President Joe Biden Addresses Concerns Over His Age and Shares His 2024 Agenda

-Welcome back to "Late Night". We are here with President Joe Biden. Um, you mentioned some classified materials, some recently leaked documents... some classified documents. And this is not a show to get you, but I want to ask about it. He says you are currently 81 years old. -Who the hell told you that? -Yeah. -That's classified. -That's classified. Jokes aside, according to recent polls, this is a real concern for American voters. How do you address that concern going forward, ahead of the

2024

elections? -Well, a couple of things. Number one, you have to take a look at the other guy.

He's about the same age as me, but he doesn't even remember his wife's name. -Yeah. -And, uh... Number one. Number two, it's about the age of your ideas. Look, I mean, this is a guy who wants us back. He wants to take us back to Roe v Wade. He wants to push us back on a wide range of issues that, for 50, 60 years, have been strong American positions. And I say it sincerely. I think it's about the future and everything, every single thing we've done, I think we've done some good things. Everything... And they told us that we couldn't do it because things were very divided.

And... but I think everything... everything we've done, he's just stated upfront that he wants to eliminate him if he's elected. And I really believe that his views on where to take America are older than... Anyway... I don't want to be called. -You talked about bipartisanship and that you could really work across the aisle when you ran in 2020. I was one of the people he thought maybe was a dumb proposal. But you've done things. Um, infrastructure, CHIPS, Inflation Reduction Act, some gun safety. We even got an immigration bill that passed the Senate but was never adopted in the House. -Be. -And what do you want to do?

What is your

agenda

for

2024

? Because I feel like we live in such crazy times that that's one of the things I feel like we hear less about. -Look, the 2020

agenda

is to finish the work. For example, we are now in a position where we have the strongest economy of any major nation in the world. Number one. We still have a way to go. Inflation has gone down. 880,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector. You know, we have 14 million new jobs. The unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in a long time. We are generating wealth for people.

But really... we have to do more. The first thing I have to do is prevent him from turning around. For example, you talked about the border not being crossed. Well guess what? Let's cross that border. It has the overwhelming, overwhelming support of Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate. But because — I don't know for sure, but I'm told that — Trump was picking up the phone, calling the speaker of the House and saying, "Don't let it go." Because? Not because I don't think it's good. Because it will benefit Biden. That is no way to govern a country.

That's no way to negotiate. We didn't... Even when we had real divisions, when I was a young senator, between Democrats and Republicans, that's not how it worked. And look, I think... let me say it... This is not your father's Republican Party. -Yeah. -They got around 30% of the Republican Party to control everything. And I think we're going to break it. -One of the things about "This is not your father's Republican Party" must be that someone who has been doing this as long as you can't get aid for Ukraine approved. And it seemed that, for a long time, the American people agreed that Russia was a threat.

And suddenly, now we see a Republican Party that basically refuses to help Ukraine in its fight against... It seems that Donald Trump is saying that Russia can do whatever it wants with NATO countries. Are you surprised? -Not seem". That's what he's saying. He's been saying it all along. He's been saying it when he ran last time. Look, the idea that any American... Think about this. If I told you everything, there would be an American

president

who would say to Putin... Putin: "Come and do what you want, and to NATO if they don't... if the other members of our team don't pay." every penny they promise to pay." I mean, what are we talking about here?

What in God's name? How? The idea that the

president

of the United States is inviting Vladimir Putin to invade countries east and west It is strange, absolutely strange, and totally against our interests. And by the way, I have known all the important foreign leaders for a long time, and I know them all very well. They are scared to death of what it means for them. , to them, what it means if we leave. Madeleine Albright was right: the former Secretary of State. She said, "We are the essential nation." We don't have people fighting in those areas, but we are providing them with the means. so they can protect themselves.

And it's just outrageous what you're talking about. -You talked about wanting to be a dictator on the first day, but only on the first day. You are someone who has dealt with dictators over the years. Democracy, in vague terms, is somehow not easy for us to understand. Having dealt with dictators, what do you see in a world where democracy is really at risk the way it might be in this election? -The first thing dictators do is ignore any rule of law. They just ignore it. Here's the guy who says he wants to: he believes he can change the Constitution and ignore it.

Just ignore parts of the Constitution. Here's the guy talking about retribution. Here's the guy... Look, you've got the guys, the thousands of people who stormed the Capitol... stormed the Capitol. They are insurrectionists. Two police officers died. Other people were seriously injured. And what did he say? They were convicted and/or pleaded guilty. And you said they are patriots? God, patriots? And he says he's going to forgive them all? He's going to... You're going to... Are each of them going to be released? What is... I mean that? That is what happens in Eastern European countries. That's not what happens in the United States.

We're... And the idea that he thinks he can do that, the idea that he talks about things like, for example, the idea that he said Congress wants to overwhelmingly pass... a border provision that would allow us control the border. The first bill I introduced required that. And here they say... he says, "No, don't do that because it will help Biden." Help Biden? It's...not about Biden. This is the United States of America. And look, I just... I don't want to start. I really don't. -Yes, I understand, I understand. -Our democracy is at stake. It literally is. -I want to ask about the situation right now in the Middle East.

You have spoken forcefully about the horrific events of October 7 and how Hamas is an ongoing threat to the security of people living in Israel. You have been negotiating, trying to negotiate, the release of the hostages. At the same time, you have said that the response in Gaza is excessive and that the loss of an innocent life in Gaza is as horrible as the loss of an innocent life in Israel. And yet there have been calls for an immediate ceasefire. You have not supported those calls. Once again, you seem like an optimistic person. He believes there may be a future for a two-state solution.

But from where I'm sitting, there doesn't seem to be any appetite for that right now. You see? What is it? Because again, we see these horrible... Every day, we see these horrible images of Gaza. And is there a way forward? Is there a secure future for the people who live there? -There is a path to follow, with difficulty. But here is the way forward. Look, first of all, the hostages who are being held must be released. And we have, at least in principle, an agreement that there will be a ceasefire as long as that takes place.

Ramadan is approaching and the Israelis have agreed that they will not participate in activities during Ramadan as well to give us time to get all the hostages out. That gives us time to start moving in directions that many Arab countries are willing to move in. For example, Saudi Arabia is willing to recognize Israel. Jordan is, Egypt. There are six other states. I have been working with Qatar. And the bottom line is that I am not (I think the only way Israel ultimately survives) and I have no doubts about it. They criticize me for having said a long time ago that it is not necessary to be Jewish to be one. a zionist I am a Zionist.

If there were no Israel, there would be no Jew in the world who would be safe. But here's the deal. They must also seize the opportunity to achieve peace and security for the Israelis and Palestinians who are being used as pawns by Hamas. And so there is a process underway that I think if we achieve that, that temporary ceasefire, we will be able to move in a direction where we can change the dynamic and not have a two-state solution right away. but a process to reach a two-state solution, a process to guarantee the security of Israel and the independence of the Palestinians, but without them being able to, for example, invite... you know, another country to provide their defenses.

There are ways to do this. And I don't have time to get into that right now, but... and in the meantime, there are too many innocent people being murdered. And Israel has stopped the attacks in Rafah. They have to do it... and they have committed to me. They are going to make sure that there is capacity to evacuate significant portions of Rafah before they go and eliminate the rest of Hamas. But it is a process. And look, Israel has had the overwhelming support of the vast majority of nations. If this continues without... this incredibly conservative government that they have, and Ben-Gvir and others (most of them, I've met every major foreign policy leader in Israel since Golda Meir), they're going to lose support. from around the world, and that is not in Israel's interest. -Well, I wish you the best of luck with that, because those are really horrible scenes, and I'm glad to know that you're okay with that too.

I want to finish by thanking you for something. When you were here in 2014, you gave me two gifts. First, you gave me an Amtrak whistle and... And it was 10 years ago. He didn't have children yet. And now I have children and it's what they like the most. And they screw it up all the time, and it's really irritating. That's why I want to give it back to you. And... -I'm not going to take it back. -It's covered in germs. -We are going to give it to your children. - Yes. Plus, you gave me this... this director's hat.

And this meant a lot to me because when I put it on, I realized that you don't just buy this in a store. You obviously went out of your way. You got my hat size, because when I put it on, it fit me perfectly. And... -Let's get going. -Let's get going. I really want to thank you very much for being here, Mr. President. It means a lot to celebrate the anniversary with you. That's President Joe Biden, everyone. We'll be back soon with more "Late Night".