Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2024

May 21, 2024

If you have a seat, please take it. If you don't have a seat, I'll even be shorter than I was going to be. Please, sit down.

Mark and Audrey, thank you for the introduction and welcoming me here back to your home. I appreciate it.

The first time, you may have beenâyour fault. The second time, it's clearly your fault. [*Laughter*] You knowâyou should know better.

And, George and Douglas, thank you for cohosting. I really mean it.

And, Governor Maura Healey, I don't know if she's here now still, but she met me at the airplane, and I want to thank her. She's doing a hell of a job.

And also, Michelle, thanks for the passport into town. I appreciate it. [*Laughter*]

Thank you all for your support. I'm a Delaware guy, andâbut there's something special about this city. I mean, it really is. It's just a good feeling to be able to know you can be in Boston and Boston has your back. I really mean it.

I livedâwe lived in Newton for a while when Iâmy dad was working in the shipyards during the war. But it's just a special place. It's like no other city in the world, in my view.

And we're rebuilding the strongest ground campaign in American history and really are.

We're trying to get back to just basic block and tackle in campaigns.

So far, there's over 1.8 million people who've contributed to theâthis campaign. And the 1.8 million people contributed under $200. People are doing it at 25, 50, 100 bucks. And it'sâand we've raised more money than anybody ever has at this point.

And so, in the battleground States, we've opened 150â150 field offices. Trump hasn't opened a single one yet. We've organizedâwe're organizedâand we're ready.

You know, Trump and the MAGA Republicans are really in disarray right now. It's clear that when we [he; White House correction] lost in 2020, something snapped in this guy. And when heâI mean, really, there's something different. He just can't accept the fact he lost. It's just beyond his capacity.

And that's why January 6 happened, in my view. That's why January 6 happened. Every legal avenue Trump tried to change the election failed and unleashed thatâthat insurrection.

He's now running again. And the threat that Trump poses is greater in a second term than it was in his first. And, again, that's not hyperbole. He's only obsessed with one thingâabout losing in 2020. And it's clearly unhinged him. And I mean it, Iâthe guy is a little unhinged right now.

And he did a long interview with TIME magazine this week. You ought toâif you haven't seen it, get it. Read it. He just straightforward wantâsaying what he wants to do. He says, "A lot of peopleâa lot of people liked the fact that I said I'd be dictator on day one"â"a lot of people." Heâasked if he thought violence could occur if he lost, and he said, "It depends."

He called the insurrectionists in prison "patriots." He says he's going to release them if he winsâ"every one" of them.

And yesterday his campaign posted online aboutâhe wants toâif he wins, there will be a "unified Reich," like the Third Reich. This is the same guyâthis is Hitler's language, not America's. It's no surprise that when heâabout 4 months ago, he talked aboutâI think maybe a little longerâthat Hitler did "some"âquote, "some good things." He did "some good things."

Trump says if loses again in November, that there will be a "bloodbath"âa bloodbathâin America. I mean, the guy means what he says. He's not accepting the results of the election whenâif he loses again, he pointed out.

And it's clear that all thoseâall those people auditioning to be his Vice President, they're all singing the sameâtrying to pass the same litmus test. They've all said the electionâeven the ones who said that he lost are now saying: "No, no, he won. Biden stole the election." And if he loses the election, they're all saying they will not accept the results either.

This has not happened in American history. This has not happened.

Look what he's saying about reproductive freedom. He's bragging that he's the reason *Roe v.*

Wade was overturned. And it was, because of the appointments he made to the bench.

But you know, look at the piece in TIME magazine. He said States should monitor women's pregnancies and prosecute those who violate the bans. Monitor women's pregnancies. I mean, you know, prosecute them.

You know, folks, Trump isn't running to lead America. He is running on revenge, and he really is. That's revenge. Revenge, but in no wayâis no way to lead the country. That's how he wants to do it.

He's running to lead America into the future. That's what he says he's going to do, but he doesn't want to do that.

Look, I mean, I don't have time and I don't want to keep you standing, but just read what he's saying.

Look, we made some real progress. We've got a way to go.

We've created 15 million new jobsâ15 million new jobsâmore than anybody has in one term. People have more health insurance than they ever did beforeâour history, and we still cut the deficit.

And it took Big Pharma, won to lower price prescriptionsâfor prescription drugs. All the people ofâwho need insulin. Youâall of you know somebody who needs insulin for diabetes. Well, guess what? It was costing $400 a month or more. It's nowâcan't charge more than 35 bucks a month. Because, by the way, it costsâit costs $10 to make it.

Our reforms not only save lives, but it's saving taxpayers billions of dollars. That one thing of reducing theâthe last change we made in terms of Medicare, that's reduced the Federal debt by $160 billionâ$160 billionâbecause they don't have to pay the exorbitant prices anymore.

And look, I'm proud that the new report released by 20 major climate organizationsâfrom the Sierra Club to the Sunrise Movementâcited my administration for taking more than 300 actions related to climate, conservation, public health, and clean energy.

And Boston is a national leader, including the New England Aquarium, which is focused on coastal erosion and so much more.

And I'm proud to have restored protections for the Northeast Canyons and the Seamounts in the naturalâas nationalâmonuments. It's a big deal. It's going to be here for a long time.

And we've also put more land in conservation than anyâsomebodyâsince John Kennedy.

And we're going to put 30 percent of all the land and seas in conservation by the year 2030.

Meanwhile, Trump is determined to get rid of the climate lawâI mean, he's being straightforward about itâI mean, he flat out wants to get rid of itâget rid of it, because the oil companies hate it.

In fact, it has been reported that he asked Big Oil to direct $1 billion toward his campaign and said if they did that, there'd be "a deal." "We'd have a deal."

What's the deal? They want toâtheyâBig Oilâit's not about getting lower prices forâhe wants Big Oil to fund his campaign in exchangeâin exchange for a repeal of everything we've done on climate. That's what he said in TIME magazine. Just look at it. It's on the frontâthere was a front cover of him lastâI guess it's this past month. And he just says one thing. He wants to drill, drill, drill.

This is the same guy that told you if you had windmills off your coast, it was going to cause cancer. And we're goingâI mean it's justâit'sâit almost is hard to believe what he says.

And the threat just isn't Trump; it's his MAGA Republican Congress. The House of Representatives put together a plan, and I justâI wasn't going to take the time, but I think I should. The Congressional Budget Office analysis, which is a bipartisan operationâit's not Democrat or Republicanâdid an analysis of hisâof the budget that the House Republicans put out. Okay?

It cuts Social Security by $1.5 trillion. Raise your retirement age by 2 years. Raise Medicare costs by repealing the ability to negotiate drug prices, the caps on insulin, and a $2,000 out-of- pocketâpackage limitation for seniors. Turn Medicare into a premium support voucher-style program that raises premiums for all seniors. Repeal the Affordable Care Act protections against denying care for people with preexisting conditions. There's over 20 million people who have preexisting conditionsâthat wouldn't be able to get insurance without the existence of that act.

He also says he wantsâthey're savingâthey're going to use savings for a $5.5 trillion tax cut and repeal the minimum tax on corporations and real estate.

Look, I come from the corporate State of the world. More folks areâmore corporations are incorporated in my State than every other State in the Union combined. I represented the State for over 36 years in the Senate. I'm not anticorporation, but there's got to be some balanceâwhat we're talking aboutâjust some balance.

And he says that the national abortion ban, theyâthis is the Houseâendorsed life as aâat moment of conceptionâno rape, no incest exceptions, and no bansâand he wants to ban evenâ they're talking about banning certain contraceptions.

He defunds the Community Oriented Policing Servicesâthe COPS Programâthat support local law enforcement in 500 towns and cities all across America.

I could go on. They're just saying it out loud what they're going to do.

Folks, we're lowering costs, expanding opportunities, protecting freedoms. We have to keep that going because allâit's all at stake.

Look, let me close with this. Our freedomsâin my view, our freedoms and our democracy are literally at stake. I know that sounds like hyperbole.

Some of you may remember, when I ran the first timeâand you helped me the very first time, a lot of you in this room, but myâthis householdâthat, in fact, ifâwe talked about how he was going to do a number of things that were contrary to everything we thought would happen.

And I made a speech shortly before the electionâmade a speechâand after the election as wellâon the threat to democracy. And I did it at Constitution [Independence; White House correction] Hall. And Iâat, you know, where they wrote the DeclarationâI mean, excuse me, where they wrote the Constitution.

And I laid it out. And the pressâthere are a lot of good press here, and I'm not being critical.

But they wondered why I was focused on that, because I said democracy was at stake.

Well, guess what? Sixty-three percent of the American people in the polls said they thought it was too, because of the things that are happening.

That's why I need you. I need you, I need you, because I know we can do this together. I've never been more optimistic about our future. We just have to remember who in the hell we are.

In 2020, I wasn't going to run again because I had just lost myânot justâI had lost my son on Memorial Day in 2015. He was in Iraq, and he was near one of those burn pits for a year, and he came home with stage-4 glioblastoma and died.

And I wasn't going to run again untilâremember what happened whenâdown in Charlottesville, Virginia, when that group came out of the woods carrying torches, chanting the same anti-Semitic bileâthe same exact bileâthat was chanted in Germany in the early thirties, carrying swastikasânot a jokeâcarrying swastikas, and saying what they wanted to do? And a young woman was killed, and I ended up talking to her mother. Andâaccompanied by the Ku Klux Klan.

And afterwards, the press went to herâhim and saidâto Trump and said, "What's your view of all this?" He said there were very good people on both sidesâvery good people on both sides.

That's not who in the hell we are, guys. That's not who we are. But if we don't watch itâif we don't watch itâand I know I'm responsible to make sure not to let you down, but we have to win. And you're all putting me in a position to be able to compete and win. And I hope I don't screw it up for you. Because if I do, it'sâand by the way, the national press is here. I'm going to say it again. I go toâI've been deeply involved in foreign policy my whole careerâchairman of the Foreign Relations Committee; I know all the heads of state before, and I know them now.

Barack asked me to be Vice President in large part because of my foreign policy background.

And I go to these international meetings of heads of stateâthe Gâ7, the Gâ20, allâand I give you my word: Every one of those meetings, and I've attended a number of them since I've become President, somebody will grab youâanother President or another Prime Minister or head of state will grab my arm as I'm walking out, pull me aside, and say: "You can't let him win. You can't let him win." And then they look at me and say, "Because"âmeaning theirâ"my democracy is at stake."

Folks, there's a lot at stake. We talk aboutâit's not an important election because I'm running. That's not the reason why it's important. This is one of the most important elections of our life.

I've said to other people that, you know, when I run, I always want to win. Everybody wantsâI'm a competitor. But this isn't about my winning. It's about making sure he doesn't win.

You're putting me in a position to be competitive enough to make sure that he doesn't. So, thank you, thank you, thank you.

And, you know, as I said, this is the United States of America. There's nothing beyond our capacity. We're the only Nation in the worldâthe only Nation in the worldâthat's come out of every crisis stronger than we went in. Think about it, as a student of history. Every crisis we face, we come out stronger than we went in.

And the world is looking to us. They really are. Whether it's in Israel or Gaza, whether it's in Ukraine, whereâwhere it is. They're tough decisions, but we can make them. And we have to stick together.

Thanks for putting me in the position to compete.

NOTE: The President spoke at 4:14 p.m. at the residence of Mark S. and Audrey K. Schuster. In his remarks, he referred to George D. Krupp, chairman and cofounder, and Douglas S. Krupp, vice chairman and cofounder, Berkshire Group; Mayor of Boston Michelle Wu; Susan Bro, mother of Heather D. Heyer, who was killed in a vehicular attack in Charlottesville, VA, on August 12, 2017; and former President Barack Obama. The transcript was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on May 22. Audio was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Campaign reception in Boston, MA. Locations: Boston, MA.

Names: Bro, Susan; Healey, Maura; Krupp, Douglas S.; Krupp, George D.; Obama, Barack; Schuster, Audrey K.; Schuster, Mark S.; Trump, Donald J.; Wu, Michelle.

Subjects: 2021 civil unrest and violence at U.S. Capitol; 2024 Presidential election; Abortion; Carbon emissions, reduction efforts; Federal deficit and debt; Gaza, conflict with Israel; Group of Seven (Gâ7) nations; Group of Twenty (Gâ20) nations; Health insurance, access and availability; Insulin cost controls; Israel, military operations in Gaza; Job creation and growth; Land and maritime conservation efforts; Massachusetts, Democratic Party event; Massachusetts, Governor; Massachusetts, President's visit; Medicare and Medicaid programs; Prescription drug costs, reduction efforts; Russia, conflict in Ukraine; State and local law enforcement, Federal support; Tax Code reform; U.S. Supreme Court opinion overturning 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade; Ukraine, Russian invasion and airstrikes; Virginia, 2017 civil unrest and violence in Charlottesville.

DCPD Number: DCPD202400440.