Joe Biden North Carolina Speech Transcript October 18

Joe Biden: (00:00)
I tell you what. Thanks for sharing your story and it’s what this country’s all about. You’re making your family proud, man. And I wanted to talk, I want to thank the speakers ahead of me. Commissioner, soon to be commissioner Jessica Holmes, where are you Jessica? I know you’re here somewhere. And also state Representative Yvonne Holly, Lewis-Holley. She’s here. Zach Hawkins. Folks, and a great coach, Coach Lawson.

Joe Biden: (00:35)
I tell you what. My granddaughter’s with me today. And she went to a school that Coach Lawson went to for a little while in Washington. And apparently Coach telling me she’s recruiting some of the girl’s basketball team from where my granddaughter went to school. And she showed me Coach, she showed me a video you were doing for your team, where you made the distinction between competing and winning, the heart of winning and competing. And you talked about, though, working hard and competing. And everybody you pointed out works hard. But you said working hard is absolutely essential, but competing is even more consequential. You can work hard, but did you compete with everything you had? Competing because you know what’s at stake, what is at the heart of winning.

Joe Biden: (01:35)
My good friends, Congressman, excuse me, G.K. Butterfield and David Price, who represent the first and fourth districts with decency and honor, they can tell you we’re doing both, working hard and we’re competing like we never did before because so much is at stake for this nation. The very soul of the nation is at stake. Folks, as my coaches used to say in college, it’s go time. It’s the most important election in our lifetimes. We’re going to make all the difference here in North Carolina. The choice is clear as it’s ever been. And the stakes have never been higher. The stakes of this election, remind me of something my dad used to say when he lost job up in Scranton, Pennsylvania when I was a kid, when coal died and he moved down to Delaware. He used to always say, “Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck.-

Crowd: (02:35)
That’s right.

Joe Biden: (02:35)
“It’s about your dignity. It’s about respect. It’s about your place in the community.” Then he said, it’s the God’s truth, if I heard it once I heard it 20 times. It’s about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, “Honey, it’s going to be okay.” That’s a lesson I’ve never forgotten. When I grew up surrounded by a lot of hard work and folks in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Claymont, Delaware were we moved. How many people today though, think they can look their kid in the eye right now and say, “It’s going to be okay,” and mean it. So many people are hurting. Over half the people in America say if they got a bill for $400 they didn’t expect in one month, they wouldn’t be able to pay it. They’d have to borrow the money or they’d have to sell something.

Joe Biden: (03:21)
Folks, times are hard, unemployment’s way up. Just this week, 1,200,000 people filed for unemployment. Folks are worried about making their next mortgage payment or rent payment. Whether their healthcare will be ripped away in the middle of a pandemic. Worried about sending their kids to school, worried about not sending their kids to school. They see folks at the top, they’re doing better than ever while they’re left to wonder, “Who’s looking out for me.”

Joe Biden: (03:56)
Well, that’s Donald Trump’s presidency. More than 217,000 Americans dead because of COVID-19. Nearly 4,000 here in the state of North Carolina. On Friday, we saw the highest number of new cases in one day since July. In the last two days, worst day since July. Yet, the other night Trump said in one of his rallies, “We’ve turned the corner.” And my grandfather would say, “This guy’s gone around the bend if he thinks we turned the corner,”

Crowd: (04:36)
Yeah, Joe. Joe [inaudible 00:04:39].

Joe Biden: (04:39)
Turn the corner? Things are getting worse. He continues to lie to us about the circumstances. Experts say we’re likely to lose as many as 200,000 additional lives nationwide between now and the end of the year. All because this President cares more about his Park Avenue perspective on the world, the stock market, than he does about you. Because he refuses to follow the science. It’s estimated that if we just wore masks, if we just wore masks, we’d save between now and the end of the year, a hundred thousand lives. His own head of the CDC said that. And you know what? What’s really sad about this? The President knew how dangerous this virus was all the way back in January.

Crowd: (05:28)
Yeah.

Joe Biden: (05:30)
And he hid it from the country. He’s on record. He told Bob Woodward in a taped interview that the disease was deadly, much worse than the flu. And here’s what he did. According to the New York Times three, four days ago, his Administration gave Wall Street investors, a head’s up, but he didn’t tell us, just his friends on Wall Street. That’s why they made so much money by “selling short.” Well who got sold short, y’all got sell short. And you know what’s coming.

Joe Biden: (06:10)
But what happened to the rest of us? He tried to claim with Woodward, he didn’t want to panic the American people. The American people do not panic, Trump panicked.

Crowd: (06:23)
Send him home, Joe. Send him home.

Joe Biden: (06:27)
And his selfish behavior is no surprise. After all, this is the same man who looks at Americans who put their lives on the line for this nation, like so many tens of thousands here in North Carolina have done. Like my son Beau did after a year in Iraq, winning the Bronze Star, conspicuous service medal, he looks at them, he calls them suckers and losers. Who the hell does he think he’s talking about? These are our heroes. They are the people who have sacrificed. They’re the backbone of this country.

Joe Biden: (06:59)
And now as a consequence of all this overwhelming lying, negligent, and irresponsible action has come, how many chairs were empty at the dining room table last night because of his negligence? Folks, we’re so much better than this. Despite the crisis we face, we have enormous opportunity if we just build. We can build back better. We just got to stand up and take it back. Look, we can build an economy that gets everyone a fair return on their work, an equal chance to get ahead. For example, the communities of color here in North Carolina and across the country. The question is, how do we break that cycle where in good times you lag behind. In bad times, you get hit the hardest and first. And in recovery, the last to bounce back. Well, the answer is about justice, criminal justice, police reform. I know this nation is strong enough to do both, honestly face systemic racism and provide safe streets for our families and small businesses, that too often bear the brunt of looting and burning.

Joe Biden: (08:04)
We have no need for our armed militias roaming America’s streets. This is the United States of America. And we should have no tolerance for extremist white supremacist group marching, menacing our communities. But what, but if you say we have no need face racial injustice in this country, as he says, you haven’t opened your eyes to the truth. There’ve been powerful voices for justice in recent months. George Floyd’s six year old daughter, who I met with in the family. I knelt down to say hi to her. And she looked at me, she said, “Mr. Vice President, daddy changed the world. Daddy changed the world.” Jacob Blake’s mother, with whom I met, said violence didn’t her son and this nation needs healing. And then said she prayed for the police officers.

Crowd: (09:00)
[inaudible 00:09:00] Joe. Amen.

Joe Biden: (09:02)
Doc Rivers, a basketball coach, choking back tears when he said, “We’re the ones getting killed. We’re the ones getting shot. We’ve been hung. It’s amazing why we keep loving this country and this country doesn’t love us back.” Think about that. Think about what it takes to be a Black person to love this country today as it does, its deep love for this country. And for much too long it hadn’t been recognized.

Joe Biden: (09:31)
We need leadership to deescalate tensions, open lines of communication and brings us together. To heal and to hope. As president that’s precisely what I’ll do. But true justice is also about jobs, good paying jobs, financial stability. It was right here in Durham, on Parrish Street a century ago that an oasis of black owned businesses thrived, even in the era of Jim Crow. Parrish Street was one of the first examples of flourishing black middle-class community in America. A place that offered the country a glimpse of what we could become if we chose to live up to our founding values. Giving families of color a real shot at a home, start a small business, send a child to college debt free so they can build wealth and pass opportunity down through generations. That’s what built every other middle-class group in America. That’s how we deliver equality and equity.

Joe Biden: (10:34)
Another example, more and more women are dropping out of the workforce in this recession, whether in cities or in suburbs. I have a plan to deal with this pandemic. Responsibly testing, tracing, masking, not politicizing a race for a vaccine, planning for its safe and equitable distribution. Providing funding for PPE and other resources for schools to reopen safely. Easing the caregiving crisis so many families are experiencing, squeezed between raising your kids and caring for an aging, loved one. And protecting your health care. In the middle of this pandemic, why did Republicans have the time to hold a hearing on the Supreme Court instead of addressing this significant economic needs of local communities?

Joe Biden: (11:24)
I’ll tell you why. For real not hyperbole, I’ll tell you why. It’s about wiping Obamacare off the books. That’s what it’s about. Because their nominee has said in the past the law should be struck down. If they get their way, 100 million Americans will lose their protections for pre-existing conditions. Complications of COVID-19, over 7 million people infected will become the next preexisting condition, allowing insurers to jack up your premiums or deny your coverage altogether. And women will again be charged more for their health just because they are women. Folks, we can do so much better.

Joe Biden: (12:07)
I will build on the Affordable Care Act so you can keep your private insurance. You can choose a Medicare like option. We’re going to increase subsidies that lower your premiums and deductibles [inaudible 00:12:18] out of pocket spending. Look, your governor has been working hard to expand Medicaid, but it’s being blocked by Republican legislature. My plan will automatically enroll 357,000 uninsured North Carolinans in a public option for free, automatically.

Joe Biden: (12:40)
And it’s going to make a life-changing difference for so many families. But we can only do any of this if we come together as a country. We need to revive the spirit of bipartisanship in this country. A spirit of being able to work with one another. When I say that, and I said that from the moment I announced, I’m told that, “Well, maybe that’s you used to be able to do that, Joe. That was your reputation when you were in the Senate and Vice President. But things have changed. They don’t work that way anymore.” Well, I’m here to tell you they can and they will and they must if we’re going to get anything done in America.

Crowd: (13:14)
We love you, Joe.

Joe Biden: (13:16)
Folks-

Crowd: (13:17)
We love you, Joe.

Joe Biden: (13:18)
I’m running as a proud Democrat, but I will govern as an American president. No red states, no blue States, just the United States. I promise you. I’ll work as hard for those who don’t support me as those who did. That’s the job of a president, a duty to care, to care for everyone in America. Folks, and you too have a sacred duty. To vote. And it matters. North Carolina matters. And Senator Harris and I are asking you for your trust and support. We’ll always have your back, I promise you.

Joe Biden: (13:59)
So please, please vote and help get out the vote. Go to iwillvote.com/nc. Early voting started on Thursday. We got to keep the incredible momentum going. We can’t let up. You can vote early in person until the 31st. But don’t wait, go vote today and don’t just vote for me and Senator Harris. You’ve got a governor’s race, a Senate race, a record number of black women on the ballot. Congress and lieutenant governor. Labor commissioner and the courts. Folks, they’re ready to deliver for North Carolina families. So vote, vote. It’s time. It really is time.

Joe Biden: (14:43)
When I announced my candidacy, I hadn’t planned on running again to be very blunt. And I’ve said it before. My son had just died and I had no interest. And then I saw those folks coming out of the fields in Charlottesville, carrying torches. Close your eyes, remember what it looked like. They’re veins bulging, shouting anti-Semitic bile. The same bile that was shouted in the streets of Germany in the thirties. Carrying Nazi flags, accompanied by the Ku Klux Klan. And a young woman was killed that was protesting the opposite direction. And when asked to comment, this President said something no other president has ever said in the history of the United States of America. He said, “There were very fine people on both sides. Very fine people.”

Joe Biden: (15:42)
Folks, I mean it when I say this it’s time to restore America’s soul. It’s time to rebuild the backbone of America, the middle class. And this time, bring everybody along. No matter your race, your age, your religion, your gender, ethnicity, or disability. We can do this. The blinders have been taken off the American people and they’ve seen what’s happened. It’s time to unite America. Look, I’ll never forget what President Kennedy said when I was a kid and we’re going to the moon. Every kid in the school had to hear his speech. He used the line in that speech my Senate colleagues and the White House heard me use all the time, it made the most impression on me. He asked the unasked question, “Why are we doing this?” And his response was, he said, “Because we refuse to postpone.”

Joe Biden: (16:40)
This is America. We refuse to postpone America’s work that must be done.

Crowd: (16:47)
Yeah, Joe. Yeah, Joe.

Joe Biden: (16:47)
There’s nothing beyond our capacity. We have never, never, never, never failed. There’s no limit on our future. The only thing that can tear America part is America itself. Everybody knows who Donald Trump is. So let’s let them know who we are. We choose hope over fear. We choose unity over division. Science over fiction. And yes, we choose truth over lies. So folks, it’s time to stand up. Stand up and take back our democracy. No more time left. God bless you all. And may God protect our troops. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.