Joe Biden Campaign Event Speech Transcript St. Paul, Minnesota October 30

Speaker 1: (01:19)
Please welcome Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Tim Walz: (01:22)
Yeah, Minnesota. Good afternoon. Chavonne, I see you. I see you over there. Well, Minnesota, thank you for being out here. Thanks for gathering on the state fairgrounds, which is normally the great Minnesota get together. It will be the great Minnesota get together when we start to do things right, and that all begins with each of you getting out the vote.

Tim Walz: (02:03)
I have to tell you, Minnesota, the last seven months have been challenging. It has been heartbreaking. It has been, in some cases, unimaginable of dealing with COVID-19. And what makes it all so unforgivable, it didn’t need to be this way. Had we had leadership in the White House to partner with states and public healthcare, things can be different. Things can be different.

Tim Walz: (02:35)
There are countless reasons why we need Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. First and foremost, we need a President who believes in science. We need a President who understands partnering with states, and we need a President who shows empathy and compassion to those they’re supposed to represent. That embodies Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Tim Walz: (03:02)
Here’s the deal, Minnesota. It’s been a challenging four years, not just seven months, but the wonderful thing and the genius of our system is, it is a rare opportunity in life when 100 hours can truly change the destiny, not just for your family or your community or your state or nation, but truly can change the trajectory of this planet. We need American leadership on climate change. We need American leadership that stands with our democratic allies, not the despots on the other side. We need to end the chaos, the division, the hate, and the gas lighting. And the good news is, it’s in our power to do it in the next 100 hours. 100 hours.

Tim Walz: (03:58)
And just let me say something about voting, that most precious American right and privilege, to cast a vote and self-govern, that was paid for in the blood of patriots. Here’s what I can tell you, anyone or any group of people that tries to intimidate voters does not respect the democracy. Any person or any group that tries to make it difficult to vote does not respect the spirit of people like John Lewis, who crossed that bridge for the right to vote.

Tim Walz: (04:41)
But the good news is, what all of you know is, when people like Donald Trump try and come to a state like Minnesota, that votes at a higher percentage than anywhere else in the nation, that values that right to vote. When you come here and try and suppress our right to vote, we know why you’re doing it. It’s because you’re getting your butt kicked. That’s why you do it.

Tim Walz: (05:09)
So what we know is, this is our moment. If you’ve got a ballot, take it and drop it off. If you haven’t voted yet, it will be safe, curbside vote if you need to on Tuesday, but do not allow the intimidation, the disrespect of our democracy, and the undermining of all of the things that make this nation great. Get out and cast that vote. Get out and make sure there’s no regrets. 100 hours. We’ll sleep when we’re dead, but now it’s not the time to sleep. 100 hours. You wake up on Wednesday morning, you wake up and know that you did everything possible to right this nation’s ship, to put dignity and decency and compassion and humor and goodwill, and all of the things that are personified in Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and what makes this nation great. We wake up on November 4th, that’s our reality. Let’s do it, Minnesota. (silence)

Speaker 1: (06:10)
Please welcome Senator Tina Smith.

Tina Smith: (08:18)
Hello, Minnesota. I’m so happy. I am so happy to be with you all today. This feels like such an important day. We are living through a health crisis and an economic crisis brought on by this pandemic, and it feels so personal. It’s your health, your jobs, the businesses that you’ve built, your kids’ education. And we are seeing a spike in cases here in Minnesota and across the upper Midwest. 2400 lives lost in Minnesota, and COVID is not the great equalizer. You know it disproportionately affects our elders, people who don’t have a safe place to live, people of color, people who are already struggling in life.

Tina Smith: (09:09)
And there is no question that Trump’s response to this pandemic has been a disaster. And that has hurt us. That has hurt our families. Trump and my opponent said that this pandemic would just go away, and cases continue to rise. They make fun of people who wear masks, and people continue to die. And Trump and Mitch McConnell, all summer and fall, have failed to put together any kind of a strategy to help Minnesotans affected by this virus. I’m thinking about the idled worker at the key tech mine in Northern Minnesota, waiting for that unemployment insurance to be renewed. I’m thinking about the mom who’s trying to work, and the same time, trying to make sure that her daughter is getting the education that she needs remotely. Then meanwhile, my opponent is suing Governor Walz for doing the things he needs to do to keep us all safe.

Tina Smith: (10:14)
This is not what we want in this moment, is it, Minnesota? It is not what we want. What we want in this moment is strong, empathetic leadership, leadership that lifts up the best of who we are, because we really are all in this together. That is who Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are. That is who they are. And that is what this election is all about. This election is not just about what’s wrong in our country, but what we’re going to do to make it right.

Tina Smith: (10:52)
And that is why we’re focused on building forward. Let’s get this coronavirus pandemic under control. We can do that. We can do that. This is not just going to go away. We can take control of this. And then let’s build forward with Governor Walz and Peggy Flanagan, with me and Amy Klobuchar and the majority in the United States Senate, with Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris, people who know how to get results.

Tina Smith: (11:28)
And we’re going to rebuild American manufacturing. That’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to rebuild American manufacturing, and let’s start with rebuilding a supply chain for medical supplies and equipment right here in the United States. Let’s support working families and small businesses, and let’s start with those small businesses East Lake Street, and in Rondo neighborhood. Let’s address the systemic racism that is holding the lives of too many people back. We can do that with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Tina Smith: (12:11)
So this is the choice. Minnesota, this is the choice. Let us choose leadership rooted in strength and decency and optimism. Let’s choose leadership that is focused on getting results. Let’s choose leadership that brings out the best in us. As Paul Wellstone said, fulfilling the promise that we all do better when we all do better.

Tina Smith: (12:40)
Minnesotans. Minnesotans, this isn’t about political parties. This isn’t about whether you’re a Democrat or Republican or none of the above. This is about our children’s future. This is about the future of our democracy. This election is over in four days. And I want you to know that I am optimistic because I believe we, the people, will win. 970,000 Minnesotans have already voted. That is a lot of people. And Vice-president Biden, I want you to know that we are hell bent to win here in Minnesota. Here’s the thing, Minnesota. And this is really important. This is really important. Just yesterday, a federal court threw out the election rules that we have been counting on in Minnesota. So it is so important, if you have not already voted, and you have a mail in ballot, you must not put that ballot in the mail. You must hand deliver that ballot, so that your voice and your vote will be counted and heard. Okay? This is really important.

Tina Smith: (14:06)
We have some of the highest voter participation of any place in the country, and we need every single one of your voices to be heard. So don’t put your ballot in the mailbox. And when we do this, when we do this, Minnesota, we the people will put Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House. We will win this Senate seat that I hold. We will put a Democratic majority in the United States Senate. And then we will get to work. Thank you so much, Minnesota. Let’s get to work.

Speaker 2: (15:00)
(singing)

Speaker 3: (15:42)
Please welcome. Senator Amy Klobuchar.

Speaker 4: (15:54)
(singing)

Amy Klobuchar : (15:59)
Wow. Hello Minnesota. Are you ready to welcome the next president of the United States, Joe Biden? Are you ready to reelect my good friend, Tina Smith to the US Senate? We’re going to show Joe how Minnesota holds the record almost every year for the biggest turnout in the United States of America and we are not going to let him down. Now, we know the Republicans are trying to the very last minute to stop our votes from being counted, to stop Minnesotans from voting. They’re doing it to everyone with these lawsuits. But are you going to let two Republican electors in some lawsuit stop our people from voting? No. So I want to remind you and I want the country to listen to this, Minnesotans, you’ve dutifully mailed in your ballot, but if you have one at home right now, you 380,000 people out there, don’t mail it in. Bring it to a drop box, right? Then you can vote in person all over our state early. It is easy to do.

Then if you don’t do those two things, you can vote on election day, and if you want to know how and where you vote, go to iwillvote.com and find out, and that is, if you are given the right to vote, we will send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House. Now, I want to say a few words to Donald Trump. Despite how many times he has come to Minnesota, Minnesota is not Trump country. It is your country. One of the last time he came, he made us a promise, a big promise, the president did. He said, if he doesn’t win Minnesota, he’s never coming back again. So Minnesota let’s hold him to it. One of the times he was somewhere else, he said, “Why don’t suburban women like me?” Well, let’s show him how much they don’t.

This is our moment because our country, our country cannot take four more years of Donald Trump. The rule of law can’t take four more years of a president who thinks he’s above it. Decency cannot take four more years of a president who doesn’t care about it. Our democracy cannot take four more years of a president who thinks he can bulldoze through it. The American dream can not take four more years of a president who thinks he can choose who lives it.

For me, like so many people out there, the reason people are voting in droves, the reason that over 85 million Americans have voted is that for so many people, this isn’t just about TV commercials and numbers and rhetoric, this is personal. It’s personal for me. My husband got really sick with this virus early on in March and he ended up in the hospital for nearly a week with pneumonia on oxygen. He made it through. He’s here, right here. John is here right here. Where’d he go? When I found out a few months ago that the president actually knew way back then because he told Bob Woodward that he knew that it was airborne, and at the time we were just cleaning off every surface, which we should still do, but we didn’t even know how much it was airborne back then. He might not have gotten sick, but the president didn’t tell us.

Then my dad got it in his assisted living at age 92 and I will never forget standing outside the glass looking in. Three of the 16 people where he lived died and I looked at him and he looked so small and he looked so sad and confused. I thought this is going to be the last time I ever him like that. Well, he made it through, but so many Americans have not made it through. So many Americans, over 225,000 Americans are going to be at their Thanksgiving table and they’re going to be an empty chair. 24 Minnesotans have not been so lucky. But it didn’t have to be that way and it doesn’t have to be that way. We don’t need to have a president who blames everyone for everything. He blames Dr. Fauci. He blames his own people. He literally should have a sign on his desk that says the buck stops anywhere but here.

Joe Biden, he will take responsibility. See how perfect that was? He will take responsibility. He will be a president for all of America, because as he has said, “This is not a partisan moment. This is an American moment.” In this moment, Minnesota, we deserve leaders who are as resilient as our people. We deserve leaders who will bring people together, who don’t wake up every morning and say, “What mean tweet can I write? How can I divide people?” Joe Biden will be a president who already has built a support of yes, our fired up Democratic base, but also Independents and Republicans across the country. He has a supportive John Kasich, the former Republican governor of Ohio. He has the support of Colin Powell. He has the support of my friend, Cindy McCain. He has built a coalition that will help us win, but it will also help us govern so that we can take on the challenges of our time.

Yes, this pandemic, but also our economy, climate change, affordable education, and yes, universal health care. America deserves president Joe Biden. So Joe Biden is a man of scrappy working class roots, a man whose own hardships have only made him more determined to lift up those who have been left out. He has a plan to build back better, and you can count on him to help this country, not just recover, but renew its spirit to take on the challenges of our time. Yes, he will be confident, but he will also govern from his heart. He will be the president for all of America.

So recently, he gave his last closing argument in Warm Springs, Georgia and that warmed my heart because as some of you know, I ran for president and as I went around the country, I told the story that he told at Warm Springs and he picked that place because that is where Franklin Delano Roosevelt went to recover from the polio virus and that is where he went to renew his spirit and he was a beloved president and he came in at a very, very hard time for our country, and in literally a hundred days changed the course of history. That exactly the burden that will be on Joe Biden’s shoulders.

When Franklin Roosevelt completed his work after many, many years, when he died, he was so beloved that the country stood up spontaneously at the train tracks where his body was taken through the countryside. There was a story of a guy, a regular guy that was standing by those tracks with his hat in his hands and the reporter looks at him and says, “Sir, sir,” as the guy is sobbing, “Did you know President Roosevelt?” The guy says, “No, I didn’t know the president, but he knew me. He knew me.” That is Joe Biden. So if you are trying to balance your toddler on your knee and try to balance your laptop on your desk, Joe Biden knows you and he will fight for you.

If you’re someone, a dad, that’s got to try to teach your first grader to use the mute button just so she can learn to read, Joe Biden knows you and he will fight for you. If you’ve got a parent that is in a nursing home, assisted living, or even in their own house and you can’t even go and give them a hug, Joe Biden knows you and he will fight for you. If you can’t decide if you’re going to fill your refrigerator or fill your prescription, Joe Biden knows you and he will fight for you

This is it, Minnesota. This is it. I want to say one last thing to everyone at home watching. If you are caught in the extremes of our politics and you’re looking for someone who’s going to stand up for you and you are tired of the noise and the nonsense, Joe knows you and he will fight for you. So let us get out the vote. These next days, let not let one political party stop the people of our state, Democrats, Republicans and Independents from coming together and electing a man of true grit, a man who loves this nation, a man who will get up every morning and think of you instead of him and that is Joe Biden. Thank you, Minnesota. Let’s go and win.

Speaker 5: (28:33)
( singing)

Joe Biden : (30:26)
Today’s event has has been set up to adhere to social distancing guidelines as outlined by health experts and the state of Minnesota. Thanks.

Speaker 6: (31:30)
Please welcome Jessica Intermill.

Well hello, Minnesota. I can’t tell you how much of an honor it is to be here with you today. My name is Jessica Intermill, and I am a Minnesotan with a preexisting condition. We have all heard all year how this is the most consequential election of our lifetime, and maybe in history. It’s not an exaggeration. The very future of our democracy and the health and wellbeing of our communities are on the ballot, and I know that because I lived that. In 2012, when I was seven months pregnant, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Now, rheumatoid arthritis is a vicious disease where a body attacks itself through its own immune system. So my body started attacking my joints and eating holes into my bones.

It’s extraordinarily painful. Sometimes, just turning a key in a lock can feel like my knuckles will just burst open. But there is no cure, but I did find a medication. The problem is that medication costs $54,000 per year, every year, for the rest of my life. Now, before the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, my medication would have bankrupted me. My pregnancy itself could have been considered a preexisting condition, but the ACA kept me and my family afloat for eight years. Joe Biden helped pass that ACA.

Now, 20 million more Americans have insurance now than 10 years ago. Joe Biden fought for millions like me who have preexisting conditions. And when I tell you that the stakes of this election are life and death, I’m speaking from personal experience. And yes, Senator Klobuchar, I do take this personally because Donald Trump wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He said that. He’s at the Supreme Court right now asking them to strike down that law. But if that happens, if I lose my insurance, then I will get that $54,000 bill. I can’t afford that. I’m here to tell you that if we elect Joe Biden, we’ll have an ally in the White House instead of an adversary.

He’ll make healthcare available to more Americans than ever before. Instead of repealing the Affordable Care Act, he’ll build on it. He’ll add a public option to expand coverage, and he’ll lower prescription drug and other health costs. Now, Minnesotans are already voting in record numbers, but the job isn’t done yet. With so much at stake, we cannot afford to be complacent. We can’t relax. I can’t relax until we’re certain that every Minnesotan has done their part and cast their ballots for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. So, here’s what I need you to do. If you haven’t voted yet, go do it today. Go to iwillvote.com/mn to find an early voting site near you. And if you have an absentee ballot that you haven’t mailed in yet, take it in person as soon as possible to a drop off location. If we keep up the work for the Next four days, we will elect Joe Biden. So with that, it is my distinct honor to introduce the man himself, the next president of the United States of America, Joe Biden.

Joe Biden : (36:48)
Hello, Minnesota. Jessica, thank you for being here and for sharing your story. Unfortunate it’s the story of so many other Americans. They have stories like your… Faced with health problems, fighting for their lives, and forced to think not only about facing the battle, but about how they can afford the treatment while insurance companies come in at the most vulnerable moments for you and your family members. I remember when my son Beau was lying in the hospital after he came home from Iraq after a year. He had stage four glioblastoma. They told him not whether he was going to live, but just how long would he live. As he lay there fighting for his life, fighting to hang on, I thought to myself, “What would it be like if in his suffering, my insurance company or his insurance company would come in and say, ‘You’ve run out of coverage. Time’s up. You’re on your own.'” Well folks, it’s a question no one should have to face in America. That’s why I fought so hard, why Obamacare was such a big thing? It’s unconscionable.

Joe Biden : (38:14)
It’s unconscionable that Donald Trump, from the day he got elected to right now, he’s fighting to court to rip that peace of mind away from tens of millions of Americans. But we’re not going to let him do it. We’re never going back to those days, and you’re going to vote. We’re going to win for you, Jessica, and your family. I promise you, I will protect your family as if it were my own. I want to thank all the speakers you heard earlier. Your governor, Tim, is great. He’s leading Minnesota with decency and integrity. And one of the outstanding members of Congress, Betty McCollum, let’s send her back to the House of Representatives. We need her badly. And your incredible Junior Senator Tina Smith, who I got to speak a little bit back here. She’s got to go back.

Joe Biden : (39:15)
And look, let’s win back the Minnesota state Senate while we’re at it. One of the nation’s finest leaders and a dear friend I’ve been honored to stand alongside and fight together for the soul of this nation for a long time, Senator Amy Klobuchar. Amy, I love you. Thank you. Thank you. Yesterday in Florida, I had a chance to spend a little more time with another Minnesota icon, Karl-Anthony Towns. You all have heard of him. Boy, he can play, man. Y’all know him as the heart and soul of the Timberwolves, but he’s also a son, who like many other Americans lost his mom to COVID-19 a couple of months ago. For all those sons and daughters, those parents, siblings, husbands, and wives facing empty chairs and dining room tables and with empty holes in their hearts, all those who reach over at night and [inaudible 00:40:19] just by instinct to say good night to their husband or wife, they deserve so much better. These guys are not very polite, but they’re like Trump.

Joe Biden : (40:28)
But look, they’re going to be okay. We’re going to take care of them as well. We need to come together. We need to fight for all these folks. We have four days left to get it done. Four days, and millions of Americans are already voting. Millions more will vote by Tuesday. I believe when you use your power, the power to vote will change the course of this country and the course of history. Right here in Minnesota, with all of you in the final days, keep that sense of empowerment. Keep that empowerment with you, that sense of optimism, what we can overcome. Now, look. There’s a reason they don’t want to hear me, because they know the president doesn’t say anything. So they’re not used to not hearing anything.

Joe Biden : (41:22)
But I Know it’s hard, folks. I know it’s hard. More than 228, I believe it is now, thousand Americans have died because of COVID-19. Nearly 2,500 here in Minnesota, gone. We had 9 million new cases nationwide. Millions of Americans are out of work, on the edge. They can’t see any light. They don’t know where it’s going. And Donald Trump, he’s simply given up. Over the weekend, White House counsel, chief of staff, he said the following, “We’re not going to control the pandemic.” At the debate last week, Donald Trump turned to me and said, “We’re rounding the corner. It’s going away. We’re learning to live with it.” But as I told him, “No, he’s asking us to learn to die with it.” We’re not going to.

Joe Biden : (42:23)
And did you hear what he said today? What he said today on the trail. He said that our doctors, our doctors, our first responders, over a thousand lost their lives, are putting their lives on the line, busting their necks, making up… He said, “But they’re making up deaths from COVID because they get more money.” The president of the United States is accusing the medical profession of making up COVID deaths so they make more money. Doctors and nurses go to work every day to save lives. They do their jobs. Donald Trump’s should stop attacking them and do his job. Folks, this is the same man who weeks ago when he was told, “We’re losing a thousand lives a day,” you remember what he said? He said, “It is what it is.” That’s thoughtful. Well, it is what it is because he is who he is. Donald Trump has waved the white flag and surrendered to this virus, but the American people don’t give up. They don’t cower. Neither will I.

Joe Biden : (43:40)
Remember when he did that interview, and he told Bob Woodward that he knew about the virus and how deadly it was at the end of January, but didn’t tell anybody. He didn’t even tell those folks. He didn’t tell anybody. And Woodward asked him why, and on tape he said, “Because they didn’t want to panic the American people.” The American people don’t panic. Donald Trump panics. And unlike Donald Trump, we will not surrender to this virus. Look, President Trump is spreading division and discord. He thinks that he can divide us. We won’t notice his failures. That’s what it’s all about. That’s why he shamelessly equates Somali refugees, folks seeking a better life in America, contributing to this state and our country, with terrorists as he did last night. We need a president who brings us together, not pull us apart. I’ll deal with this pandemic responsibly, bringing the country together around testing, tracing, masking. It’s estimated by the leading doctors in this country that if we just wore a mask for the next few months, we’d save over a hundred thousand-

Joe Biden : (45:03)
… wore a mask for the next few months, we’d save over 100,000 lives of over 200,000 lives they expect to lose. Dr. Fauci called for a mask mandate last week. This isn’t a political statement, like those ugly folks over there, beeping the horns. This is a patriotic duty for God’s sake.

Joe Biden : (45:28)
Look, in his own words, as I said, the president knew back in January how extremely dangerous and communicable this disease was. And I told you, he went on and he made that tape. He said the disease was easily able to spread, but he did nothing. He did nothing at all.

Joe Biden : (45:49)
Look, folks, American people, our people are tough. And instead of talking and politicizing the vaccine, he should be planning for a safe, equitable, and free distribution of a vaccine when it comes next year. This guy refused to provide schools and small businesses the resources and the national standards to open safely. The House of Representatives already passed the money to allow schools open safely, businesses open safely, to make sure people are paid.

Joe Biden : (46:27)
Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll bring Republicans and Democrats together to deliver economic relief for working families, schools, and businesses. As I said before, I’m not going to shut down the economy. I’m going to shut down the virus.

Joe Biden : (46:47)
Donald Trump inherited a strong economy that Barack and I gave him. But guess what? Like everything else he inherited, he squandered it, like everything he’s inherited. But we can build back and we can build back better with an economy that rewards work not wealth. We can do it without raising taxes on the middle class and working families.

Joe Biden : (47:11)
I promise you, you have my word, if you make less than $400,000 a year, you won’t pay a penny more taxes. But I tell you what, for the first time, in a long time, the wealthiest and biggest corporations are going to start paying their fair share. 91 out of the Fortune 500 companies paid zero taxes last year. Why? Why should a firefighter, an educated, and even that guy blowing that horn, why should he pay? Why should a nurse pay higher tax rates than the super wealthy? Why should you pay more taxes than Donald Trump pays?

Joe Biden : (47:56)
He’s exploited every loophole and tax code. He’s run a shell game to avoid paying taxes. If you notice, I’ve released 22 years of my tax returns. He’s not released one single year. What’s he hiding? Where’s the corruption. According to Trump, the reason why he only paid $750 is because he’s smart. Well, what does that make the rest of us to pay our fair share, Mr. President?

Joe Biden : (48:28)
We’re going to deliver tax relief for working families and the middle class. Help you buy your first home, pay for healthcare premiums, or childcare, or care for your aging parents, or be able to actually, actually pay for school.

Joe Biden : (48:42)
Trump got a Supreme Court Justice, the first time in separate happened while an election’s already started for one reason, he’s determined to do what he’s been trying to do for four years, destroy the Affordable Care Act. If they get their way, 100 million Americans will lose protections for preexisting conditions. Complications with COVID-19 will be the next preexisting condition, allowing insurers to jack up your premiums or deny your coverage. And women will again be able to be charged more for the same health care as a man, just because they’re a woman.

Joe Biden : (49:20)
Donald Trump thinks healthcare is a privilege. I think it’s your right. And if we all get out and vote, we’ll not only restore Obamacare, we’ll strengthen it and build on it. So you can keep your private insurance if that’s what you like, or choose a Medicare like option, the public option. We’ll increase subsidies, lower your premiums, the deductibles, out of pocket spending. Reduce prescription costs by 60% by allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug prices. We’re going to keep the protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and we’ll protect Social Security and Medicare.

Joe Biden : (50:06)
Meanwhile, the Social Security Actuary said that if Donald Trump said, “Elect me again and I’m going to change Social Security.” The actuary said if the changes he puts in place occur that Social Security will be bankrupt in 2023. So go home and tell your parents, your grandparents just what Trump’s about to do. I’ll protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Joe Biden : (50:36)
But folks, nothing’s worse that this president has done than the way he spoke about those who served in uniform. He called them losers and suckers. My son, Beau, gave up the attorney general seat in the state of Delaware to volunteer to go to Iraq for a year. He won the Bronze Star, the Conspicuous Service Medal. He wasn’t a loser or a sucker. He was a patriot, so many of you as well.

Joe Biden : (51:12)
No wonder the six generals who worked directly for the Trump administration have left and they say, “He does not deserve to be the commander-in-chief of the United States.” That’s never happened to any president before, and that’s why Special Operations Commander Stanley McChrystal, Navy Seal Commander Admiral McRaven, along with 24 stars endorsed me, saying they support me to be the next commander-in-chief because they trust me. And that’s why the Military Times reported that more troops would vote for Biden than Trump. That’s why we have to support the military. They’re the backbone of the country. So let them vote and let’s vote for them. And when Donald Trump fails to condemn white supremacy, we can deliver on racial justice.

Joe Biden : (52:12)
A season protests has broken out across the nation because the life and dignity of George Floyd, senselessly killed seven miles from here, and so many others that mattered. Protesting and burning and looting is not protesting. It’s violence, clear and simple and will not be tolerated. But these protests are a cry for justice. The names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake will not soon be forgotten. Not by me, not by us, not by this country because true justice is also economic justice. Access to schooling, housing, access to capital, good paying jobs and financial stability. Giving families of color a real shot to own a home, start a small business, send a child to college debt-free so they can build wealth and pass down opportunity through the generations like the rest of us have.

Joe Biden : (53:10)
We have to vote to ensure the full promise of this country for everyone. And finally, we have to both to meet the challenges of the climate crisis. The West is on fire, losing more forest than the total land of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. The Midwest is flooding. Here in Minnesota, extreme weather occurs, incurs big costs for your infrastructure, increase flooding in the Mississippi. Watershed has shut down port facilities here and in Saint Paul.

Joe Biden : (53:41)
Donald Trump thinks it’s all a hoax. He sure is a stable genius. He says that wind power causes cancer. I say it creates jobs, Minnesota jobs. When combined, we can combat climate change. With American ingenuity and manufacturing, building a more resilient nation and creating millions of new high paying jobs. We can change the path we’re on. Nothing’s beyond our capacity.

Joe Biden : (54:13)
So honk your horns if you want American to lead again. Honk your horn if you want Americans to trust each other again. Honk your horn if you want to have civility again. And honk your horn if you want America to be united again.

Joe Biden : (54:45)
We cannot afford four more years of Donald Trump. In 2008 and ’12, you placed your trust in me and Barack Obama, and each day we were in office, we worked for you and the entire community. I’ll do it again in 2020. My campaign is a broad coalition of Democrats, Republicans, independents, Republican office holders. I’m running as a proud Democrat, but I will govern as an American president.

Joe Biden : (55:18)
I’ll work as hard for those who don’t support me as does you do, because that’s the job of a president. It’s the duty of care for everyone, and you too have a sacred duty, the duty to vote. It matters. Minnesota matters. So in the final days, stay empowered, staff domestic, stay united. Make a plan to vote, help get out the vote. As Amy said, go to Iowavote.com/mn.

Joe Biden : (55:53)
Yesterday, the Federal Fields Court forced a last minute change in the rules, absentee ballots have to be received by Tuesday. So if you want your voice to be heard, drop off your ballot, don’t put it in the mail, or vote safely in person any day up through election day. But you’ve got to get it done, and make sure everyone you know votes as well so they’ll not being able to stop us despite Trump’s efforts. A recent press article points out that quote, “Never before in modern presidential politics.” I’m quoting now, “Never before in modern presidential politics has a candidate been so reliant on wide scale efforts to repress the votes as Trump,” end of quote.

Joe Biden : (56:40)
We will not be silenced. Over 85 million people have already voted, 85 million. They’ve had enough. Look, I’ll never forget the words President Kennedy said when he promised to send us to the moon, he said we were doing it because we in America, we refuse to postpone. I refuse to postpone the work America must do. There’s nothing beyond our capacity. There’s no limit to America, including guys like that. The only thing that can tear America part is America itself, and that’s exactly what Donald Trump has been doing for the beginning. Divide America, pitting Americans against one another, based on race, ethnicity, national origin. That’s wrong, that’s not who we are. Everybody knows who Donald Trump is. Let’s keep showing them who we are.

Joe Biden : (57:44)
We choose hope over fear. We choose unity over division, science over fiction, and yes, we choose truth over lies. So it’s time to stand up, take back our democracy. We can do this. We’re so much better than this. We can be who we are at our best, the United States of America. God bless you all, and may God protect our troops.

Joe Biden : (58:18)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks.

Joe Biden Campaign Event Speech Transcript St. Paul, Minnesota October 30

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