughter]

Look, you know, one of the things that I've found is that you never quite know exactly what's going to happen, butâin public life. But folks, we really areâI'm tiredâyou're probably tired of hearing me say it because I've said it all during the campaignâand, Jeffrey, you've heard me say itâwe're at a real inflection point in our history, and we're at an inflection point in world history.

So much is changing regardless of what we do and regardless of what anybody says. The change is going to be amazing. You're going to see more changeâgood and badâin the next 10 years than you saw in the last 35 years. It's a different world. It really is a different world.

And one of the things that I have tried to do from the outset is what theâthe world is looking for reassurance. I mean, the world was looking for reassurance that America is back, and America is not what it was the previous 4 years. And that's not a joke. That's not a joke.

I've been all over the world now. And I've probably spent more time abroad than I've wanted to, but I've had no choice. I spent an incredible amount of time in the Indian-Pacific regionâthe Indian Ocean and theâI've spent a lot of time in the westernâin theâout west, in the Pacific. I spent a lot of time inâI spent probablyâI spent well over 150 hours just dealing with nothing butâjust nothing butâNATO and Ukraine. Just because one of the things that people around the world are worried about is can everyâcan we hold us all together with things changing so rapidly that they're going toâthat we can't hold it together.

And so one of the things that Putin was counting on, and I wasâI had just been in Geneva with him. We were setting up a conference on security that we were going to allegedly get underway, dealing with nuclear weapons and space and anotherâwhen he went intoâwhen he went into Ukraine.

And, folks, nothing like this has happened since World War II. I know a lot of people thought I was maybe exaggerating, but I knewâand we had data to sustainâhe was going to go in, off the border. There was no doubt. And Zelenskyy didn't want to hear it, nor did a lot of people. Understanding why they didn't want to hear it. But he went in.

And what he's trying to doâhe's trying to obliterate the culture, not just theânot just take the nation, but of the cultureâthe Ukrainian cultureâbecause he doesn'tâthere's such an independent thing as "Ukrainian culture." He thinks that Kyiv is the motherâis a seed of Mother Russia and all is going to change.

But you know, what we're doing isâthe hardest thing to do has beenâinitially, is to keep the West together. Keep everybody on the same page.

I went to the first Gâ7âthe largest economies in the worldâmeeting in England right after we were elected. And I sat down, and I said, "America is back." Andââ

Is the press here?

Audience member. Yes.

The President. Yes, well, I'm not going to say what I'm going to say in front of the press hereâ[laughter]âbecause I never quite know what they're going to say. But I said, "America is back." And two of the leaders saidâlooked at me and said, "For how long?" "For how long?"

I just spentâand not byâthe press will probably not say it, but I wish they'd go back and interview all the heads of state in the Latin American conference weâthe American conference we just had. And there was overwhelmingâoverwhelmingâsupport for what we were trying to do by holding all the hemisphere together.

There's no reason why this hemisphere can't be the most democratic, the most middle class, and the most secure hemisphere in the world. Not a joke. No reason for it.

And so the point I'm making is, the first part of all this is to make sure we're in a position that we were able to sustain, in the minds of the rest of the world, that America is back with the basic values we've always shared. But the point of the matter is that that's not what the world isâ the world is not so sure about that.

And we have a lot toâa lot to discuss. So are we going to get into questions and answers andâwhy don't I just do that?

Is the press staying for that?

Audience member. No.

The President. Well, good. Nice seeing you all. [Laughter] Great being with you. Been great being with you. [Laughter]

NOTE: The President spoke at 5:05 p.m. at the residence of Andrew Hauptman. In his remarks, he referred to Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief executive officer, cofounder, and director, DreamWorks Animation LLC, in his capacity as a cohost of the event; President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia; and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. The transcript was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on June 11. Audio was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Democratic National Committee reception in Los Angeles, CA.

Locations: Los Angeles, CA.

Names: Katzenberg, Jeffrey; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich; Zelenskyy, Volodymyr.

Subjects: California : Democratic Party events; California : President's visit; Commerce, international : Group of Seven (Gâ7) nations; Democratic Party : Democratic National Committee; Foreign policy, U.S. : Diplomatic efforts, expansion; North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Russia : President; Russia : Ukraine, airstrikes and invasion; Ukraine : President; Ukraine : Russian airstrikes and invasion; Western Hemisphere : Summit of the Americas.

DCPD Number: DCPD202200508.