One of the major things you would have to do
in order to create all of this change is win an election.
-Yes. (laughs) -Um...
-That's true. -(both laugh)
-That's true. -I think it's safe to say
that America is expecting a really dirty election.
We know how Donald Trump plays in an election.
We've seen it up against Hillary Clinton in 2016.
You know that he holds no punches.
You know that he will punch below the belt.
You've often said that you plan to be the president
who brings America back together,
but how does that play into the way you'll run your campaign?
Well, first of all, uh, you know,
when the carny show comes through town the first time,
and everybody finds out there's no pea
under any one of the three shells,
well, the next time it comes around,
people have a little different view.
The first thing we're doing is calling out every lie
he, in fact, is saying.
We're calling out and making a case
that this guy is not a good guy.
This is what he has done.
What is happening is, the American public,
overwhelmingly now, if you notice,
two-thirds of the American public thinks
that the people who want to...
who are protesting are the people who are right,
and not the president.
The president has been wrong.
And so there's a lot that's changed,
a lot that's changed, but it's gonna be hard.
And he's gonna get very personal and say things
about me, my family, my children, everything,
that are simply not true.
But the good news is the bad news.
The good news is, the people know me,
and they know me warts and all.
The bad news is they know me.
And so, he's not going to be able to make things stick
that aren't already real weaknesses on my part,
and I have weaknesses for real to say...
What do you think some of those weaknesses are?
Well, I'm not gonna advertise, no.
Well, one of the weaknesses are
because I always say what I think.
No one ever... no one ever has suggested
that I don't mean what I say.
-That's true. -Sometimes I say all that I mean,
-and that gets me in trouble. -(laughs)
And sometimes it does. I-I get it.
And my old stuttering days, in case they come back,
and I find myself, uh,
just talk-talk, you know, talk-talk... talking like that.
And so, you know, I sometimes make political gaffes.
But you know that old expression.
A gaffe in Washington is a politician telling the truth.
The American place in the world has been damaged significantly.
-Mm-hmm. -The next president is going
to inherit a world in disarray, number one.
Number two-- at home,
we are a divided nation in a consequential way.
I've spent my whole career-- and the one thing
people give me credit and blame for is--
bringing the both sides together,
coming up with principled compromise.
And so, the two things, the reason I'm running--
both those issues tend to be in my wheelhouse.
It doesn't mean I'm going to get them right.
I'm gonna make mistakes.
I'm gonna make serious mistakes.
But the point is,
I take responsibility for the mistakes.
Let me then ask you this.
How do you plan, as Joe Biden, to speak to those voters
who might say, "You know what? I'm not a fan of Trump,
"but I love what he has done for the economy,
and I may be economically better off because of him"?
How do you plan to win those people over?
Well, there's not nearly
as many of those people as everybody thinks.
If you take a look, middle-class people
and people with... on hourly wages and middle-class folks--
you have over 50% of 'em six months ago in a poll saying
they don't think that their children
are ever gonna have the same standard of living they have.
He has really damaged the economy
for hardworking and middle-class people.
That's why I say the second reason I'm running is
to restore the backbone of this country--
hardworking middle-class people.
The president has to be part of solution, not the problem.
Ordinary people are getting crushed. And guess what?
If you are Latino, or you're African American,
you are really getting crushed.
The unemployment rate among black youth is up
in the 36%, 37% range, even higher for Latinos.
Everybody is beginning to understand
the way we treat people is simply not right.
As president, would you then continue being the Biden
who's not afraid to tell it like it is
and address those issues specifically
within those communities?
'Cause oftentimes it feels like politicians run on these ideas,
but then, when they get into power, they say,
"Oh, we're going to fix things for everybody."
But the truth is, America has a legacy
of oppressing certain people, specifically black people.
And it feels like those issues and those areas need
to be addressed in a very specific way,
as opposed to in a general way.
-Are you going to be willing to do that? -Yes, I am.
And face some of the backlash that comes with it?
By the way, yes, and I'll tell you what.
One of the things I've done
and I've been known for in my state is, I not only...
I don't address those issues
just to the African-American community.
I go to the business community
and make the case to the business community.
-Mm-hmm. -I think people...
You got to make the case
to the people who, in fact, are the reluctant
to pay their taxes to do those things and say,
"Tell me, are you going to be better off?"
And I'm confident, I'm confident
that you have at least 20% of that population,
that is the folks who are in the upper-income brackets going,
"Whoa. Yeah, you know, I guess I'm a little better off
if there's more peace and security."
We-we tend to be unwilling to make the case
to the people who historically have said:
Okay, look, this is all about my not paying taxes.
You can't build a wall high enough around your home
you keep pollution out.
You can't build a wall high enough around your home
to keep peace in the neighborhood.
You can't build a wall high enough around your home
to see to it that you have a safe place
to move around the country.
I mean, it just... and I think we got to make the case
to the very people who say they're opposed.
And the last point I'll make is,
you know, the people who voted for Trump out of frustration--
high school-educated people who are busting their neck--
they're the neighborhoods I come from.
That's where I come from, is Scranton, Pennsylvania,
and Claymont, Delaware, the people I grew up with.
In fact, they, in fact, understand,
and I think they know, I think they know me.
That's why I think the polling data
is demonstrating that they know I will do what I say
and respect them.
You may have respect and you may have people
coming out in many places to vote for you,
but as we saw in Georgia just yesterday,
if those people's votes aren't counted,
and if those people don't get the opportunity to vote,
then your entire campaign may be moot.
So what is the plan up until November
to make sure that people can vote,
to make sure that everyone,
whether it's Republican or Democrat, black or white,
has the opportunity to vote
without being in a line that's six hours long?
That's my greatest concern.
My single greatest concern.
This president's gonna try to steal this election.
This is the guy who said
that all mail-in ballots are fraudulent--
uh, voting by mail--
while he sits behind the desk in the Oval Office
and writes his mail-in ballot to vote in the primary.
This is the guy, you have 23, I believe, of the states
have passed over... over, uh,
82 pieces of legislation
making it harder for people to vote. Harder.
That's why we're putting together a major initiative
of lawyers to go out and make sure
that we're in every single district in the country
to patrol this.
We need... If I'm president-- this is what worries me--
when I'm president, we're gonna have same-day registration.
The report was, in Pennsylvania, they're still counting votes.
We may not know-- quote, this is the sort of implicit threat--
we might not know who won Pennsylvania
in a general election until a month after the election.
-Wow. -What do you think that this is about with Trump?
-This is a man who... -Do you... do you worry, then--
let me ask you this, and I know this is a strange question
to ask an American politician, maybe easier around the world--
but have you ever considered what would happen
if the election result came out as you being the winner
and Trump refused to leave?
Yes, I have.
And I was so damn proud.
Here you have four chiefs of staff coming out
and ripping the skin off of Trump.
And you have so many rank-and-file military personnel
saying, "Whoa, we're not a military state.
This is not who we are."
I promise you, I am absolutely convinced
they will escort him from the White House
in a... with great dispatch.
There are many people who have taken to the streets now.
There are many black people, but there are many...
white people marching with them.
There are many young people, who say, "We need a revolution,
we need to see a change in this country."
I know, as Joe Biden, you've often pitched yourself
as the person who is going to bring the people together
and the person who's going to transform things,
as opposed to just a revolution.
What is your pitch to them?
What is your pitch to that... to that, um, Bernie voter?
What is your pitch to that voter who says, "Joe Biden,
"I'm crushed by college debt, I need to see the world change,
"I haven't seen enough change,
and I don't understand why I should vote for you"?
When they announced all of a sudden I was the front-runner,
and the expectation was: Joe Biden,
former vice president, feels like he's entitled,
he's the front-runner, let's take him down.
And so we spent a better part of a year
with a target on my back.
And now it worked out, and people are now going, "Oh."
I've had, actually, people say to me,
"I didn't know that was your position on the environment,"
"I didn't know you were the guy that wrote
the first climate change bill back in 1986."
"I didn't know," et cetera.
"I didn't know you were the guy that took on apartheid."
"I didn't know you were the guy that did that, I didn't know."
Well, you know, so things are beginning to change,
and people are realizing.
And I have changed.
I have changed. I believe there has to be more...
more debt forgiveness for college loans.
-Hmm. -I think there has to be more opportunity
to go to college for free, for free.
But we have to change corporate policy, too.
And the tax cut. Imagine just--
concluding comm-- I know you've got to go--
but imagine if we had
that $2 trillion tax cut,
and we hadn't wasted it on the wealthy,
that generated virtually no growth at all,
no growth at all,
according to most of the conservative think tanks.
Imagine if we had that $2 trillion
back when we were calling for it and say: We're gonna use that
to educate people,
we're gonna use that to reduce student debt,
we're gonna use-- we'd be a different country.
Leadership matters. Leadership matters.
My final question to you pertains to the race.
You've been really tight-lipped,
and you've played your cards close to your chest
about who your running mate could be.
People have thrown out names-- Stacey Abrams, Kamala Harris,
uh, you know, Elizabeth Warren, et cetera.
I... I have a pitch for you.
Last time, you teamed up
with someone who was half African, half white,
and things went very well for you, Mr. Vice President.
And I've looked at my contract,
and I've seen that nothing stops me
from being Vice President of the United States.
Were you born in America?
I don't think that's an issue,
to be honest, for vice president.
It is, unfortunately.
-Otherwise, I'd be asking you. -(laughing)
Otherwise, I'd be asking. -Mr. Vice President,
thank you so much for your time today.
-Um, good luck on... -You'd make a hell of a vice president.
on the rest of your journey, and, uh, please pass my regards
-to the Dr. Biden. -I will.
And thank you very much for having me.
I hope you'll have me on again.