Our very special guest tonight is to aviator sunglasses what Tom Cruise is to aviator sunglasses. I'm proud to say I voted for him dozens of times. He is the reason we all got a cavity search tonight. Please welcome the 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden. [Applause] Thank you for coming, sir. I'm honored to have you here. Our pleasure to have you here. Good to be here, man. [Applause] I -- well, you know -- look at that [Inaudible] I thought my wife came in. You're wonderful. The wonderful first lady is here tonight. Your granddaughter is here tonight. [Applause] Hello. How nice -- how nice that the first lady came along. Well, she did. She just made the commencement speech at the Los Angeles Community College. Yes. Oh, how nice. By the way, I'm Jill Biden's husband. She's right there. [Applause] Welcome. It's wonderful to have you here. Good to be back, Jimmy. It's good to -- I mean, I thought maybe you want me to just stay on Fox all the time. You know, they're very concerned that I might not ask you serious questions. So, I don't want you to -- Oh, everybody asks serious questions. Yeah, right. [Inaudible] I don't want to upset them at all. Do you mind if I ask you some serious questions? Because this is -- Not at all. Unfortunately -- Not at all. I never mind having a conversation with someone really smart. Well, Guillermo, maybe you need to take over. [Applause] I will. No, but I'm happy [Inaudible] We were here in September of 2019, and one of the things we talked about at length was gun violence. And you said that we need to do something about this gun violence, particularly when it comes to our schools. And here we are a couple of years later, we're halfway through this year already. There have been, what, 27 shootings at schools? I guess -- I mean, just to get into it, why haven't we done anything about this? Well, I think a lot of it's intimidation by the NRA. And look, this is not your father's Republican Party. This is a MAGA party. It's a very different -- a very different Republican Party. And -- and so, you find people who are worried, I believe, that if they vote for rational gun policy, they're going to be primaried, and they're going to -- they're going to lose in a hard-right Republican primary. Is that your take when you speak to these guys and women behind the scenes that they are -- is there any honesty? Do they acknowledge that they would like to do something? Well, I think -- many of them do. You know, I get in trouble for saying this but I get on -- we have very different views on a lot of things, but I -- I've always had a straight relationship with -- with the majority -- with the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell. You know, he's a guy that when he says something, he means it. I disagree with a lot of what he says, but he means it. There are a number of -- Like when he said we can't confirm a Supreme Court justice with a year left -- That's right. And then said the opposite. Well, no. What he did -- I mean, look, he's a -- he's the leader of a party that's moved very hard right. And so, in order to get anything done, he has a different problem than he did early on before Trump became president. It seems like maybe the party has moved hard right, but I don't know that the people have moved hard right. They haven't. They haven't. Because people overwhelmingly believe we should have serious background checks. That's why they think -- They overwhelmingly do. [Applause] Look, Jimmy, you may remember the last time we did something serious about guns was when I passed the assault weapons ban. I was the guy who sponsored that, got it passed, limiting the number of bullets that could be in the magazine, whole background checks, a whole range of things. And we passed. And violent crime and gun crime dropped off. But I can only get it passed for 10 years. It had to be reauthorized. And when the first Bush administration came along, they didn't reauthorize it. We didn't have the votes. And so, what happened was, all of a sudden, it came back on assault weapons again. And guess what? Crime went up significantly, three times. I mean -- so, there is a direct correlation between the kinds of weapons that can be had. Look, I -- I met with every single family member of all those kids who were killed and the teachers killed out in -- down in Uvalde, Texas. And they stayed with me for almost four hours, over 200 of them, meaning family and extended family. And the stories they told and the pain you could see on their faces, it just made you -- I mean, it just -- it leaves such a -- Shouldn't we demand that every senator in the United States sit with those families? Well, the answer is -- [Applause] I think we should make the demand. Here's what has to happen. All of you folks -- and I hope -- and I'm not being facetious when I say this. Let's hope the Republicans are here as well. You got to make sure that this becomes a voting issue. It's got to be one of those issues where you decide your position on the issue, senator, or candidate for House or Senate, on what we're going to do on this with assault weapons and how -- have -- maybe they'll have 300 rounds in a magazine. And I mean, what you say on those is going to determine how I'm going to vote for you. It should be one of those issues. You're right. It is our fault that people in the House and Congress can take responsibility for it. But it is our fault because we need to stop this. We need to do it. Well, we did last time, as I said, and -- and inspired in 2004. Can't you issue an executive order? Trump passed those out like Halloween candy? [Applause] Sure. Isn't that -- Well, I did. Something that could happen? Well, I -- I -- I have issued the executive orders within the power of the presidency to be able to deal with these, everything having to do with guns, gun ownership, whether or not you have to have a waiting, but all the things are within my power. Well, I don't want to do, and I'm not being facetious, I don't want to emulate Trump's abuse of the Constitution and constitutional authority. [Applause] And -- and so -- and I -- I mean, as you said, that get -- often get asked, "Look, the Republicans don't play it square. Why do you play square?" Yeah. Well -- well, guess what? If we do the same thing they do, our democracy would literally be in jeopardy. [Applause] Well, yeah. I mean, I'm not a joke. And I -- I understand that argument, but also, it's like you're playing Monopoly with somebody who, you know, won't pass go or won't follow any of the rules. And how do you ever make any progress if they're not following the rules so that you can -- Well, you got to send them to jail. [Applause] You know, there's that little box in there. Directly to jail? Go directly to jail. I like that. The president is with us, Joseph Biden. We'll be right back to talk more. [Commercial break] We're back with President Biden, and the first lady is with us, too, here in Hollywood. Will you be going -- And my granddaughter. And your granddaughter is here. The family is here and. And her fiance. And fiance. Yes. It's my daughter's birthday. Oh, how about that? Happy birthday. [Applause] Happy birthday, baby. Does somebody you have to like remind you of all that stuff -- No, no, no. And all this craziness going on? No, no, no. My dad used to have an expression, "Families is the beginning, middle, and the end." Yeah. [Applause] We -- I think a lot of Democrats are frustrated because, you know, we got out and voted, we won the House, the Senate, the White House, obviously, and still, we have had made very little progress, as far as I'm concerned, when it comes to guns, obviously, reproductive rights, voting rights, climate change, the -- all of these things. And in some ways, we've -- we've moved backwards. Well, on climate change, we've actually made some real moves. I mean, we have -- we have, you know, one in seven of all the changes that have taken place in terms of solar, wind, and -- and -- and wind pumps, I mean, pumps and like -- have occurred in the last 18 months. We've moved. And there's an opportunity with the process we have dealing with energy to be able to gradually move more rapidly than we have been to alternative. For example, electric vehicles. Jimmy, when I got elected, I'm, you know, I pushed electric vehicles for the last, I don't know, God knows how long. Well, I had -- I had a conversation with the chairman of the board of General Motors, Mary Barra, and -- and she -- she was suing California, remember? And for be -- the case, "Your standard was too high," as she said. Right. Well, guess what? We had a conversation. I got a call from her about three days, four days later, she dropped the suit and committed she's going to go all-electric in the entire General Motors line. And by 2035 -- by 2030 [Applause] going to [Inaudible] [Inaudible] Well, it -- no, but it really is. And then Ford came along and did the same thing. So, we're on a path. And -- and what is the successor to Chrysler is doing the same thing. We're moving in directions that are being slow. Look, we won. I won by -- I got 81 million votes, more than anybody's ever gotten, and thank you for those who you helped. [Applause] But what's happened to me is, you know, we still only ended up with 50 senators, which means that we have 50 presidents. And two of them are kind of on iffy, I think, at best. Well, here's the thing, it's interesting, you know, one of the things that's causing problems is that people think it's the Democratic Party that's so divided in their problem. The problem is we have 48 out of 50 senators vote with me 95 percent of the time, more than any president has gotten that kind of support from their -- from their constituency. But we only have 50, and you can't get even two, three, four Republicans to vote. Look what's happening now with regard to everything from the way they talk about this potential decision from the Supreme Court. I mean, it's going to be -- it's awful. What do we do about that? Well, I mean, what do we do, and what do you say to Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema? What do you say to them when you get them on the telephone? Well -- well, what I say to them is -- and by the way, they agree on a lot of these proposals relating to everything from -- from choice all the way to -- I would hope so. Yeah. Well, yeah, I know. But it's not like they are -- they're 80 percent of the time. The pace that they're not there is Joe's not there on a lot of the things having to do with the climate and the environment because he comes from coal country and -- and he has a different view, and Krysten is not always there in terms of the tax policies. Look, here's where we are. We have the fastest-growing economy in the world, the world, the world. We have 8.6 million new jobs just since I got into office. Unemployment rate's down to 3.6 percent. We've reduced the deficit last year by $320 billion. This year, going to reduce it by $1.7 trillion, trillion dollars. Right. And so, we're the strongest economy, and that's allowed us at least to stay on top of and a little bit ahead of what's happening around the world. Second thing is, look, inflation is the -- is the -- is the bane of our existence. Inflation is mostly in food and in gasoline -- Yeah. At the pump. That's what kills you -- Well -- Because it's a little billboard telling everyone -- And you've -- you've got every -- How expensive everything is. If Donald Trump leaves one of those Sharpies over for you, you could maybe change the price on that, you know. [Applause] Well, we -- we could. Yeah. But here -- but -- but -- but here's the deal. You know, my dad used to say every -- every family needs a little bit of breathing room. If you take and look at all the costs that a family has on a monthly basis, it also includes health care, prescription drugs, child care, all those things. What I'm proposing, we get -- and I think we can get it done, I'm proposing that we, in fact, reduce the cost of those things. Why should -- anybody -- anybody in the audience know anybody who has to take insulin every month because they have -- Sure. Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes. Well, guess what? They're charging as high as a thousand bucks a month in some places, average $647 a month on average. Well, if I pass what I want to get done, which we can do, we can do it relatively easy, it's not going to cost more than $35 a month. It costs these companies -- [Applause] no, no, I'm not -- this is not, as our friends on Fox would say, socialism. This is very practical. They have it costs 10 bucks to make a vial. So, charging $35 gives them, you know, a significant profit. They don't need -- for example, our oil companies. Oil companies, instead, everybody says, "Well, Biden won't let them drill." They have -- they have 9,000 drilling sites that they've already owned that are there. They're not doing it. You know why? Because they make more money not drilling and buying back their own stock. It's all screwed up -- No -- And that's the thing, is that -- Well, it is screwed up -- Right. But we are only a few votes away from being able to straighten it out. We have to get the message across in a way that is understandable to people like the folks in my family when we grew up. Tell people what the -- what -- just what the facts are. And the facts are that this isn't anything about -- so, this is about building the economy. When I ran, I said, I want to build a new economy. No more trickle down, from the bottom up and the middle out, because when the middle does well, everybody does well. The wealthy do very, very well. The idea, there are 54 major corporations in America, made $40 billion last year and don't pay a penny in taxes. Not a penny. Yes. How many you think the tax code is fair anywhere along the line here? No, I'm not being facetious now. I'm being deadly earnest. They don't pay a penny. I don't -- so, if we had a minimum tax of 15 percent just on this year demand [Ph] minimum 15, it doesn't hurt them at all. They make a lot of money still. And we could raise a lot of money to make sure that child care doesn't cost you 1,400 bucks a month. [Applause] It makes -- but this all makes perfect sense. And the fact that this makes sense is why it doesn't make sense, and why it seems so crazy and that we have so many problems, and that maybe it's just that Americans aren't as knowledgeable as they should be. Or maybe there is a Death Star pumping false information into our brains -- Fox, right? Or -- yeah. Or maybe -- or maybe it's always been this way. I mean, here in LA, what? Like -- like -- you know, a small fraction of people voted in the primary yesterday. And then everybody wants to complain about everything. And it's just -- it's enough already. And I think you need to start yelling at people is really what I think. Well, here's what I think. Look, think about this. Look what impact the pandemic has had on people. It has had enormous impact, negative impact. Think of just -- think of just your kids. How many got to go to a prom? How many had a graduation that got celebrated? How many of -- how much has changed in terms of relationships between people and how they interact with one another? I mean, so much has changed. And we need -- Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, talks about the need for significant mental health proposals relating to people who are feeling not knowing where they're going, not knowing how -- how to respond, not knowing how to act. And so, there's a lot we can do. But the bottom line is I think that we've seen such a radical shift in one party and ability of that party to -- the -- that minority of the -- the MAGA folks -- Yeah. It's like -- To control it. We're living in two countries at once. Yeah. And -- and so -- It's like, well, you could be -- you can -- you can be -- But I've never -- Sorry. I've never been more optimistic in my life, so I'll tell you why. I -- why are you so optimistic? You know what -- It makes no sense. No, it does. [Applause] Look at the kids. Look at the young people. Best educated, least prejudiced, most giving generation in American history. [Applause] Turn on the television there. [Applause] You turn it on -- no, I'm serious. All right. There's something to that. Yeah No, but I'm serious. You turn on the TV, look at the ads. When was the last time you saw biracial couples on TV? When was the last time you saw the way -- I mean, people are selling products. They do ads to sell products, and they sell products when people -- they appeal to people. This generation is going to change everything. We just got to make sure we don't give up. There's an ability for us to do everything from -- increase the access to education, health care. Look at what we did in health care. All the talk about it. I was able to reduce people's bills, about 400 bucks a month. It has changed people's lives for the better. No -- No question about it. So, there's a lot of major things we've done. But what we haven't done is we haven't been able to communicate it in a way that is -- let me say, another way. Well, see, that's kind of perfect. Yeah -- Well -- We have been able to communicate it -- But look how the press has changed. Mmm hmm. Look how the press has changed. It has changed. Oh, listen. I get it. I know you get -- you overstand it. Yeah. You don't just understand it. You overstand. But here's the deal. One of the things is that it's very difficult now to have a -- even -- with notable exceptions, even the really good reporters, they have to get the number clicks on the nightly news. Mmm hmm. So, instead of asking the question -- anyway, it just -- everything gets sensationalized in ways and -- but I'm convinced we can get through this. We have to get through it. And one of the things -- look -- I'm going to take a break, and then we'll talk a little bit more if you don't mind. I don't blame you. I'm so -- sorry, we have some of those commercials. [Applause] I -- We have some biracial commercials we need to tell. We'll be back with President Biden. [Commercial break] We are back with the president of the United States. [Applause] Just a process question. When you have sensitive documents that you need to flush down the toilet, do you do that? Is that done in your office toilet or is that done in the bathroom, in the personal bathroom area? I call Trump. [Applause] And -- I haven't, you know, he talks about, you know, sensitive documents and the like. I don't destroy anything. But one of the things that I spent more time with Xi Jinping than anybody, any other head of state, and I'd always be -- when I traveled with him 17,000 miles, spent 78 hours with him, they tell me, all told. And we'd have, either of us, a consecutive interpreter and he'd have one. And the difference between when I would do that and others would do it, I always handed in all my notes. You got to hand in your notes. Hand in my notes. It's -- you learn that in -- we learned that in school, theoretically. Roe v. Wade, boy, these things just keep coming at you, don't they? I mean, there's no -- you have not had an easier -- what a terrible job you have. I mean, what -- I'm glad you're doing it. But boy, oh boy, does this seem like -- Well -- A bad gig. No, it's a -- I think if there's -- if the court overrules Roe v. Wade and does what it's -- Yeah. Drafted -- Well, we fear they will, you know? Well, if that occurs, I think we have to legislate it. We have to make sure we pass legislation making it a law that is the federal government says this is how it works. [Applause] In another situation where most of the country is on the same page. Something like 64 percent of Americans do not want to see Roe v. Wade overturned. And it's just going to be the beginning, by the way. You know, there used to be a case called Connecticut v. Griswold. Oh, I'm very familiar with it. Well -- I'm not. You know -- no, but all kidding aside -- Is that from the National [Lampoon's] Vacation movie? Yeah, it is. [Applause] But Connecticut v. Griswold said that you could not use contraception in the privacy of your own bedroom. Because in the Constitution, there was no right to privacy. And so, they could outlaw and if you use contraception, it was against the law. You couldn't purchase contraception. And, you know, there's a whole range of things that are at stake here when we talk about eliminating Roe v. Wade and all it's -- all of -- Same-sex marriage -- I mean, it's just ridiculous in my view. And I don't think the country will stand for it. But I think what we're going to have to do is there's some executive orders I could employ. I -- we believe we're looking at that right now. [Applause] But I want to keep -- Employ it. Hey, look. It's clear that if, in fact, the decision comes down the way it does and these states impose the limitations they're talking about, it's going to cause a mini-revolution. They're going to hold a lot of these folks out of office. We got to keep it focused on if some -- if you -- if they overrule Roe v. Wade and the state of California won't do it, but other states say that you cannot do the following. It's a law, you can't cross the border, you can't -- all the things that some states have. And you got to make sure that you vote. You got to vote, and let people know exactly what the devil you think. [Applause] If you think -- Yeah. We have to vote for people who are fighting for this country and not just reacting to these horrible things because we should have done something about gun violence a long time ago. The climate is -- it's something -- we could all look back at these days and go, "Oh my God." Why -- But we have made some progress there. There was -- Some. Some. Five hundred sixty thousand, but it's moving. It's moving. My mother used to say out of every -- any bad, something good will come if you look hard enough for it. So, the reduction on the use of oil also increases the need to find alternatives. Mmm hmm. Yeah. And I'm -- that's why I'm going over to the -- called G-7, the seven largest economies in the world, and meeting in Germany in a couple of weeks. Well, we're looking hard for the good things, and we're glad you're looking hard for the good things, too. We can do this. All right. This is the United States of America. [Applause] We can do it. I hope you're right. I really mean it. I mean it. President Biden, everyone. Thank you, Mr. President. We'll be back with Jack Johnson.