Remarks By President Biden After Visiting with Firefighters and Their Families On The 20th Anniversary Of 9-11

1:25 P.M. EDT 
 
Q    Mr. President, what is going done your caput today, sir?
 
THE PRESIDENT:  I’m reasoning astir my — for real, this is my 4th travel here.  And I was reasoning astir a feline named Davis Sezna that I grew up with, who, similar a batch of people, are astir apt having a pugnacious time today.  He — I was sitting astatine location watching tv successful 2000 and — 2000, successful September, and I was watching TV, and my kids were successful the swimming excavation conscionable outside, and — and each of a abrupt came connected TV this feline sitting connected a bank
in the — connected the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal. 
 
And helium — and they said helium conscionable mislaid his lad that ran into a beam that was coming up successful the D&C Canal that had been determination from another, I guess, dock.  And his — helium mislaid his 15-year-old son, Teddy.  And he’s connected the phone, and each of a sudden, my telephone rings, and he’s calling me.  It turned retired to beryllium my buddy, Davis Sezna, due to the fact that helium knew I had mislaid — anyway.
 
And then, a twelvemonth later, I got a call.  His lad was connected the 106th floor, and helium mislaid his son.  And they called him “Deeg.”  He was Davis Jr. 
 
And so, it’s a pugnacious time for him and everybody who’s mislaid somebody. 
 
And, you know, I cognize you’ve heard maine accidental it before, and I’ll astir apt get criticized for saying it again, but these memorials are truly important, but they’re besides incredibly hard for the radical who were affected by them — due to the fact that it brings backmost the infinitesimal you got the telephone call.  It brings backmost that instant you got the news, nary substance however galore years spell by. 
 
So I’ve been reasoning astir him.  I’ve been reasoning of each the radical I was — erstwhile I was down astatine the rock, talking to a fig of household members who mislaid somebody.  You know, deliberation astir it — speech astir genuine heroism.  I’m not talking astir immoderate — I’m not talking astir the quality media now.  But deliberation of each of you, if you’re connected that plane, knowing 2 terrorists are successful the cockpit.  How galore would say, “I got a bully idea: Let’s spell up and unreserved that cabin”?  Even though you knew that astir apt they were going to bash thing and you were going to suffer anyway. 
 
But it’s 1 happening to say, “I cognize I should measurement up,” and different happening to bash it.  That’s genuine heroism.  That’s not “on the margins.”  That’s not “maybe you did a heroi-…” 
 
I mean, you know.  And I conscionable — I conscionable deliberation — I thought that President Bush made a truly bully code contiguous — genuinely bully code — astir who we are.  We’re not — the halfway of who we are is not divided.  It’s conscionable this conception of — I don’t cognize however to explicate it. 
 
I think, Jeff, I talked to you a small astir this.  I deliberation the existent contented for those kids that — conscionable had a representation taken with — mates of them had Trump hats from past twelvemonth — I think, for them, it’s going to be: Are we going to, successful the adjacent 4, 5, 6, 10 years, show that democracies tin work, oregon not?
 
Because I had — conscionable had a agelong — I’m not going to sermon with you now, but I had a agelong speech with President Xi for implicit an hr and a fractional — not past night; the nighttime earlier last.  And I’ve had that one-on-one acme with Putin.  And I’ve spoken with others. 
 
There’s a batch of autocrats who genuinely judge that democracies can’t relation successful the 21st century.  Not a joke.  They deliberation due to the fact that the satellite is changing truthful rapidly and radical are truthful divided, you can’t bring radical unneurotic successful a ideology to get a consensus, and the lone ones that are going to beryllium capable to win are the autocrats. 
 
That’s wherefore it’s truthful damn important we show — everybody says, “Biden, wherefore bash you support insisting connected trying to bring the state together?”  That’s the happening that’s going to impact our wellbeing much than thing else: however the remainder of the satellite responds to america — knowing that we really can, successful fact, pb by the illustration of our powerfulness again.  And I deliberation we tin bash it.  We got to bash it. 
 
And truthful it’s each tied.  And gathering with these radical — you know, I cognize you’re each bushed of proceeding maine say, you cognize — a batch of bully folks connected Wall Street, but they didn’t physique the country.  Hardworking middle-class folks built this country, and the unions built the mediate class.  It’s astir clip we commencement showing them immoderate existent respect again.
 
And that’s wherefore I’m hopeful.  I cognize a batch of you deliberation I’m conscionable ever excessively optimistic, but I deliberation we’re going to get large pieces of authorities through, some connected a bipartisan basis, and I deliberation we’re going to get thing done consequentially — consequential connected the full contented of dealing with quality infrastructure. 
 
And we bash that — it’s much than conscionable however it’s going to turn the system successful an exponential mode near-term, but the remainder of the satellite is going, “Whoa.  How did helium bash that?  I thought they didn’t speech to each other.” 
 
Anyway, you asked what I was thinking.  That’s what I’ve been reasoning astir today.
 
Q    How bash you get backmost to that authorities of unity that you were talking astir and that President Bush was talking about, Mr. President?
 
THE PRESIDENT:  By being honorable erstwhile I marque a mistake, by being straightforward, telling radical precisely what I privation to do, letting them cognize and — cognize that there’s thing — nary hiding the ball. 
 
You know, if you instrumentality a look astatine the polling data, it is down — arsenic my numbers person dropped — you’ve seen that my bundle is overwhelmingly popular.  Overwhelmingly popular.  And truthful that’s wherefore you’re going to spot — and I get it — a batch much nonstop attacks connected me, not what I’m for.  And that’s — I’m a large boy.  I’ve been doing this a agelong time. 
 
But I truly deliberation that, you know, truthful far, astir people, understandably, thought I couldn’t get immoderate of this done, I couldn’t get the archetypal measure passed.  We got it passed.  It grew the economy, where, you cognize — where, you know, the 40 percent — anyway.
 
So I deliberation it’s conscionable a substance of showing — showing that what I’m saying, erstwhile it works, letting it — beryllium wide however it works, and erstwhile it doesn’t work, accidental I’m going to alteration that. 
 
But I deliberation radical are conscionable looking for, I anticipation — we’ll find retired — conscionable immoderate consecutive talk: what should beryllium done, what you judge to beryllium done. 
 
And I’ve been doing this agelong enough.  There’s, you cognize — again, I apologize.  For idiosyncratic who’s covered maine a agelong time, similar you, you’ve heard maine accidental immoderate of this before, but I mean it from the bottommost of my heart.  I told you the communicative astir erstwhile I won arsenic a 29-year-old kid.  Everybody said, “Well, what’s the secret?  What’s the secret?  Had to beryllium immoderate peculiar secret.  How the hellhole could I win?”  (Laughs.)  You know, consecutive up.  I had to find something.  And I said the concealed is figuring retired what’s worthy losing implicit (inaudible).  What are you consenting to suffer over?  That’s your belief.  If you can’t fig that 1 out, you shouldn’t run.  You shouldn’t bash it. 
 
And truthful the things that I’m pushing, I believe.  I believe.  Now, I’m not — it doesn’t mean I’m — you know, everybody has to hold I’m right.  I mean — but I’m conscionable laying retired what I deliberation has to beryllium done to bring this state back.
 
You’ve heard maine accidental it a 1000 times: This is the astir unsocial state successful the full damn world.  We’re an idea.  It’s an idea.  It’s not based connected ethnicity.  It’s not based connected geography.  It’s not based connected religion.  It’s not based — it’s an idea.  It truly is.  “We clasp these truths…”  I mean, we ne'er lived up to it, but we’ve ne'er walked distant from it, but the past — erstwhile 4 years.

And so, you know, it would beryllium inappropriate for maine to archer you the fig of superior Republicans successful the past, and a fewer that are inactive around, who telephone maine and archer me, “What tin I bash to help?”  Because they get it too.  They whitethorn not hold with everything I say, but this thought that, you know, “What bash you privation to bash with Biden?”  “I privation to container him.”  I mean — you know.  I should beryllium truthful lucky.  You cognize what I mean?

But it is — the kinds of things — or, you know, the worldly that’s coming retired of Florida, the worldly that’s coming retired of — you know, “If Robert E. Lee had been successful Afghanistan, we would person won.” 
Anyway, I’m telling you excessively much. 

But the constituent is, what I’m reasoning astir contiguous is what these radical who — and I’ve got a portion of — a tiny portion of 1 of the beams they person — they gave maine past clip — oregon not past time, but however galore times agone — and the emblem they gave me.  And I’m reasoning of, you know, what — what — of the radical who died, what would they beryllium thinking?  They deliberation it makes consciousness for america to beryllium successful this benignant of thing, wherever you thrust down the thoroughfare and idiosyncratic has a motion saying “F truthful and so”?  Or — it’s not who we are. 

Q    This is the archetypal day with nary warfare successful Afghanistan anymore.  Do you deliberation this marks a caller signifier for the state arsenic it experiences this day 20 years later?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I deliberation — look, I do.  If you read, determination was a large nonfiction with 16, 17 people.  Was it in, um — I conjecture it was — what was it?

AIDE:  Politico.

THE PRESIDENT:  Politico.  And quoting large players implicit the past 20 years.

And everybody — each 1 of them said they’re — look, this was — we didn’t commencement disconnected this way.  If you had told anybody that we were going to walk 300 cardinal bucks a time for 20 years to effort to unite the state aft we got bin Laden, aft al Qaeda was wiped retired determination — tin al Qaeda travel back?  Yeah.  But conjecture what?  It’s already backmost successful different places.

What’s the strategy?  Every spot wherever al Qaeda is we’re going to invade and person troops enactment there?  Come on. 

Anyway.  So, I conscionable deliberation that — and, again, what radical are — arsenic I work it, I’m told, radical — 70 percent of the American radical deliberation it was clip to get retired of Afghanistan — spending each of that money.

But the flip of it is, they didn’t similar the mode we got out. But it’s hard to explicate to anybody however other could you get out.

For example, if we were successful Tajikistan and we pulled up with a C-130 and said, “We’re going to let, you know, anybody who was progressive with being sympathetic to america to get connected the plane,” you’d person radical hanging successful the instrumentality well.  Come on.

So — but you guys got a pugnacious job, and I’m gladsome I don’t person it.

So, anyway, I’m going to bash my thing.                                           
 
1:37 P.M. EDT

Post based connected property merchandise from The White House to ZENNIE62MEDIA,Inc.