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Biden Delivers Warning On Threats To Democracy; Federal Government Could Shut Down In Less Than Three Days. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 28, 2023 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOE BIDEN, (D) U.S. PRESIDENT: Was my son, Beau, who lived next to a burn pit for a year, came home, and died -- was he a sucker for volunteering to serve his country?

The same guy who denigrates the heroism of John McCain. It's not only wrong, it's un-American. But it never changes.

The MAGA extremists across the country have made it clear where they stand. So, the challenge for the rest of America -- for the majority of Americans is to make clear where we stand.

Do we still believe in the Constitution? Do we believe in the basic decency and respect? The whole country should honestly ask itself -- and I mean this sincerely -- what it wants and understand the threats to our democracy.

I believe very strongly that the defining feature of our democracy is our Constitution.

I believe in the separation of powers and checks and balances, that debate and disagreement do not lead to disunion.

I believe in free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power.

I believe there is no place in America -- none, none, none -- for political violence. We have to denounce hate, not embolden it.

Across the aisle, across the country, I see fellow Americans, not mortal enemies. We're a great nation because we're a good people who believe in honor, decency, and respect.

I was able to get the infrastructure bill passed. It's over a trillion dollars. The majority of it so far has gone to red states who didn't vote for me. Because I represent all -- no, I'm serious. I represent all Americans.

(APPLAUSE)

Wherever the need is. And I believe every president should be a president for all Americans. To use the Office of the President to unite the nation, uphold the duty to care for all Americans.

I've tried my very best, and I'm sure I haven't met the test of every -- all of you want me to meet. But I tried to do my very best to meet the highest standards, whether you voted for me or not. Because that's the job: to deliver light, not heat; to make sure democracy delivers for everyone; to know we're a nation of unlimited possibilities, of wisdom and decency -- a nation focused on the future.

I've spent more time with Xi Jinpin [sic] than any world -- ping -- than any world leader has. Sixty-eight hours alone with just he and I and an interpreter. Traveled 17,000 miles with him here and in China. On the Tibetan Plateau, he turned to me and he asked me -- he said, "Can you define America for me?" And I was deadly earnest. I said, "Yes. In one word: possibilities."

We, in America, believe anything is possible if we try it. Anything we do together, we can get done.

We've faced some tough times in recent years, and I am proud of the progress we made as a country. But the real credit doesn't go to me and my administration for the progress -- for this progress. The real heroes of the story are you, the American people. And that's not hyperbole again.

Which is why I'm asking you that regardless of whether you're a Democrat, Republican, or independent, put the preservation of our democracy before everything else. Put our country first.

Over the past few years, we can and should be proud of American democracy, proud of what we've been able to hold on to. We can't take democracy for granted.

Remember when you were in high school and college, if you took political science, they said every generation has to protect democracy. I used to think that that was just a saying. But here I am, as President of the United States of America, making this speech about my fear of the diminishment of democracy.

Folks, every generation has to be vigilant.

You know, toward the end of my Senate campaign, I convinced Strom Thurmond to vote for the Civil Rights legislation -- not a joke -- and I thought, "Well, you can -- you can defeat hate."

You can't defeat it. You just bury it. But when someone comes along and lifts up the rock and breathes a little oxygen in there, it comes roaring back. It comes roaring back.

We should all remember: Democracies don't have to die at the end of a rifle. They can die when people are silent, when they fail to stand up or condemn the threats to democracy, when people are willing to give away that which is most precious to them because they feel frustrated, disillusioned, tired, alienated. I get it. I really do. I get it.

For all its faults, though, American democracy remains the best path forward to prosperity, possibilities, progress, fair play, equality.

[15:35:09]

And democracy requires all of us in all of the major parties. You matter. And, again, I'm not just trying to be nice here. You matter -- all of you in this auditorium -- because history and common sense tell us that we can change things by adhering to our Constitution and our institutions of democracy.

Our task -- our sacred task of our time is to make sure that they change not for the worse, but for the better. That democracy survives and thrives, not be spa- -- smashed by a movement more interested in power than in principle. It's up to us, the American people.

In my view, the more people vote, the more engaged the whole nation becomes, the stronger our democracy will be.

So, the answer to the threats we face is engagement. It's not to sit in the sidelines; it's to build coalitions and community, to remind ourselves there is a clear majority of us who believe in our democracy and are ready to protect it.

To the students here today and the young people across country, you're the reason I'm so optimistic.

I know I don't look it, but I've been doing this for a long time.

(LAUGHTER)

But all kidding aside, I've never been more optimistic about America's chances in domestic and foreign policy as I am today. I really mean it. To see young people -- a hundred thousand students at this university and all across America -- they are the most gifted, the most tolerant, the most talented, and the best-educated generation in American history.

And it's your generation, more than anyone else's, who will answer the questions -- the legitimate questions the young man asked me a moment ago -- who I'm going to meet with -- questions for America: Who are we? What do we stand for? What do we believe? Who will we be?

It's not your burden alone, but your generation will not be ignored, will not be shunned, will not be silenced.

I've said it before: We're at an inflection point in our history. One of those moments that not only happens once every several generations, it happens once every eight or nine generations, where the decisions made in the short period of time we're in now are going to determine the course of this country and the world for the next six or seven decades.

So, you, me, every American who is committed to preserving our democracy and our constitutional protections, we carry a special responsibility. We have to stand up for American values embedded in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, because we know the MAGA extremists have already proven they won't.

You know, Madeleine Albright wrote a book -- the former Secretary of State -- saying we're the "essential nation." We are. And I think you've fe -- sensed it abroad, Cindy, haven't you? Any room I walk in and no matter what heads of state I'm with, everything stops. Not because of Joe Biden, but because I'm President of the United States of America.

We are the essential nation. We are the essential nation. The rest of the world is looking, so we have to stand up for our Constitution, our institutions of democracy, because MAGA extremists have made it clear they're not going to.

History is watching. The world is watching. And most important, our children and grandchildren will hold us responsible.

So, let me close with this. In three years, we'll commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence -- a moment not only about our past, celebrating all we've done, but a moment about the future, about all we can be -- still be.

Imagine that moment and ask: What do we want to be? Now is our time to continue to choose and secure a sacred cause of the American democracy.

I know we can meet this moment. John knew we could meet this moment. He believed, as so many patriots before him did, that character [is] destiny in our own lives and the life of this nation. He believed in us.

That's what we see in the McCain Institute and Library and everyday places across America doing extraordinary things. And remember that the soul of America depends on the souls of all Americans -- how we choose to see our nation, how we choose to see ourselves, how we choose to lead not only by the example of our power but by the power of our example.

[15:40:06]

So, let's never quit. Let's never hide from history. Let's make history.

If we do that, we'll be -- have done our duty to our country and to each other. Future generations will say we kept the faith.

We'll have proved, through all its imperfections, America is still a place of possibilities, a beacon for the world, a promise realized -- where the power forever resides with "We the People."

That's our soul. That's who we truly are. That's who we must always be.

And that's why I've never been more optimistic about America's future. We just need to remember who we are. We are the United States of America. There is nothing -- nothing beyond our capacity when we act together.

Well, God bless you all. May God bless John McCain and his family. And may God protect our troops. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

(MUSIC) JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: President Joe Biden giving an impassioned speech about democracy and in his view, the risk to that democracy because of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, speaking in Tempe, Arizona, in front of a bipartisan crowd, at the McCain Institute and future site of the McCain Library.

President Biden talking about his friendship with the late Senator John McCain, and what they worked on together and how they had a friendship, even though they disagreed. And then talking about the threat in his view of the MAGA movement, both in terms of disenfranchisement, and both in terms of voter suppression, and also because of its opposition to basic democratic values in terms of respecting the will of the people and respecting when they lose and election something that we saw quite visibly for several months in the 2020 election.

Back with me, John King, Gloria Borger, Ashley Allison, and Scott Jennings. Let me just go around the room here and what struck you most about the speech?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Something big and something that many at home might not think is so big that I think is important going forward. The big thing, this is an incumbent president united states who structural numbers are weak.

TAPPER: Absolutely.

KING: All right, job approval is low, two-thirds of Americans think the country is on the wrong track, 400 days to the election, time to fix it. But he's in a deep rut for an incumbent president. What was he asking? Make the preservation of our democracy above anything else, essentially asking the American people, if you're mad at me about inflation, if you have questions about my age, if anything in your life has nothing to do with Washington, put this first please. Can you make that case? If he can convince enough Americans to put that issue first? That's a strength for him.

The smaller thing, one of the barriers he has, not just among swing voters. But even among Democrats are concerns about his age. Is he up to the job, right? Put the number aside? Does he have the stamina to be the president knighted states for four more years? He handled the heckler there perfectly.

And one of the questions is, is he in charge? Does he get it? Is he aware? It's one day I don't want to make too much about this. But he got heckled by a climate activist. He listened for a minute that he said, would you please shush up and I will meet with you. Then he moved back to his speech and even made a joke. Democracies complicated. There's your example. It's one example.

But one of the questions is, you know, is he aware, is the present? So the little things like if he can do that for months, and erode those doubts, among enough people, that's a plus for him. So that -- the big thing is can he convince people what's most important the election? But his performance as a candidate is going to be a big issue.

TAPPER: Interesting. Gloria?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think, first of all, this was a speech we've heard in various forms, from Joe Biden. Today was very heartfelt, obviously, because of John McCain and his personal relationship with him. But he said something that is obviously aimed at MAGA. And he took direct aim, which is you can't love your country only if you win.

And then he went point by point about things that Donald Trump or others have said, you know, I am your retribution. We want to destroy the FBI. January 6 was a legitimate political discourse, and on and on. And he sort of made the point that this is not our values as -- as Americans, and we need to abide by the Constitution. And one thing that was so personal was when he talked about Donald Trump referring to people to wounded or dead soldiers as suckers --

TAPPER: Suckers and losers.

BORGER: Losers.

TAPPER: Yeah.

BORGER: And he said, you know, was my son who lived next to a burn pit and died a sucker?

TAPPER: Yeah. And just to give a little bit more background to that specific story.

BORGER: Yeah.

TAPPER: It was -- it first came to light in Atlantic magazine story by Jeffrey Goldberg, in which officials to talk about President Trump's trip to France during the Centennial Anniversary of World War I in which President Trump and I -- and since the story came out by Jeffrey Goldberg, I have since had a senior administration official in the Trump administration confirmed the story. He referred to American soldiers killed during World War I, buried over there as suckers and losers.

[15:45:23]

And it's not just that, it is something that he has said about McCain, George H.W. Bush, and others who were injured or shot down during World War II. And George H.W. Bush's case in Vietnam and John McCain's case, he's called them suckers or losers for enlisting. So there -- there is a history of him saying these sorts of things behind the scenes.

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: -- because of McCain.

TAPPER: Yeah.

BORGER: Because he called McCain a loser, because he'd been captured.

TAPPER: Right.

BORGER: Remember that?

TAPPER: Well, he said that publicly. That's not even behind closed doors.

BORGER: That's right. That's right.

TAPPER: Yeah.

BORGER: He said that publicly. And I remember at the time everyone's reaction to it was, well, God, Donald Trump could never survive saying something like that, politically. And of course he did. And so saying this at the McCain Institute, without even mentioning John McCain in that way, I think was very important.

TAPPER: Yeah.

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. I mean, it's a reminder that Donald Trump is not a party loyalist. Donald Trump is loyal to Donald Trump, because he will attack Republicans and Democrats if he doesn't like them.

The other thing I thought was interesting with the speech is that he found ways to weave in other forms of MAGA extremism, while they were talking about book bans, talking about blocking military leaders from confirmation, which is undergirded because of the row decision.

Things that actually speak to the Democratic base as well that this is the speech for them. And then finally, when he talked about the contrast of when he was going overseas, talking to world leaders, and folks said, what if folks charged the doors of parliament? What would America -- you really have to take a step back. If you weren't in Washington, D.C. on January 6, and maybe you want to put that in the past, if you were to see another -- that happened in another country, you would really question the stability of their democracy. And so he's saying, but folks, this happened on our soil. So let's not take this for granted. And let's protect the democracy.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: A couple of things, micro for me, he's in Arizona. I mean, this is one of those traditionally red states that he barely won in 2020. There were obviously some McCain style Republicans that went towards him, and who I assume, are having some real doubts about his presidency and about whether he can do it again. So I think you're going to see a lot of this from both Trump and Biden, obviously today.

They're going to spend a huge chunk of their time in the same, you know, four to six days. So Arizona, if he -- if Biden can keep Arizona, it really does make it harder on the Electoral College.

Macro, who is this going to appeal to? Obviously, there are institutionally minded Republicans that are worried about the corrosion of -- of institutions. He talked about that --

TAPPER: Scott, you're one of those? JENNINGS: Yeah, I believe in political institution. I don't think Joe Biden's always live --

TAPPER: No -- no, I don't think that you find him appealing. But I'm saying you are an institution -- I don't mean that as an insult. It's a compliment. You believe in institutions?

JENNINGS: Yeah. And they're betting that there are more voters who are going to believe in institutions than not.

TAPPER: Yeah.

JENNINGS: We'll see if they're right. I think older voters, I think this is a speech aimed squarely at older voters. I think in 2020, there were older Republican leaning voters who went to Biden that Republicans had --

TAPPER: Very shockingly?

JENNINGS: Yep, depended on for a long time, so they're trying to hold on to those folks.

Stylistically, these kinds of speeches, I think, are supposed to be soaring. And there were phrases in there, but well, he really puts an anvil on it by the constant, not hyperbole, not a joke. I'm serious. And it -- it sort of drags them down. They're supposed to soar. And he just can't stop but putting an anvil on his own speeches. So I do think that actually diminishes the moments or the historic nature of it when you constantly you're interjecting with that. But you can see the broad outlines of the presidential campaign this week, Trump in Michigan, talking to non-college working class voters, Biden in Arizona, talking to people who believe in institutions, older voters, and probably voters with college degrees. These are the contours they're carving them out. And it's obvious.

TAPPER: Yeah, oratorical we're not headed into the Lincoln Douglas debates. John King?

KING: To the point, it's like, where was he, right?

TAPPER: Yes.

KING: He's at the McCain Institute. He's in Tempe, Arizona. He's in suburban America, the fast-growing suburbs in the Sun Belt state like Arizona, why Arizona is changing. The fast-growing suburbs around Atlanta, Georgia, or why Georgia is changing. It's why North Carolina may or may not be ready to be a more competitive state. You know, Obama won it with historic black turnout. The Republicans have wanted since but it's a state, the Democrats will look.

You're from Philadelphia, you know, the suburbs are not growing as fast. But for the close elections in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, where both Biden and Trump were in the last week. Arizona and Georgia are decided in the suburbs, and they're decided increasingly by the big flip, right? And one of the fascinating things we see this in the data as I'm traveling more, you know, to sit down with fishermen and blue-collar people who say I'm for Republicans because I'm going to vote for Trump, I'm going to vote Republican because there for us when I started. You know Michael Dukakis when he won 10 states in '98. One of them was West Virginia and one of them was Iowa, farmers and coal miners were for Democrats in those days.

[15:50:11]

The flip in politics is what is fascinating. Biden is talking to people who used to be Republicans. Those are the people who made George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush and Donald Trump by a more narrow margin. Trump won the suburbs in 2016. President United States, they are now the key to the Democratic coalition in the swing states. And to Ashley's point, he also has to turn out his voters, young voters, minority voters, and the fight for older voters. Welcome for the days.

TAPPER: I agree with you. It's those five states, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona. I would add secondarily, you have Nevada, Trump is definitely going to make a big deal for Nevada.

KING: Yeah.

TAPPER: And North Carolina, as you noted. Biden is definitely going to play for --

KING: The last one I would add is tiny New Hampshire.

TAPPER: Oh, yeah, absolutely.

KING: If it's that close. If it's that close. And what --

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Not even -- Trump's going to make a play for New Hampshire, no matter.

KING: What all those states have in common? They're right around the median, the average when it comes to education. Education is the new dividing line in American politics.

TAPPER: Maybe we'll talk --

KING: All those states -- all those states are right about the median.

JENNINGS: And a lot of those middle-class suburban voters you mentioned right now, they don't feel like they can buy a car. They don't feel like they can buy a house. They feel like they're being priced out. So when they went towards Biden before it was, maybe to get rid of Donald Trump. Now, they're faced with a choice of, well, I went away from Trump for a reason, Biden has disappointed me. And so this battle for that kind of a voter and can Joe Biden convinced them, put your personal economic concerns aside and listen to me. I'm dubious, honestly, because people are definitely hurting. You see it in the polling?

TAPPER: Absolutely.

JENNINGS: And it is -- it is a -- it's -- I'm not certain Biden can actually ultimately pull this off.

BORGER: -- and do both. Obviously, I don't think he's just going to talk about democracy. We've seen him talk about Bidenomics. It isn't sticking. But we're -- you know, we're going to see how that plays out.

What's interesting to me is that he did talk about younger voters today. He said it's up -- it's up to the next generation, to make sure that we adhere to these principles. And, you know, I couldn't help but think about Mike Pence at the debate last night, who presented himself in kind of a way I'm an old-fashioned Ronald Reagan conservative. And Joe Biden today is sort of like I'm a traditional work across the party lines, kind of a Democrat. And I don't know how that plays anymore. Certainly not playing in the Republican Party.

ALLISON: I think he's --

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: I don't know how it'll play here.

ALLISON: -- in terms of democracy and he should, but I also picked up the fact that he pointed out that he's passed legislation and even though Republicans didn't vote for it, you're still taking it because, you know, it's good legislation. And so kind of pointing out that hypocrisy with the Republican Party and his leadership.

TAPPER: And all this is happening as infighting among House Republicans is pushing the nation closer to a government shutdown. CNN's Manu Raju has been tracking every twist and turn an expletive deleted. Manu, what is the latest?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, lots of tension right now, among Republicans and fears of a government shutdown by Sunday because of the fact that Kevin McCarthy cannot get his conference in line. That is one big reason why. McCarthy, the Speaker of the House is still pushing to try to get a bill through his chamber that has all Republican votes. He is a razor thin majority. And he's included a number of provisions in this bill to try to court conservatives but as turned off Democrats, but there's a problem. There are more than four Republicans who are opposed to his efforts to keep the government open for a short period. Even if we were to get that plan out of the House, there's no chance in the Democratic-led Senate or would get to signed into law.

Meanwhile, there's a separate bill that's moving through the Senate that McCarthy doesn't support and they don't do his members, which is leads to these fears that are happening at the moment. Now, I spent the day talking to Republicans about everything that's been going on. And what's clear is that those members who are in swing districts, those moderate Republicans are furious at those hardliners. Those hardliners in the conservative side in the House Republican conference are furious at the speaker all as their concerns about the Speaker's own future, if he decides to cut a deal with Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DON BACON, (R) NEBRASKA: Can't just veer my way or the highway. And that's -- that's why some people seem to think it works. It doesn't work that way.

REP. ANDY OGLES, (R) TENNESSEE: In the waning days of July, we should have made a commitment to stay in August, whether that's the first week, the second week or the whole month. We should have stayed and finished our work. And so when we returned in September, there was no way that we could get done. And so I'm frustrated.

RAJU: Should be out of a job?

REP. ELI CRANE, (R) ARIZONA: You know, I think -- I think that members should be looking at for stronger leadership. And you know what, quite frankly, I know that people in my district that I represent, want to see stronger leadership, so I'm all about it.

RAJU: Yeah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So that last Congressman Eli Crane, supporting the idea of ousting McCarthy. There's that thread has been there for weeks, saying that if McCarthy were to go along with Democrats to support a bipartisan proposals to keep the government open, there will be enough support, these right-wing members are saying to push McCarthy out of the speakership. And you heard you Eli Crane there, saying he would side with that effort.

[15:55:09]

And just five Republicans, if they sided with Democrats could succeed in pushing the Speaker out, which is one reason why the Speaker at the moment still trying to get his own members on board behind one plan to keep the government open for a short period of time. But Jake, he doesn't have the votes, even though he plans and tried to bring it to the floor tomorrow. That is expected to collapse, leading to a lot of questions about what's next. And if there is a shutdown, how long that would last?

TAPPER: And Manu, just to be clear here, Speaker McCarthy was elected speaker in January. He's known that this was coming since January.

RAJU: Yeah, there's no question about it. In fact, he cut a deal over the summer with the White House to raise the national debt limit in that deal. They included on spending levels that they agreed to across the federal government. The Speaker agreed to it, the White House agreed to it. The Senate, Democratic and Republican leaders agreed to it.

McCarthy, though backed off that agreement, Jake, because of pressure from his far right. And because of that disagreement over spending levels, is one reason why they're in the mess that we're in at this moment.

TAPPER: Right. And the White House says they can't trust to make a deal with McCarthy because he made an agreement with them. And then he went back on the deal. Manu Raju, thanks so much. I appreciate it. Thank you for watching our special coverage of the President's Speech. Don't go anywhere. I'm back with The Lead after this short break. We'll pick it up after these quick commercials.

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