good evening
our great nation is now living in an
unprecedented moment
we're facing the worst public health
crisis in a hundred years
and the worst economic collapse since
the great depression
we are confronting systemic racism and
the enormous threat to our planet of
climate change
and in the midst of all of this we have
a president
who is not only incapable of addressing
these crises
but is leading us down the path of
authoritarianism
this election is the most important in
the modern history
of this country in response to the
unprecedented crises we face
we need an unprecedented response
a movement like never before of people
who are prepared
to stand up and fight for democracy
and decency and against greed
oligarchy and bigotry and we need
joe biden as our next president
let me take this opportunity to say
a word to the millions of people who
supported my campaign
this year and in 2016.
my friends thank you for your trust
your support and the love you showed
jane
me and our family together we have moved
this country
in a bold new direction showing that all
of us
black and white latino native american
asian american gay and straight
native-born and immigrant
yearn for a nation based on the
principles
of justice love and compassion
our campaign ended several months ago
but our movement continues and is
getting
stronger every day many of the ideas we
fought for
that just a few years ago were
considered radical
are now mainstream but let us be clear
if donald trump is re-elected all the
progress we have made
will be in jeopardy at its most basic
this election is about preserving our
democracy
during this president's term the
unthinkable
has become normal he has tried to
prevent people from voting
undermined the u.s postal service
deployed the military and federal
agents against peaceful protesters
threatened to delay the election and
suggested
that he will not leave office if he
loses
this is not normal and we must never
treat it like it is under this
administration authoritarianism has
taken root
in our country i and my family
and many of yours know the insidious way
authoritarianism destroys democracy
decency and humanity as long as i
am here i will work with progressives
with moderates and yes with
conservatives
to preserve this nation from a threat
that so many of our heroes fought
and died to defeat
this president is not just the threat to
our democracy
but by rejecting science he has put
our lives and health in jeopardy
trump has attacked doctors and
scientists
trying to protect us from the pandemic
while refusing to take strong action to
produce the masks
gowns and gloves our health care workers
desperately need nero
fiddled while rome burned
trump golfs his actions
fanned this pandemic resulting in over a
hundred
and seventy thousand deaths and a nation
still unprepared to protect its people
furthermore trump's negligence has
exacerbated
the economic crisis we are now
experiencing
since this pandemic began over 30
million people have lost their jobs
and many have lost their health
insurance millions of working families
are wondering
how they will feed their kids and
they're worried
that they will be evicted from their
homes
and how has trump responded instead of
maintaining the six hundred dollar a
week
unemployment supplement that workers
were receiving
and the twelve hundred dollar emergency
checks that many of you received
instead of helping small businesses
trump concocted
fraudulent executive orders that do
virtually nothing to address the crisis
while threatening the very future of
social security
and medicare but the truth is
that even before trump's negligent
response to this pandemic
too many hard-working families have been
caught
on an economic treadmill with no hope
of ever getting ahead together
we must build a nation that is more
equitable
more compassionate and more inclusive i
know
that joe biden will begin that fight
on day one let me offer you just a few
examples
of how joe will move us forward joe
supports raising the minimum wage to 15
an hour this will give 40
million workers a pay raise and push the
wage scale up
for everyone else joe will also make it
easier for workers to join unions
create 12 weeks of paid family leave
fund universal pre-k for three and
four-year-olds
and make child care affordable for
millions of families
joe will rebuild our crumbling
infrastructure
and fight the threat of climate change
by transitioning us to
100 percent clean electricity over the
next
15 years these initiatives will create
millions of good-paying jobs all across
our country as you know
we are the only industrialized nation
not to guarantee health care for all
people
while joe and i disagree on the best
path to get universal coverage
he has a plan that will greatly expand
health care
and cut the cost of prescription drugs
further he will lower the eligibility
age of medicare
from 65 down to 60.
to help reform our broken criminal
justice system
joe will end private prisons and
detention centers
cash bail and the school to prison
pipeline and to heal the soul
of our nation joe biden will end the
hate
and division trump has created he will
stop the demonization of immigrants
the coddling of white nationalists the
racist dog whistling
the religious bigotry and the ugly
attacks
on women my friends i say to you
to everyone who supported other
candidates in the primary
and to those who may have voted for
donald trump in the last election
the future of our democracy is at stake
the future of our economy is at stake
the future of our planet is at stake
we must come together defeat
donald trump and elect joe biden and
kamala harris
as our next president and vice president
my friends the price of failure
is just too great to imagine
thank you
