a longtime friend of his said on friday that we have to keep in mind as we talk about this incessantly, he is a good human being and a decent human being and i think that has come full circle. >> passing the torch is one of the conveyances of power because you have to have power to give it. nancy pelosi made this sort of elegant movement to pass power to hakeem jeffries and that young team and doing that is powerful and not doing it can have huge consequences. ruth bader ginsburg, dianne feinstein, but he did it. it is 8:00 p.m. now. no it is not, wait a minute. >> it is. almost. we are waiting and i think we should also speak to our own anticipation. we have been here so often because it has been an incredibly historic chapter and the moment is upon us. it is just before 8:00 p.m. on the east coast and we are now moments away from president joe biden's first address to the nation since he was

diagnosed with covid. it is also the first time we will hear from the president since he announced on sunday that he will not be running for reelection in the fall and that he may endorse his vice president, kamala harris, to take over the top of the ticket. president biden will address the nation from the oval office, a venue typically reserved for somber, important speeches. this will only be the fourth time he has address to the nation from behind the desk since the start of his presidency. this could be the most consequential set of remarks in president joe biden's long and accomplished career and record of public service. he started 50 years ago and was sworn in to the senate from a hospital room after the death of his young wife and young daughter. president joe biden served in the senate for 36 years before another eight consequential years as vice president alongside president barack obama. 3 1/2 years in his own presidency, president biden has cemented himself as one of the

most consequential presidents in modern history. bringing the nation through the tragedies of the covid pandemic, overseeing one of the strongest economic recoveries in the world and passing landmark legislation around climate and infrastructure. his success in the oval office makes it more striking tonight that we are about to witness him use the oval to give up the most powerful job in the world willingly. here he is. >> my fellow americans, i am speaking to you tonight from behind the resolute desk in the oval office. in this sacred space i am surrounded by portraits of extraordinary american presidents. thomas jefferson who wrote words that guide this nation. george washington showed us presidents are not kings. abraham lincoln implored us to reject malice. franklin roosevelt inspired us to reject fear. i revere this office but i love

my country more. it has been the honor of my life to serve as your president, but in the defense of democracy, i think it is more important than any title. i draw strength and i find joy working for the american people. this sacred task of perfecting our union is not about me. it is about you. your families. your futures. it is about we the people. we can never forget that and i never have. i made it clear that i believe america is at an inflection point. one of those rare moments in history where the decisions we make now determine the fate of our nation and the world for decades to come. america is going to have to choose between moving forward or backward. between hope and hate. between unity and division.

we have to decide, do we still believe in honesty, decency, respect? freedom, justice, and democracy? in this moment we can see those we disagree with not as enemies, but as fellow americans. can we do that? does character in public life still matter? i don't even know the answer to these questions. i know you, the american people and i know this. we are a great nation because we are good people. when you elected me to this office, i promised to always level with you. to tell you the truth. the truth, the sacred cause of this country is larger than any one of us. those of us who cherish that cause cherish it so much. we must unite to protect it.

you know, in recent weeks it has become clear to me that i need to unite my party in this critical endeavor. i believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for america's future, all merit a second term. but nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. that includes personal ambition. so i decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. it is the best way to unite our nation. i know there is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life. there is also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices. yes, younger voices. that time and place is now. in the next six months i will be focused on doing my job as president. that means i will continue to

lower costs for hard-working families. grow our economy. i will keep defending our personal freedoms and civil rights. from the right to vote to the right to choose. i will keep calling out hate and extremism. making sure there is no place in america for political violence or any violence ever. period. i will keep speaking out to protect our kids from gun violence. our planet from climate crisis, an existential threat. i will keep fighting for my cancer moonshot, so we can end cancer as we know it, because you can do it. i will call for supreme court reform, because this is critical to our democracy, supreme court reform. i will keep working to ensure america stays strong, secure and the leader of the free world. i am the first president in the

century to report to the american people that the united states is not at war anywhere in the world. we will keep rallying as a coalition of proud nations to stop putin from taking over your crane, -- over ukraine, doing more damage. we will make nato stronger and more powerful and more united than any time in our history. i will keep doing the same for our allies in the pacific. you know when i came to office the conventional wisdom was that china would inevitably surpass the united states. that is not the case anymore. and i am going to keep working to end the war in gaza. bring home all of the hostages and bring peace and security to the middle east and into this war. we are also working around the clock to bring home americans being unjustly detained around the world. you know we have come so far since my inauguration. that day i told you as i stood

in a winter of peril and a winter of possibilities. peril and possibilities. we were in the grip of the worst pandemic in a century. the worst economic crisis since the great depression. the worst attack on our democracy since the civil war. but we came together as americans. we got through it. we emerged stronger, more prosperous and more secure. today we have the strongest economy in the world, creating 16 million new jobs, a record. wages are up. inflation continues to come down. the racial wealth gap is the lowest it has been in 20 years. we are rebuilding our entire nation. urban, suburban, rural, tribal communities. manufacturing has come back to america. we are leading the world again in science and innovation.

we finally beat big pharma after all of these years. to lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors. i will keep fighting to make sure we lower the cost for everyone, not just seniors. more people have healthcare today in america than ever before. i signed significant laws helping millions of veterans and their families who were exposed to toxic materials. you know, the most significant climate law ever, ever in the history of the world. the first major gun safety law in 30 years. today the violent crime rate is at a 15 year low. we are also securing our border. border crossings are lower today than when the previous administration left office. i kept my commitment to appoint the first black woman to the supreme court of the united states of america. they also kept my commitment to have an administration that looks like america and be present for all americans. that's what i've done.

i ran for president four years ago, because i believed and still do that the soul of america was at stake. the very nature of who we are was at stake. that is still the case. america is an idea. an idea stronger than any armory, bigger than any ocean. more powerful than any dictator or tyrant. the most powerful idea in the history of the world. we hold these truths to be self- evident. we are all created equal. certain inalienable rights. life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. we have never fully lived up to it, to the sacred idea, but we have never walked away from it either and i do not believe the american people will walk away from it now. in just a few months the american people will choose the course of america's future. i made my choice. i made my views known.

i want to thank our great vice president, kamala harris. she is experienced. she is tough. she is capable. she has been an incredible partner for me and a leader for our country. now the choice is up to you, the american people. when you make that choice remember the words of benjamin franklin, hanging on my wall here in the oval office. alongside the bus of doctor king and rosa parks and cesar chavez. when he was asked when he emerged from the convention going on whether the founders have given america a republic, franklin's response was a republic, if you can keep it. a republic if you can keep it. whether we keep our republic is now in your hands. my fellow americans, it has been the privilege of my life to serve this nation for over

50 years. nowhere else on earth could a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in scranton, pennsylvania, one day sit behind the resolute desk in the oval office as president of the united states and here i am. that is what is so special about america. we are a nation of promise and possibilities. of dreamers and doers. ordinary americans doing extraordinary things. i give my heart and my soul to our nation. like so many others. i have been blessed 1 million times and return with love and support. i hope you have some idea how grateful i am to all of you. the great thing about america is here, kings and dictators do not rule. the people do. history is in your hands. the power is in your hands.

the idea of america lies in your hands. you have to keep safe. keep the faith and remember who we are. we are the united states of america and there is simply nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together. so let's act together to preserve our democracy. god bless you all. may god protect our troops. thank you. >> president joe biden, live from the oval office, behind the resolute desk. he said, history is in your hands. use it to keep the faith. >> you know he is always concerned, i have been today looking at speeches he gave when he lost in the past and his first concern is always with the disappointment that he knows other people are feeling at that moment and he makes sure that he personally exhibits none of it, so that he can deliver his strength to

them, to feel what he is feeling. and what he is feeling is what he has always felt, that he is the luckiest guy in the world. he has always felt that. he felt he was so lucky to be a united states senator from delaware. he felt he was so lucky to even be able to run for president. it was an honor to him to be able to do it. he was so lucky that barack obama decided this is who you wanted as vice president and privately it was always that. in any private exchange with him you could always get that real feeling he had about how lucky he felt and so lucky to be president of the united states, to do the work he has been doing. he is, he believes, america's luckiest guy and he believes that tonight. >> he also held true to his promise to always level with the country. he said this. we are now joined by our friend

and colleague rachel maddow by phone. he said i need to unite my party. the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. in recent weeks it has become clear to me that i need to you days to unite our party in this endeavor. my vision for america's future merits a second term, but nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. that includes personal ambition, so i have decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. that is the best way to unite our nation. your thoughts? >> first of all, i'm sorry i'm not there with all of you in person. i am homesick and trying hard not to get anyone else sick. i think it should also just be said, like, this is one of those speeches that is going to go down in history not just as a great joe biden speech, but a great moment in the american

presidency. you know the quote that you just described that nothing should stand in the way of saving our democracy, including personal ambition. but also the way he started talking about, you know, honesty. decency. respect. does character in public life still matter? this is a timeless speech about a very specific moment. both where he came to the presidency from, talking about what likely the former president left him. the worst pandemic in a century. the worst economic crisis since the great depression. the worst attack on our democracy since the civil war. all simultaneously that is what he walked into. now the feeling that his personal ambition, the belief that his record does warrant a second term and he wants it. you hear that even talking about what he plans to do the next six months. that that itself can't be

bigger than the needs of the nation and the needs of the nation to stay with this form of government, what he called one of the greatest ideas in the history of the world. it is an elegant speech at an emotional and very moving moment for this president and i think sort of timelessly for the presidency. this is sort of a temple in terms of what patriotism and selfless service looks like and i am sure this could not be easy for him, but it was beautifully done. >> these are one of the lines in the chapter about the speech, in the book about this president. i think this is one of the lines that will be pulled out. kings and dictators do not rule, the people do. the great thing about america here is kings and dictators do not rule, the people do. history is in your hands. the power is in your hands. the idea of america lies in your hands. you just have to keep faith. keep the faith and remember who we are. we are the united states of america and there is simply

nothing, nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together. so let's act together and preserve our democracy. the president sort of speaking right to one of the tools as you know better than anyone of the autocrat to make people feel like they have no agency. to make people feel despair. that an end to democracy or an end to our norms is inevitable. the president throwing down a marker for the american people, for the rest of us to keep the republic. >> yes and you know i think what he has also done is he is positing a view of the presidency which is directly opposite to the idea of authoritarianism. which is opposite to the idea of a talker seat. how does he start this speech? he talks about being in the oval office, talking about the portraits of presidents pass to surround him and he said i

revere this office, but i love this country more. i revere this office, but i love this country more. what the autocrat loves is the office and the country must be supplicant to the ruler. the most important thing about a country is who is in charge and everything else has to fall behind that ruler and they need to be seen as an enemy and cast out. instead biden is saying the rule of the presidency is to serve this idea of the nation. the rule of the president is to make sure the country is protected. not for the country to serve the president. that is, i think it is true. i think it is the basic idea of the presidency. it does why the president and the executive branch has coequal branches in our government that are designed to keep the country on track if any one of those branches goes off the rails, but it is also the opposite idea to what his

opponent is offering in this election. j.d. vance, the running mate of donald trump said in his acceptance speech that america is not an idea. it is. the idea of it is that we are a democracy by and for the people and that the president is not a king and we are bound by the same rule of law and there is no eye alone can fix it in the vision of the united states that joe biden talked about tonight and that he is ascribing to the founders and that i think most americans, i think most americans would agree with him. >> rachel, we know you are sick and we want to let you go back to your chicken soup, but we are happy to have you with us. let me read one more piece that gets at what i think you talk about often, which is this moment and everything that makes it different. the president saying this. i've made it clear that america is at an inflection point. one of those rare moments in history where the decisions we make now determine our fate,

the fate of the nation and the world for decades to come. america has to choose between moving forward and backward, between hope and hate, between unity and division. we have to decide what we believe in honesty, decency, respect, freedom, justice and democracy. >> and he ended by saying does character in public life still matter? he knows exact the where we are. his voice may be faltering. his delivery may not be as strong as we remember it, even at the beginning of this term. the presidency takes a toll and he is the oldest man to have this job and he had the job at a time of incredible challenges. but his vision is clear and when he talks about the choice that we've got, there really is without hyperbole a choice here not just between candidates but between the american system of government and something new and that is what he is talking

about. i think if he were up against a mitt romney style republican or even a marco rubio style republican, joe biden would not have left office. because i think he would think, you know what? there might be a risk because i'm old, but i know i've got the record to do this and i know i have a record to run on and i want to finish the job and i'm going to push through my critics and do it. what he is saying is that the contest is bigger than any president. bigger than any moment in the personal history of joe biden. bigger than my personal ambitions. the moment we are in is about whether or not we continue as a republic and it is not a hyperbolic thing to say given what we are up against and given the way his opponent tried to stay in office after he was voted out last time and we knew this was a very selfless thing that he did when he did it on sunday with this

vapor statement, but i think this speech tonight goes down in the annals of american history as a clarion moment. he is saying it is not about me, it is whether or not we stay the united states of america and i am very moved by this speech. >> rachel maddow, thank you so much for joining us. please go get better because at this rate there will be more history to cover together. thank you. please feel better. we have great reporting from inside the room. >> absolutely. to give you all some of the color from what was happening inside the oval office, the president concluded the speech at 8:12. he had his cue, beginning right on time. democrats are typically the on- time people, but he did that. the first lady and several grandkids were sitting in chairs positioned along the wall to the presidents left. ashley biden sat next to dr.

jill biden with her eyes closed, taking several deep breaths during the first few minutes of the address. she wore a white sweater with an american flag. the first lady wore a purple suit and held ashley's hand toward the end. karine jean-pierre, another historic member of the team. first lgbtq member and african american woman as a follow to our wonderful own jen psaki as press secretary. and some other aides, they watched from a monitor set up in the back of the room. the president's top advisers were also there to observe the moment. 39 people is the headcount of how many were watching as the president makes the 40th in the oval office for this address. >> that is all of the reporting. what did you think of this speech? >> the things i wrote down were

not in our group of select quotes. one of the ones that moved me goes to what lauren said earlier, when he said nowhere else on earth could a kid from pennsylvania with a stutter rise to sit behind the resolute desk as president of the united states. i thought that was so biden. i thought his expressions of gratitude, talking about i revere this office, but i love my country more. you think about the student council kid, the people that loved student council, this was their mission and passion. he is that guy and somebody who devoted his entire life to politics. this was selfless on a level that i think is important in a way we talk about george washington being selfless and that i could keep doing this for me, but i'm going to stop because i think there are choices. there were two pieces where america has to choose between the way forward or backward.

i made it clear i believe america is at an inflection point. as rachel maddow pointed out, this is one of those moments where we determine our fate as a nation and for decades to come america has to choose between moving forward and backward, between hope and hate. and i think this other piece where he talked about allowing new voices and younger voices into the room. there is a time and place for long years of experience. there is also a time and place for fresh voices, younger voices and that time and place is now. over the next six months i am focused on my job as president. i thought that was wonderful. >> just to build on the point about the lines that are so biden. i give my heart and soul to our nation. like so many others i have been blessed 1 million times and return by the love and support of the american people. i hope you have some idea of how grateful i am to all of you. >> lawrence was talking about this earlier. he always says he is black

irish. he says i may get hit by a bus tomorrow, which he says all the time, but he is grateful and grateful for the role he played. grateful for the people and one of the lines that struck me as it is about we the people, we can never forget that. i draw strength and find joy working for the american people. i circled that in part because as rachel was saying it was about a view of the presidency. in the stark moment for years that we lived through, you sometimes forget people get into public service largely from all sides of the political spectrum because they want to do good. they want to make people's lives better and there are differences of view on how to do that and that is okay, but he got into public service because he wants to do good and fight for the people of scranton. that is who he is. i think that phrase if they had a good enough speechwriter could have been delivered by most presidents in history. that is the belief. that is why they run for office, because they represent the american people.

the other thing that struck me and i circled it when he talked about reforming the supreme court. as you all know this is not a phrase that would've come out of the mouth of president joe biden, even while he has been president joe biden. it is a reminder i think that leadership is about being consistent and knowing what to expect from you and it is also open to evolving. his grandchildren in the room is a real symbol of that. he talks to them every day. he always picks up the phone. it does not matter what he is getting briefed on or who is in the room. it could be five generals, it doesn't matter. he has evolved over time as great leaders do. supreme court reform is one. i remember working for president obama and i was texting during this period the communications director at the time when he did the interview i think on meet the press, i can't remember, where he basically came out in support of marriage before president obama came out publicly and i

texted her and said this seems to be going well. she said we have not made it to the end. not that it wasn't going well because of the position, but because he got ahead of president obama and the point is he has been consistent in who he is fighting for, but also the ability to evolve and the need to change based on a range of issues that impacted our country. >> the story broke in the washington post i think on his last day on the campaign trail, tuesday or wednesday. every day feels like 11. that he was considering throwing his weight behind legislation to reform the supreme court, especially in the area of term limits and ethics reform. to the degree that he had all of this poetry and all of this prose to remind us who we are as a country. he also has this forward- looking vision for the future where the supreme court is not what it is today.

>> i think the supreme court as it stands is part of what he sees as a threat to democracy in the country. this is someone who on the chair of the senate judiciary committee on 1985 confirmed antonin scalia. he believes in the institution. i am paraphrasing. i may not agree with his politics, but it is reagan's choice to install him as associate justice. he has come along way since then. the supreme court has also come along way and i think we talk about the twilight of this presidency. he speaks to a lot of different topics in this speech. he talks about ukraine, talks about gaza, talks about climate. the supreme court is a specific thing he spends a little bit of time on. i want to call for supreme court reform because this is critical to our democracy. the fact that he calls it out in this 13 minute speech, one of the last two big ones who will make, is an indicator that it is a priority for this administration and it will be

interesting to see. we talk about november, november, december, and january are critical for the survival of our democracy we and the supreme court could very well play a role in that. if there is going to be reform, time is of the essence. >> when he dropped out in 1988, one of the things he said, and i am going to show this at 10:00 tonight. and give us the long-term perspective we need on this. one of the things he said when he dropped out of the presidential campaign was he needed to get back to washington to fight the direction ronald reagan was sending the supreme court. the supreme court was in his withdrawal speech then. and it is so interesting how it evolved. the scalia vote was close to unanimous if not unanimous. >> it was. >> the theory was the president gets the supreme court justice that they want. chuck schumer made a thoughtful speech around the presidency,

2005, saying we might want to start to consider what these judges actually think. like maybe we should vote on that basis as opposed to rubberstamping them to where we all are today and joe biden, moving to where we are today on supreme court reform, is such an important endorsement for something that surely will end up being carried out by the harris administration, because you will need more democrats in the senate to do it. you will need more political strength to do it, but for him to begin this crusade about the supreme court is very important, because the truth is in part of lindsey graham secret life he respects joe biden as a united states senator and his view of the supreme court and all of the principles that joe biden has historically applied to the supreme work. >> you mentioned you will have ron mclean on. i think of him with all the

people who have so much riding on how this speech went as the most expert person in the category. how did you feel about the speech? >> you know it is a hard speech. a hard speech to watch. those speeches for the end of a career. there have been many last hurrah's. we have never seen the last hurrah of a 52 year politics career. there has never been a greater weight on someone delivering their final speech as a candidate. technically this is his final speech as a candidate. he tweeted it on sunday, but this is the first time he has spoken the words that he is withdrawing from the campaign and as someone who knew him, the ultimate compliment for him is something people know about and congressional staff. i worked on senator moynahan

staff. ron klain was on senator biden's staff and the ultimate compliment you can get is that your senator is loved, and i mean loved, by other staff. not by his own staff. a bunch of them have that. joe biden had much more devotion, respect, admiration and love in those thousands of staffers than just the ones working for him. >> let me bring into our coverage our friend and colleague, stephanie ruhle. what are you thinking now? you have had more time to read through it then probably we have. what stood out to you? >> you know it is an extraordinary speech and reminder that president of the united states and also the leader of the democratic party. the last few days we were hearing critics say if he is dropping out of the race, how could he be in any condition to be president of the united states? those people are silent

tonight. he gave that speech as commander-in-chief and no one who watched that inks thinks he can't see out the rest of his term. what he did was take a long look at the campaign and how important the next election is and realize as the head of the party he is not the best person to be in the fight against donald trump. today there was a call with 44 big donors. wall street executives, business people, sports and entertainment. they were speaking to the head of the finance committee. the head of finance for the kamala harris campaign and i spoke to a number of people after the call and no one was saying we were so glad we pushed president biden out. every person i spoke to said we stand with his policies. he has been an extraordinary president, but one of the things they are so excited about, they have someone in this fight who joe biden will pass the torch to who they

think can win. i want to make that point because there is so much anger out there with donors and influencers who pushed joe biden to step aside. i spoke to so many who are so grateful for what he has done. who believe in his policies and is excited to see what kamala harris will do next. >> stay with us. i want to share something we are just seeing. this is a note written by jill biden, a handwritten note. it reads this. to those who never wavered, to those who refused to doubt, to those who always believed, my heart is full of gratitude. thank you for the trust you put in joe. now it is time to put that trust in kamala. love jill. this was obviously a painful thing for the family and to see that gratitude, you know they know all of those places and corners. >> unquestionably and i think

when you have been through what they have been through, which is not just dropping out of the race for the presidency. he has lost his first wife. he lost his daughter. they lost their son. they've been through so much and just watching that, first of all i love that it was written on a note card. i am always an advocate for handwritten notes. i am embracing it. i remember when i sat down with him to talk about the press secretary job and she was there. she happened to be there and i said how can i best serve you? she said we've been through a lot. i hope you are always honest with us, even when it is hard to hear. i thought about that a lot when i was serving in that job because it is hard to deliver tough news to our president. it is difficult. i know people can wax poetic. i can tell you and nicole knows, it is not easy. she has been his rock.

his soul, his heart. you always hope that for a marriage, but she is really at and the way he talks about her even in private is the way you hope, i hope my husband talks about me. you hope your spouse talks about you and that is a reflection of the difficulty of the last couple of days. the gratitude for the people who have been with him for every moment, not just that, but many years. >> there is an instagram feed where they go up to couples and say are you a couple and then they have them explain. either they engineered to have those people come to the white house and they did that with joe and jill biden and one of the things that dr. biden said that i thought was special was she said that she resisted the idea of accepting this date with a guy. she had another date and changed the date to go hang out with him. being committed to him, she said, because he had these little babies who had lost

their mom. so i wasn't going to go into this unless it was for life. this had to be a commitment for life where i was not going to do it. that was the kind of couple they were and even just reading the note and the closeness of this family, it is another contrast with the other family on the table. because you can't imagine. donald trump has grandkids, too. just the interactions, physical interactions that they had at the convention. it just felt so cold and clinical and you know it did not feel real. you really don't see melania. it is just different. >> yes, all families are different. we will leave it there. but that notion of gratitude is so powerful this evening. that is how jill, dr. biden, signs or note. that is the thing i took away from the president's remarks. i hope you have some idea how

grateful i am to all of you. that is what you hear on election night after you win. you hear the politician say i am so grateful. my team in ohio, my team in pennsylvania. my supporters on the ground. you don't hear it in the middle of service. this is a man who carried the spirit of gratitude with him. he's not saying thank you for helping me win. he is saying thank you for helping me serve you. that is really so humble and selfless. in a moment where he has every reason. >> and he is not at all. let me bring in our colleague, nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss. >> i love what i heard and it confirms what i heard as a historian the decades from now, assuming we have a vibrant democracy and i have faith that

we will, despite whatever challenges we face today, people will look back on these four years and save thank god that the president during those four years was joe biden. someone who understands democracy. who practiced it. who lived in it for 50 years. who loved it and did a lot of things that no other person or very few other people could have done. he protected our institutions. independent judiciary. a defense department that is run to pursue national security. defended nato. as a result after these four years, democracy has a chance. that is number one. number two, it was during his term as everyone has been saying tonight that the supreme court said to him and future presidents, you want to be a dictator or king? be our guest. call whatever you are doing an official act and we will probably bless that. what did joe biden say when that ruling came down?

he said i heard the ruling, but i am going to behave as i always have and as my predecessors have. with restraint and modesty in trying to uphold the ideals of democracy. finally, usually presidents don't know when to leave. it is a very hard thing to give up power and we can think of all kinds of examples of people who hung on too long. not only did joe biden have the judgment this week to say this is my time to leave, much as i would like to hold onto another term, but he did something rare in presidential history and i think we have not reflected on that enough. people may think american history is full of all sorts of president saying this should be my successor. here is the person and i'm going to make it possible. that almost never happens. look all the way back to 1900.

very few presidents have done that. theodore roosevelt said to republicans i think it should be william howard taft. bill clinton said to democrats in 2000 i think my successor should be al gore, but that is really very rare. what has joe biden done? he said i want to hand off power to kamala harris, who i think is best equipped to deal with it and i'm going to help make it possible by endorsing it and so did joe biden today. let's reflect on how unusual and self-sacrificing it is for a president who is leaving to do that. the final test of a leader always is how he or she passes power to the next generation. >> michael, it is such an extraordinary act of political self-sacrifice. as you been saying, giving up power, giving it up before he had to. he could have made an argument

that he was in the best position to hang onto it. what does the study of history tell us about what chain reaction can happen when someone, when a leader, the most powerful person in our country, does something like that? >> that is something about the presidency. as you note, nicole, when somebody becomes president of the united states, with policies they follow and with congress, but as joe biden said, character matters and everyone begins to behave the way the president does. when donald trump was president for four years and he cut corners, to put it politely and did things that were unethical and he abused power and interfered with the rule of law, that ripples throughout our society. so joe biden understood that and he understood if he played

by the rules that other presidents for the most part have, that will have a great effect on our country and that is why it is so important that americans meditate carefully over what their choices this fall. you have one candidate who says i want to make the presidency the most powerful it has ever been in history and rule almost without regard to what congress says or with the backing of the supreme court telling me go ahead. that is one thing. the other candidate is kamala harris who was endorsed by joe biden, saying i believe in democracy and democracy means you don't have a king, you don't have a dictator. we've got to stick to it. >> nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss. thank you so much for joining our coverage tonight. it's great to talk to you. >> we will bring senator elizabeth warren of massachusetts into the conversation. thank you for taking the time to join us this evening.

>> thank you. great to be with you. >> we've been talking about lines in the speech that really struck us. it was about a moment in time, but also the presidency. lines like i revere this office, but i love my country more. we the people, we can never forget that. what struck you as you are watching that speech? >> i kept thinking that this is a lesson in patriotism. this tells the american people what it means to be a patriot, what it means to love your country and that loving your country is putting your country ahead of yourself. it is putting people ahead of yourself. we slide past the words public service all the time, but it is the servant in it. what struck me about the speeches it is easy to describe it. i heard the words last hurrah. sort of the closing of a chapter. i actually heard much more about the future in that speech.

i heard a much more active joe biden. a man who says i have taken on these incredibly hard tasks for years. in the senate, as vice president. running against donald trump, which we all knew we just have to focus on the importance of pulling that election away from an incumbent president and then as president, how much he accomplished. there was a reference in his speech to all of the things he was able to get done and how he had made these investments into our nation and how we are growing, we are prospering. we have a strong economy. but it is as if he said and now my job as president, the biggest job i've got is to talk about how we go forward at a time when we are under enormous threat. as i listened sentence by

sentence by sentence, he did not use the word donald trump. he did not say november 5. but it was this contrast about the vision of government and not as a matter of a debating club. the contrast is the matter of how we go forward and what joe biden is saying is it is going to take everyone in this country. we have got to step up. this is our moment to strengthen our democracy. and it struck me as he is doing that he leads into it, quite seamlessly, his partner, vice president kamala harris. and the idea that this is how we strengthen our nation. we strengthen our democracy. we build a future not just for that handful at the top. we build a future for everyone in this country.

for me it was a strong speech and i truly loved it. i found it moving. >> one of the parts that i circled, it is an area that you've talked about before and for some time, supreme court reform. as you talk about the future and what that looks like, unquestionably that will be something on the minds of elected officials like yourself, the american public. it was striking to me that he mentioned in this speech. talk about the status of that, what it looks like. the changes in momentum you've seen as a member of the senate over the past few months. >> great question about this, because think about what is he doing? what is he saying in the speech? the big contest is between a king, a dictator and what it means to be a president, we understand that. he is also saying if we are going to have a future it is not only that we can't elect a

king or a dictator, we have to deal with the supreme court. the supreme court is no longer within the curves. it has gone to the right, but it is still following the law and to working on the basic principles. president biden is saying the supreme court has now gone too far. it has jumped the curb. it is headed off in a way that is a threat to the very democracy that this nation relies on. and that it not only is a general threat, it is a threat in particular because it is a threat. it wants to empower a dictator. a king. that is the very opposite of what a democracy is about. abou. it in the same speech, which i hear is very much a speech about the future, that he weaves that together, i hear this as a huge warning to the american people. we've got to get -- make sure

that vice president kamala harris becomes president kamala harris, but you've also got to keep the wind in the sails to reign in the supreme court. getting rid of donald trump all by itself will not be enough to protect our democracy. a supreme court that is rapidly undoing many of the elements of government and taking to the courts to make the the ecision. you know, we saw this -- i don't want to get too wonky -- but we saw this with the case on chevron deference, saying in effect the environmentale, protection agency can't be the t one that decides tail pipe emissions. let's bring that back and let the courts decide. he's saying all of the balanceal is getting off here, and it's going to be the responsibility of the next round here of congress, of the president to

brick the supreme court back boo alignment. and that the people who vote not only have to think about their president, we have to think about control of the senate and control of the house, which will be necessary to get that done. i think it's a very important part of this speech. >> senator warren, first of all, wonky is always safe here, we love wonky at this table, and all the viewers love wonky. it's why they enjoy you coming on so much. thank you so much, senator warren. really a pleasure speaking with you. >> good the talk to you. >> so simone, you have this rare perch of you worked for president biden on his campaign, you traveled with vice president harris, well, when she was a candidate, and you also workedou for her when she was the vice president. this has probably been a very emotional week for you. >> oh my goodness. >> what did you think of the speech you just watched? >> i was getting my makeup touched up when i listened to the speech and i was like with my little tissues, because there

are great elected officials and great people that have done great things, but they are not great or good people. but joe biden has done great things in this presidency, but he is a good person. and as i was listening to his speech, i -- the lines about it's been an honor of my life to serve as your president but in the defense of democracy which is at stake i think it's more important than any title. i went back to that first day that i sat down in joe biden's house and i had talked to a lot of different candidates that were saying they wanted to run for president in 2020, but i didn't talk to joe biden. that was like ducking his campaign manager. it was like he's the former vice president of the united states of america, there's a lot of people he has to pick from. they were like, actually, the vice president would like to meet with you. and i said, i'm not going to duck a former vice president. i'm supposed to be there for 20 minutes. he's like, my staff is very impressed with you. i'm like, what about you, sir? i ended up being there an hour, hour and a half, i had a flight

that night. i had so say, sir, i have to go. in that conversation i asked him, i said, why do you want to run for president? at that time there were so many people in the race. he said what he said tonight, what he has said many time, we've all heard him say, i believe the soul of our country is at stake. he felt that in his bones, and the reason he was in that race in 2020 was because he felt that in his bones, and he felt that if he could do something about it, he didn't want to sit on the sidelines. and so over the last three weeks to just see how people who i know love joe biden but how they have talked about joe biden, i just think that man that we saw sitting at the desk tonight, he deserved a little bit more than that. he deserved the dignity that the people within his party did not give him over the last three weeks. and frankly, what i took away from his speech, actually, is he is saying, yes, i'm passing the torch. this is why i made the decision, but also, i am not done yet. because also the way people have

been talking about joe biden since last sunday is like he's going to get on a plane and fly off into the sunset and stay in rehoboth for next six, seven months. he is the president until january 20, 2025. he has work to do. i think the best way to -- you can disagree with joe biden. we've all disagreed with joe biden, frankly. but he is a -- he has done great things, but he is a good man. i think people who want to honon the legacy of that good man, the best way to do that is acknowledge his work is not yet done. there are benchmarks he's set for himself that he has not yet met. there are more commitments heth made to the american people, and we should hold him accountable to those as well as he finishes out his term. >> it's interesting that you make that point, because in some ways, exiting the presidential race gives him a chance to fully be president. >> yeah. >> for the next six months without the distraction of having to do rallies and travel

around and exhaust himself doing both. in some ways, it was a decision to say i'm going to fully be president for the last six months. we normally call that a lame duck. >> mm-hmm. >> but this is sort of the most anti-lame duck speech that i think we could have heard from the president. because what he said is, no, i've devoted my life to this, and now i'm going to devote the rest of my presidency to this. and in a way it actually is the best of both worlds not just for the party but more importantly, i mean, this is not a normal election. you know, i've always been obsessed with politics, i love politics, this is not a fun sort of political, you know -- this is not mitt romney versus -- this is the stakes -- the stakes here are whether we're a democracy. it's whether we survive as a multiracial democracy or become literally an autocracy. so in a sense the pure selflessness of saying it's more important to me to finish this work than to extend my ambition to run for a second term, i s think actually makes it even a

stronger and more important decision. >> well, it's too big of a job for any one person. and the idea that he can be there doing the structural things to guard and protect democracy, to continue to bolster nato, to do the thing, sop of which he alluded to tonight, while she's out sort of frantically and frenetically out there for the next cupping days is extraordinary. we're just getting started around here. there's much more ahead. and it's all ladies again. i love how that keeps happening. our special coverage continues in just a few moments. the chairman of the democratic party will join us, jamie harrison, and senator cory booker, who served with kamala harris in the senate, and calls her his friend, his colleague, and his sister. we'll be back with all of that. don't go anywhere. k with all of that don't go anywhere. meet the jennifers. jen x. jen y. and jen z. each planning their future through the chase mobile app. jen x is planning a summer in portugal

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