>> Stephen: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS
CALLED HIM A LION OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
I'M ALWAYS HONORED TO CALL HIM MY GUEST.
PLEASE WELCOME VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN!
( CHEERS AND APPLAUSE ) ( BAND PLAYING )
>> Stephen: WELL, MR. VICE PRESIDENT, THANK YOU SO MUCH.
THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE.
>> GOOD TO BE HERE.
>> Stephen: JOE BIDEN, EVERYBODY.
NICE TO SEE YOU.
>> NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO LEAVE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
>> Stephen: DONALD TRUMP IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES -- SPOILER ALERT -- AND THE LAST TIME YOU WERE HERE WAS
IN DECEMBER AFTER PRESIDENT TRUMP WAS
PRESIDENT-ELECT AND BEFORE HE HAD BEEN INAUGURATED AND YOU
SAID AT THE TIME, WE'RE GOING TO GIVE THIS GUY AN EVEN SHOT,
WE'RE GOING TO GIVE HIM A CLEAR SHOT TO DO THE JOB.
HAVE WE GIVEN HIM ENOUGH OF A SHOT AT THIS POINT?
( LAUGHTER ) >> LOOK, THERE ARE CERTAIN
THINGS THAT, WHEN THEY OCCUR, YOU JUST CAN'T REMAIN SILENT,
AND CHARLOTTESVILLE, FOR ME, WAS A MOMENT WHERE I UT THOUGHT
SILENCE WOULD BE COMPLICITY, I MEAN, FOR REAL.
SO I WROTE AN ARTICLE FOR THE ATLANTIC TALKING ABOUT WE'RE IN
A BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF THE COUNTRY.
THE IDEA YOU WOULD SEE IN AMERICA IN AN HISTORIC CITY
NAZIS CARRYING FLAGS, SPOUTING THE SAME EXACT BILE ABOUT JEWS
THAT WAS SPOUTED IN GERMANY IN THE '30s, AND THEN THESE GUYS
CRAWLING OUT FROM UNDER ROCKS WITH TORCHES, AND TO NOT HAVE AN
OUTRIGHT FLAT CONDEMNATION OF THAT IS, YOU KNOW, WHAT -- LOOK,
DAVID BROOKS TALKS ABOUT THIS INVISIBLE MORAL FABRIC THAT
HOLDS UP SOCIETY, AN LEADERS IMPACT ON HOW THAT IS PERCEIVED,
AND I THOUGHT THE SILENCE WAS DEAFENING.
AND THEN WHEN THE COMPARISON WAS MADE TO THOSE PROTESTING, I
FOUND IT REPREHENSIBLE.
SO I COULDN'T REMAIN SILENCE ANYMORE.
IT GOES TO THE SOUL OF THE COUNTRY, AND IT'S NOT JUST THE
PRESIDENT.
IT'S THE -- IT'S ALL THAT SURROUNDS THIS, AND BANNON AND
THE ALT RIGHT I FIND TO BE REPREHENSIBLE.
( APPLAUSE ) I MEAN, THE INABILITY TO CONDEMN
IS -- ( APPLAUSE )
>> Stephen: ONE OF THE THINGS THAT MANY PEOPLE SAID WHEN
PRESIDENT TRUMP WAS ELECTED, THAT WE HAVE TO HOLD ON TO
CERTAIN STANDARDS AND WE CANNOT NORMALIZE THE BEHAVIOR THAT GOT
PRESIDENT TRUMP ELECTED, BUT, ON ANOTHER LEVEL, WHOEVER IS THE
PRESIDENT, IS, YOU KNOW, DE FACTO PRESIDENTIAL.
>> YES.
>> Stephen: WHAT DO YOU THINK HAS CHANGED ABOUT THE PRESIDENCY
WITH HIM BEING PRESIDENT?
HOW WILL THIS INFLUENCE THE FUTURE OF PRESIDENCIES?
>> I THINK IT WILL, GOD WILLING, GO DOWN AS THE SINGLE EXCEPTION
IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
( CHEERS AND APPLAUSE ) I REALLY MEAN IT.
LOOK, I THINK THAT A LOT OF THE FOLKS IN THE AUDIENCE, MY GUESS
IS, WHEN THE PRESIDENT WAS ELECTED AND THE PEOPLE HE
GATHERED AROUND HIM, THE POLITICAL PEOPLE HE GATHERED
AROUND HIM CAME INTO PLAY, YOU KIND OF THOUGHT IT WAS, WELL,
MAYBE IT'S AMUSING OR A LITTLE BIT, YOU KNOW, EMBARRASSING
SOMETIMES, BUT IT WASN'T -- IT DIDN'T GO TO THE HEART OF WHO WE
WERE.
BUT I LAY YOU EIGHT TO FIVE -- AND I'M SPEAKING TO A LARGE
CROWD OF REPUBLICAN AUDIENCE IN CALIFORNIA AND I SAID HOW MANY
OF YOU ARE NOW WORRIED ABOUT THE STABILITY OF THE REPUBLIC?
HOW MANY OF YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT THE NEW PHONY NATIONALISM,
US AGAINST THEM?
HOW MANY OF YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT THIS POPULISM THAT IS
DESIGNED TO ESSENTIALLY UNDERMINE THE ESSENCE OF THE
BILL OF RIGHT, WHICH IS THERE ARE CERTAIN INALIENABLE RIGHT
THAT, NO MATTER WHAT THE MAJORITY IS, THEY CANNOT
OVERRULE.
( APPLAUSE ) I MEAN, I JUST THINK THERE'S AN
ATTACK ON THE SYSTEM AND I THINK PEOPLE ARE WORRIED AND, BY THE
WAY, AND IT GOES BEYOND PRESIDENT TRUMP, IN MY VIEW.
I JUST THINK IT'S A -- LOOK, BUT FOR 74,500 VOTES OR THEREABOUTS,
WE WOULDN'T BE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION, WE WOULD HAVE A
GOOD PRESIDENT.
WE WOULD HAVE A PRESIDENT WHO UNDERSTANDS THE ROLE OF THE
PRESIDENCY.
SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN SOMEBODY WHO WOULD, IN FACT, YOU KNOW, WEAVED
THAT FABRIC.
( APPLAUSE ) THE ONLY POINT I'M MAKING IS
WE'RE TALKING ABOUT LIKE THIS WAS A WAVE ELECTION AND
SOMEHOW -- >> Stephen: ONLY HE IS.
( LAUGHTER ) ONLY HE'S TALKING LIKE THAT.
"NOBODY SAID I COULD WIN, NOBODY SAID.
BIGGEST ELECTORAL VICTORY OF ALL TIME.
OF ALL TIME, JOE, OF ALL TIME.
I'M SORRY YOUR LADY LOST, THE BIGGEST OF ALL TIME.
I PLAY GOLF.
I PLAY GOLF WITH ALL KINDS OF PEOPLPEOPLE."
IS THAT DISTURBING?
DOES HE EVER CALL YOU?
>> NO, BUT I DO SPEAK TO VICE PRESIDENT PENCE.
>> Stephen: WHAT DO YOU GUYS TALK ABOUT?
>> HE'S ASKED MY VIEW ON A NUMBER OF ISSUES.
I SPENT A LOT OF TIME DEALING WITH FOREIGN POLICY AND I HAD
RESPONSIBILITY FOR CERTAIN CHUNKS OF THE WORLD AND HE IS --
YOU KNOW, I'VE LET HIM KNOW, IN A SECURITY SETTING, WHAT I
THOUGHT THEY SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR, WHAT I THOUGHT THE LAND
MINES WERE -- >> Stephen: LIKE SAYING I'M
GOING TO SPAIN, WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MY COUNTERPARTS
OVER THERE?
>> NOT DIRECTLY LIKE THAT.
>> Stephen: I'M GOING TO A COUNTRY WHERE THEY SPEAK
SPANISH.
( LAUGHTER ) >> PART OF WHAT THIS TRANSITION
IS, JILL AND I CALLED HIM AND HAD HIS WIFE AND HE OVER FOR
DINNER -- ACTUALLY FOR LUNCH -- TO LET THEM SEE THE FACILITY
THEY WERE GOING TO MOVE INTO, TALK ABOUT SECRET SERVICE
HE TOLD ME HIS DAUGHTER WAS GOING TO LAW SCHOOL, GOING TO
HAVE SECRET SERVICE COVERAGE, DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS LIKE, SO
I HAD MY GRAN GRANDDAUGHTER WHO TO COLUMBIA HIGH SCHOOL CALL HER
AND TELL HER.
COMMON COURTESY.
>> Stephen: IT'S TIME YOU CAN HELP EACH OTHER LIKE THAT.