Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2024

July 2, 2024

The President. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please. Please, sit down.

I want to be straight with you right up front: I came to hear RenÃ©e sing, so Iâ[*laughter*]â and I'm going to be very short. And maybe we'll get a chance to talk privately together more informally.

Look, folks, we've hadâI know I didn't have my best debate night. You never had a bad night, did you? [*Laughter*]

But look, the fact of the matter is, we've had a good follow-on. We've raised $38 million just since the debateâ$38 million. Raised $120-some million just in the last month. So, so far, so good.

And thank you. Because of all of you in this room and many others, we have literally thousands and thousands of contributorsâindividual contributors. So I'm feeling good about what's happening, number one.

Number two, the demise that we've talked about isâI didn't have my best night. But the fact is that, you know, I wasn't very smart. I decided to travel around the world a couple of times, going to I don't know how many time zonesâfor real, I think it was 15 time zonesâin a couple of weeks before the debate. And didn't listen to my staff and came back and nearly fell asleep on stage. [*Laughter*]

But, any rate, that's no excuse, but it is an explanation.

Look, I wouldn't be doing this again if I didn't think it was so important. I think it's critical that he not win. It's critical that he not win again. His attitude about everything from democracy to the economy is justâanyway, I don't want toâI guess I shouldn't get into it very much.

But the fact is, look, we're in a situation where we haveâthere's a lot of folks who are still hurting. We have the strongest economy in the worldânot figuratively, literally the strongest economy in the world right now. But there's a lot of middle class and working class folks who are still behind the eight ball. They're behind the eight ball in terms of the cost of everything from eggs to milk to gasoline.

My dad used to say it'sâthe question is: "How much is left after the end of the month? Is there anyâdo you have anything left for breathing room?" And there's not a lot of breathing room.

And we ended up withâinflation is on the way down. I predict to you that you'll seeâwell, I shouldn't predict. I'mâI suspect you're going to see a very soft landing. We're moving in that direction. Inflation is down in the twos now, and we're going to move in the direction of being able to take the pressure off of ordinary folks who areâeverything from their rent to their mortgage payments to the things thatâto the price of eggs toâas I said, to the price of bacon.

And there's a lot going on. And I think we're going to be able to make some real progress. I think we're going toâwe're on the path to have aâas I said, a soft landing.

There are 9âwell, actually, 15 Nobel laureates who put out a report last weekâNobel laureates on the economy, excuse me. And they point out that if he proposed thisâif he succeeds

in getting elected and implements the plan he's talking about, we're going to have a recession and high inflation. If I'm reelected, they expect the economy to continue to grow and us to be in good shape and grow the economy, and everybody would be better for it.

So Iâthere's a lot at stake. And that's not even counting the issue about whether or not he isâhow can I say it?âhas a single democratic bone in his body. He isâanyway, I shouldn't get going on this, I guessâ[*laughter*]âbecause I know thisââ

Audience member. [Inaudible]

The President. ââthis is supposed to beââ

Audience member. [Inaudible]âloser. [Laughter]

The President. Well, thankâI think you're giving him a compliment. [Laughter]

All kidding aside, look, we've never had a race like this, not because I'm running, because so much is a stake. Every single thing we've done he says he wants to undoâliterally, every single thing he's [we've; White House correction] done.

Weâand look, I started off, and I'll end with this. When I ran, I said I wanted to change from a trickle-down economic program to one that builds from the middle out and the bottom up. The wealthy still do very wellâstill do very well, but you give working class people a shot.

The only thing that we've always believed in my family and probably all of yours is, everybody deserves just a shotâno guarantee, just a shotâan even shot. And that's what's happening.

More people are employed today: 15 million new employees; 800,000-plus manufacturing jobs. I could go on with all the detail. But we have to speak to the concerns of working class people who are still getting hurt.

When youâas I said, when you have, you know, insurance rates as high as they are, when you're in a situation whereâI know we've done a lot on health care. We've done a lot on a lot of things, but people are still worried.

And there's no editors anymore. We've got a lot of good reporters back there. And I'm not being solicitous. They're good reporters. But there isn't any moreâthere's no editors anymore. There's nobody to say, "You can't print that because it's not true." It's not their fault. It's not anybody's fault. It's the nature of the way we communicate.

And if you turn on theâI read that the reason why they were worriedâthey were dumbing downâthey were pumping up I was going to be better than I was on thatâthat stage, saying weâ"Biden is on cocaine." I never had aâ[*laughter*]âI never had a drink in my life, let alone a cocaineâI'm the only Irishman you'll ever know that's never had a drink and the Scrantoniansâ because there are too many in my family that have. [*Laughter*]

But all kidding aside, there's a lot going on. There's a lot we can do. You're making it possible for me to continue to compete. And I think we're going to win this thing.

So thank you very much. Now let's hear from RenÃ©e.

NOTE: The President spoke at 6:09 p.m. at the residence of RenÃ©e Fleming. In his remarks, he referred to former President Donald J. Trump. The transcript was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on July 3.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Campaign reception in McLean, VA. Locations: McLean, VA.

Names: Fleming, RenÃ©e; Trump, Donald J.

Subjects: 2024 Presidential election; Economic improvement; Health care costs and affordability; Inflation; Job creation and growth; Virginia, Democratic Party event; Virginia, President's visit.

DCPD Number: DCPD202400566.