hink that's something to see, wait til you see this. ♪ ♪ you're good. -very good. welcome back, 11:00 a.m. eastern, i'm jose diaz-balart. we are keeping a close eye on arlington national cemetery where ceremonies are about to get underway for all of those who served our nation in uniform. president biden will be laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. and he'll be delivering remarks at the memorial amphitheater. joined by first lady jill biden, vice president harris, and second gentleman emhoff. this will be the vice president's first public appearance since conceding the election. with inauguration day 70 days

away, this will be the president's final time participating in this commemoration. with us now, nbc niece white house correspondent aaron gilchrist, nbc news senior national security correspondent, courtney kube, and msnbc military analyst, retired four star general, barry mccaffrey. what can we expect to see today? >> reporter: we will expect them to lay a wreath, as you said, and then give some remarks. if past is precedent here, what we should expect him to talk about is how veterans are such an important part of this united states, and then some of the things that the biden administration have prioritized when it comes to veterans. now, one of those is the pact act, something that both people at the va, and within the biden administration has held up as a real symbol of how the biden administration has made veterans a priority. prioritizing their health care. that is one thing that we should expect him to address here. as you mentioned, this is his last time speaking at this event

as the president of the united states. of course he has spoken very openly about his son who died of brain cancer several years ago who was himself a veteran. so i wouldn't be surprised if perhaps we hear some reference there. but we should expect a pretty solemn event here for president biden's last appearance here at arlington cemetery on this veterans day, jose. >> and, aaron, the president will have the vice president by his side in this moment. >> reporter: he will, jose, and that's something we have seen before, the vice president along with the first lady and second gentleman will be attending the ceremony, this moment, at the arlington national cemetery. president biden has had this moment on veterans day, back in 2021 and 2023. in 2022, vice president harris stepped in for him at this ceremony. this is really an opportunity here at the tomb of the unknown soldier for the president to honor the memory of soldiers who have died fighting for this country. this, of course, a venue that

was dedicated on veterans day, what was then armistice day in 1921. it was changed to veterans day in the 50s. you see secretary of defense, lloyd austin, the chairman of the joint chiefs as well with him, other dignitaries coming into the space just ahead of president biden. he and the vice president will step forward. the president will put his hand on the wreath as it's moved into place very close to the center of the landing there, right in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier. this is one of those responsibilities that president biden has always taken very seriously. as courtney mentioned, his son served in the delaware army national guard. he served overseas in iraq. he died from brain cancer in 2015, and the biden administration has done a tremendous amount of work around making sure that veterans who were exposed to toxic chemicals in their work around the world

are cared for. you see here the first lady now entering along with the second gentleman doug emhoff as well, coming into place alongside the president and vice president. >> when the president does appear, we will of course go to that. general just wondering how fortunate we are as a nation to have the armed forces of this country. i don't want to interrupt. let's go right to that. >> the armed forces honor guard and united states army band are formed and waiting as the president of the united states moves to the tomb of the unknown soldier to place the wreath.

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we're going to continue our conversation with courtney kube, and general mccaffrey. the president and all the people that are with him today on this very important day are entering that, what's the process going forward now? >> reporter: so they'll go inside that room in the tomb of the unknown soldier for a bit before coming out to make some remarks. just a little bit about what we're seeing here. standing there with the president and vice president kamala harris, of course, was secretary of the va, dennis

mcdonough, and the two-star general, a lot of people may not be familiar with him. major general, the joint force for the national capital region. i'm struck by sort of the overall symbolism of this moment, where we are in this moment right now with the change in administration coming only in a matter of weeks here. major general breddencamp, his job, one of his responsibilities is maintaining continuity of government, the military piece for u.s. northern command, and here we have two people standing there with him, president biden, vice president harris, both of whom have pledged to the american people only in the last several days that there will be this peaceful transition of power, and there we have the military face of the continuing, the continuity of government. that is one of his roles there. it's not lost on me just the moment that we are in right now, with all of those people in the roles that they have to play in

this continuity government over the next several months. now, in addition to that, in the crowd there, i did see a number of political appointees from the pentagon, the secretary of the army, christine, and in addition to that, there were a number of senior military officers as well, chairman of the joint chiefs, general brown and his wife. the vice chairman, admiral grady, there are a lot of questions right now about how the military leaders in the pentagon, what could happen over the next several months in a trump administration, whether some of them could be replaced or not. so, i mean, this is a stark moment right now on this veterans day to see that there is so much potential change afoot with just the people we saw there at arlington cemetery, jose. >> and, i mean, general, i was just starting to tell you right before we began this day, the importance of veterans day and

what it means and what it signifies, you know, to be able to live in the united states of america, many of the freedoms and many of the, just, how we are able to live our lives, are based on the armed forces of the united states, and the impact that they have had since day one. >> no question. there's 18 million veterans, and they have all got families, there's another 2 million plus in the active armed forces, national guard, reserve, and active duty. they're deployed all over the face of the earth, including my grandsons in the air force. it's a very important day to come together and recognize, not just the sacrifice. we had 2 million some-odd americans steps forward to defend us after 9/11, fighting in iraq, and afghanistan, 60,000 killed and wounded.

so it's a very important point of time, and the national remembrance, and here you're watching the old guard regiment of the u.s. army that maintains its presence, 365 days a year at the tomb of the unknown soldier and a joint color guard to come together, and to remind us that the team work, the sacrifice and the commitment to service of our veterans. >> and, aaron, i'm just thinking, you know, the fact that this is president biden's last time doing this, there must be so many different emotions today. >> i would imagine so, jose, we talked about the fact that his son, beau biden was a veteran before his death in 2015. that obviously is something that weighs on the president. we hear him speak about often i would imagine he'll speak about that today in his remarks in just a few minutes here.

but this is a person who has the very unique responsibility of being the commander in chief. he is the person who decides when and where american troops go into harm's way, and that is, i would imagine, a heavy burden for any one person to have to bear and the buck stops with him. and you can imagine that there are many emotions that the president will be feeling and potentially showing when he speaks for the last time as president of the united states at this ceremony after laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier for the last time as president of the united states. we hear the president say at the end of every speech that he gives, may god protect our troops. it is a sentiment that obviously is a part of his prayer, and it is something that, as we've said, the president takes very seriously. i have to say, i've had the privilege of spending time at the tomb, spending time with the

sentinels who guard the tomb, down in the tomb quarters over the years in my reporting, and the men in the last couple of decades, women, who guard the tomb day in and day out, 24 hours a day, in all conditions, rain, snow, and whatnot, this is a responsibility that to them is the ultimate honor, to have the responsibility of standing watch over those who have fought for and died for their country is something that they take tremendously seriously. i had the opportunity a couple of years ago to travel to france with several former tomb guards who visited american cemeteries in france to mark the 100th anniversary of the tomb of the unknown soldier, and that was something where you watched these veterans, these stoic figures who fought in uniform, who have worn the uniform, stand in reverence. some of them in tears, remembering the sacrifices that their brothers and sisters in

arms have made, jose. >> yeah, and general, i was thinking, you know, to what aaron was just mentioning, you know, one of those privileges of life i've had is to go to normandy twice to visit the cemetery there, but there are -- general, as you know better than anybody else, there are cemeteries throughout the world in which you find, you know, americans who lost their lives to liberate that country. i'm thinking just outside of florence, there is a seminary, an american cemetery with more than 3,000 tombs of young men who died liberating italy. it's just, general, what is it that you think we can do to best honor and support the men and women of the armed forces? >> well, you make a good point, you know, we don't have conquered lands around the world, we have this national

cemetery system where our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, coast guard parished defending our values, and that includes certainly, italy, where my dad fought with the famous 92nd infantry division. it's an opportunity, i think, for all of us it remember. an infantry company, a bunch of teenage boys, tremendous soldiers, there were only two in the company that were over the age of 25. so it's a group of young women and men who step forward and defend us, and then go back to civilian life, having inculcated themselves, the values of service to this democracy. so a special day. >> and, general, you know, again, one of the moments, you know, you go in a little town in

france, and in normandy, and in other places, and in the local church of that little town, you walked in, and there was a plaque for, as you say, many times, under the 25 years of age that lost their lives in that specific area. let's go right back, if we would, back to the cemetery. we're watching the president of the united states arrive. but, general, you know, the tomb of the unknown soldier there in the cemetery, there are so many unknown soldiers that lost their lives throughout the world. >> yeah, no question. i mean, a huge number of them, of course, were the u.s. army air corps during world war ii or naval ships that sank or submarines, tremendous loss of life, and the merchant marine.

world war ii, special case, 16 million men and women in uniform, and over 400,000 lost their lives to destroy these evil regimes of naziism and militarism. again, it's a very important day, both this and memorial day to come together and to recognize we can't keep this democracy unless we're willing to protect it. >> aaron gilchrist, courtney kube, general barry mccaffrey, stay with us. we're going to take a quick break before the president of the united states begins speaking. plus with just 70 days until inauguration day, we are just learning of one more confirmed member of the next trump administration. you're watching jose diaz-balart reports on msnbc. on msnbc rinvoq works differently and it's a once-daily pill. when symptoms tried to take control, i got rapid relief with rinvoq. check. when flares tried to slow me down, i got lasting steroid-free remission with rinvoq.

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23 past the hour. new this morning, as we watch these live pictures from arlington national cemetery. inauguration day is just 70 plus days away. a transition official tells nbc news donald trump has tapped house gop conference chair and long time ally, congresswoman elise stefanik to serve as u.s. ambassador to the united nations. overnight, donald trump announces former acting i.c.e. director tom homan will be his

border czar, all this as president-elect trump is set to meet with president biden in the oval office on wednesday. joining us now is nbc's vaughn hillyard. what do we know about congresswoman stefanik, and how is the rest of his transition shaping up? >> reporter: exactly, we know that donald trump is here at mar-a-lago, and over the course of the weekend that he was continuing to engage in conversations ahead of these announcements. i'm told that we can expect more cabinet positions to be named over the course of this week, and already on this monday, we're beginning to see those announcements. number one, u.n. ambassador to be, elise stefanik. the new york congresswoman from new york who has been a staunch ally of donald trump, particularly over the last five years. she was one of his top impeachment defenders back in 2019 up on capitol hill. she replaced liz cheney as the house gop conference chair, and she is somebody who has been very front and center, especially on the tv air waves in support of donald trump, even at some of his most difficult

political times here, and now at one point, she was in contention to be potentially his vice presidential running mate, but fell off of that short list over the summer, and now out of the gate, the first one who donald trump is saying he'll tap as u.n. ambassador come 2025. >> vaughn, if she does accept this, and does get it, then that would leave that congressional seat open, right? >> reporter: exactly, and this is where we're getting down to depending on how some of these house races swing, a very narrow likely majority for the republicans in the u.s. house, and that majority is going to be crucial for them in order to especially in the first 100, 200 days, begin to push forward some of this key legislation that donald trump is prepared to move forward with a majority in the senate, and that is where there's conversations around the likes of congressman michael waltz of florida, who's right now a top contender to be the

secretary of defense at the pentagon, but suddenly, when you're looking at a very narrow majority for republicans in the house, that calls into question how many house republicans can we actually tap into these key positions here, and that is why that narrow margin and these key house races that we are still waiting for ballots to be counted and results to come forward to be so important because those house races, they will require special elections to ultimately fill those seats, jose. >> and so, that question remains, of course, still to be answered. but, vaughn, there are some indications as to how trump is seeing what his future administration should look like, and then who are the people that are supporting and advising the president-elect? >> we know from his first term, per conversations with multiple

people, one with howard lutnick, one of the transition chairs, they wanted to make sure donald trump was surrounded by loyalists, that they would not try to undermine his agenda or the policies through the executive branch or legislation in cooperation with the senate and the house would seek to pass, and that is where we just in the last few minutes, j.d. vance, posting online, on x, a congratulations, an acknowledgment that stephen miller is expected to be the deputy chief of staff for policy in the next trump white house. we also know there are conversations around other trump hard liners and trump key loyalists like kash patel, potentially serving, he's under consideration to serve as director of either the cia or fbi. this is where you can expect to see an administration filled

with key individuals who donald trump has no doubts about their willingness to support the agenda that he says he has a mandate to implement. and overnight, tim homan, being named in donald trump's words, the border czar, it's not clear exactly what capacity or what specific role that is and whether that would be potentially leading hhs, in which that would require a senate confirmation, but tim homan was the acting i.c.e. director during his first administration, who implemented the zero tolerance family separation policy and was a border hard liner, and he has now been tapped to help donald trump secure the southern border, and so i think that so far, these first three picks are very emblematic of what we should expect to see from donald trump in the days ahead and the exact administration he promised to surround himself with. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you so very much. really appreciate it. joinings us now, steve kornacki,

you have new data on the changing demographic coalitions in this election. >> let's take a look a what's emerged as the coalition that elected donald trump. there's striking changes from when he first came on the scene and ran eight years ago. the republican coalition that elected trump last tuesday, it's younger, it's more diverse, it's more blue collar than before for trump and really than at any point for the republican party in modern history. this is what we mean. pretrump, the last presidential election before donald trump came on the scene. that would be 2012, when mitt romney was the republican no, ma'am -- nominee. voters under 30 went for the democrats by 23 points. voters with incomes under $50,000, democrats by 22 points. voters without a college degree, democrats by 4 points. that's before trump came along, and now, 2024, this is how those groups split last week. look at this, the young vote,

voters under 30, that margin for democrats cut more than in half. under $50,000, has swung all the way over now to a republican win of three points. voters without a college degree, plus four for the democrats a 20 point shift. plus 14 for trump and the republicans. look at the racial, ethnic group breakdown here. you see it as well. black voters, still a core democratic constituency, but look, pretrump, it was nearly a 90 point margin among black voters for democrats. last week, it was 72. that's a 15-point shift. hispanic voters, a 44 point margin. that was the democratic advantage for trump last week, down to just six points. asian americans, a 50-point margin, down to 15 points. those are changes that power trump, powered the republican coalition, and as trump seems set to win the national popular vote, that's a big reason why. he didn't just make gains in the swing states that got them the

electoral college. he made big gains in big blue states. he didn't win electoral votes in places like new york, new jersey, california, he got closer than he did before. it's worth millions of votes, and that's how he gets the national popular vote. we talked about the republican party getting more blue collar, the opposite in the democratic party. before trump, republicans won the white vote by 20 points. republicans won it by 16 last week. white voters are nearly 70% of the elect rat. voters with college drooet degrees. a 13 point democratic margin. wealthy voters, $100,000 more in income, it's ten points republicans, now five points for the democrats. the coalitions have changed here, jose, over the last eight years, and particularly in the 2024 election. and you see what that was worth

for donald trump, a victory in the popular vote. >> well, that's striking, 100,000 or more and the jump from plus ten to plus five. that's an extraordinary change in just a couple of years. >> yeah, and we were seeing signs of this, you know, back in 2020. we were seeing signs of the republican coalition. it wasn't enough for trump then. we saw him make gains with hispanic voters, gains with voters without a college degree, and it really escalated in this campaign. and, again, it leads to questions, i think we can sew you here, this is the gender gap as well, by the way, i wanted to show you the next one. these are some of the gains you saw for trump in big blue states because of those shifts we just showed you demographically. again, these are all still big blue states. look at the improvements here. for trump, the democratic margin coming down substantially in all of those states. it's because of that coalition, we just showed you there.

>> and very quickly, if i could, and i love having you around, because, steve, there's no one that knows more about all kinds of issues. traditionally, you know, we've always spoken about the high water mark for george w. bush. getting 44% of the latino vote. how did trump do vis-a-vis that. >> the exit poll has him a tick higher than bush in 2024. and two things to note about that. the size of the latino vote overall in the 20 years since bush in '04 has grown dramatically. trump's performance among hispanic voters carried more of a punch than bush's did in '04. the voting block is so much bigger now. it did move numbers in the states dramatically in a way that bush's performance didn't. in 2004, there were questions about the exit poll. the accuracy fully of that exit

poll in 2004. again, when you look at the exit poll and trump's performance among hispanic voters. you can look at counties with large hispanic populations across the board. that's where trump's making his biggest gains. >> steve kornacki, thank you very much, my friend. appreciate it. we're keeping our eye on arlington cemetery, where president biden is speaking minutes from now. we'll take you there as soon as he begins. trump's critics say they are preparing for trump's retribution. we'll play for you what one of his allies had to say when asked about trump's threats for revenge. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. humana medicare advantage plans. carry this card and you could have the power to unlock benefits beyond original medicare. these are convenient plans that offer all of the benefits of original medicare, plus extra coverage and benefits. with a humana

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39 past the hour on the campaign trail, donald trump pledged to launch the largest deportation force in american history, and now we're learning about his plans to turn it into a reality. trump announced that tom homan, the acting i.c.e. director for a year and a half during the first trump administration will be his border czar. here's what he told cecilia vega's 60 minutes about what that deportation could look like. >> we have seen one estimate that says it would cost $88 billion to deport a million people a year. >> i don't know if that's accurate or not. >> is that what american taxpayers should expect? >> what price do you put on our national security, is it worth it? >> is there a way to carry out mass deportation without

splatting families? >> of course there is. families can be deported together. >> joining us now, coanchor of pbs news hour, also an msnbc contributorment megan hayes, former special assistant to president biden, and lance, republican strategist, former spokesperson for doug burgum's presidential campaign. tom homan was one of the forces behind the family separations of 5,000 migrant children. what do you see as his return meaning? >> jose, this is former president trump making good on one of his key campaign promises, which was, as we all saw from the signs that were held up at one point during the republican national convention, mass deportations now. this has been a central part of his messaging, not just in this campaign season, but in his previous campaigns for president as well. immigration has always been one of the main issues that

president trump has hammered home and that his supporters support him for. to name someone like tom homan who was a central figure in implementing that zero tolerance policy that forcibly separated children from their guardians at the border. thousands of children at the time the administration had really no plan in place to reunite them, and we all reported on the chaos that followed and there have been reports about how many families are still recovering from that trauma, to put mr. homan in charge of the border sends a clear message about how mr. trump will see through the promise on mass deportation, and the tone it will take. it has been reported that stephen miller will return to the white house, a key adviser, and the leader in the circle when it comes to hard line immigration policies. he will be reportedly deputy chief of staff, and i think that says a great deal about the priorities for this

administration. of course when you look at the way in which former president trump won, which is to say he won the electoral vote, he looks on track to win the popular vote. we know that a reduction in immigration is something that broadly we've seen an increase in support in among american voters. this is him making good on a campaign promise. >> thank you so much. always great seeing you. >> les, just this morning we learned that the first cabinet position under the trump administration will be new york congresswoman elise stefanik to serve as u.n. ambassador. we learned that stephen miller expected to be named deputy chief of staff for policy. what do you think these selections tell us about the direction of this incoming administration? >> i think anna hit the nail on the head. this is a president who's motto is promises made, promises kept. elise stefanik is a phenomenal pick. it sends confidence to israel.

she has been a staunch supporter of israel throughout her time in congress, i think, so if you're israel, you're looking at this thinking this is good. i would take a step back and look at the process under which this transition is taking place. you look at the campaign. they had a disciplined approach to this campaign, spearheaded by susie wiles. i think we're seeing that same type of discipline, methodic approach play out with this transition. obviously the announcement of ms. wiles going into the white house i think gives a lot of people confidence in terms of where they are headed in this white house in the future down the road, and so i suspect we will see more appointments like this, like stephen miller, like elise stefanik coming forward over the course of the days. they are taking their time down in florida, vetting these individuals, and focusing, yes, loyalty is important, but are these people capable, competent, and can they do the job donald trump was elected to do, and that's what we're seeing play out over the course of the next several days. >> what do you think the

priorities on that loyalty, you know, effectiveness, et cetera, what do you think are the priorities for that transition team, and, lance, how different is this transition team and those who are advising the president-elect versus last time? >> that's what i was talking about. i think donald trump has acknowledged the mistakes he may have made eight years ago, and certainly with some of the decisions he made, and loyalty is important to anybody, and anybody who goes into the white house and says loyalty isn't important, they're not being truthful. people put a bigger deal on donald trump but it happens in every single administration. you want people who are loyal but also somebody who is effective and competent and can carry out. donald trump received a massive mandate last tuesday, not only him, but republicans as well in the united states senate. the house is going republican, and so you want to be sure you put these things into effect. when it comes to the issue of immigration, it was consistently

the number two issue in the minds of voters, second only to the cost of living factor that we are facing in this country. and overwhelmingly by double digits donald trump led on that issue. it's one of the main reasons he was elected last tuesday. i think it's pretty clear to me, voters are looking for a hard change in how we affect border policy in this country. >> and meanwhile, trump ally, jim jordan sent a letter to special counsel jack smith warning him his office is quote, not immune from transparency. jordan was asked to explain what that means on sunday. listen to what he had to say. >> it's also sometimes a precursor to an investigation. are you ruling it out? >> what i'm saying, if you think about people talk about retribution, the retribution has been from the other side. i have been trying to stop retribution for the last four years. >> i'm going to get to that in one second. >> will jack smith be called to testify? >> we'll have to see.

i assume there's going to be some report. >> what does this tell you? it tells me if they get the majority in the house they are going to continue to do investigations and continue to have retribution on donald trump's political enemies, as donald trump refers to them. it doesn't show a great deal of confidence that success was retribution, what the president-elect has been saying recently. it shows me they are still going to go after folks that did not serve donald trump well or did not, you know, follow donald trump in ways that they should have. we are going to have many more investigations and many more people who are following the law hauled in front of congress to testify. >> i want your thoughts on this. yesterday, former communications director for vp harris had this to say, his proposal for what president biden should be doing. listen to this. >> he could resign the presidency in the next 30 days, make kamala harris the president of the united states, it would absolve her from being able from having to oversea the january 6th transition. right, of her own defeat.

and it would make sure that -- it would dominate the news at a point where democrat haves to learn drama and transparency and doing things that the public want to see -- this is the moment for us to change the entire perspective of how democrats operate. >> i mean, this is from the former communications director for vice president harris. what do you make of that? >> so, i disagree with him. i don't think that's smart. i don't think it's in our democratic values. i don't see the president doing that. he's a traditional person. he believes in our institutions and following things out to the end of the term and having a peaceful transition of power. i don't think resigning and letting the vice president take over a peaceful transfer of power. i understand the thoughts, i understand what jamal is saying, but i don't think that's something president biden will follow through on. >> lance, you said it a little while ago, the president-elect has a mandate. why do you think that he is having a mandate, and how big of

a mandate is it? >> it seems to me, if you look at -- the problem, i think is the democrats, if you look at this election, the democrats created some problems, and failed to acknowledge them. they wanted voters to believe the things that they weren't believing, they weren't experiencing or dealing with out there. remember, the border was not as big of a problem until joe biden came in and undid all of trump's border policies. we saw an influx of 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants. the biden administration failed to acknowledge that over three years. they unleashed tons of spending, trillions of dollars that lit inflation on fire with over 20% cost of goods. surrogates for kamala harris were at the end of the campaign tried to convince voters that prices were going down. that is the complete opposite of what they were dealing with out there in the country. i think the failure of them to even recognize and deal with

that where donald trump came forward and was very specific and said, look, i know we have a problem with the border, i know prices are out of control. if you put me back into office, i'm going to deal with those, and i think that is where you saw him succeed on tuesday night. >> of course, lance, we can all see that what they were talking about, and talking about harris surrogates is that inflation, which did go up, does have a clear trajectory of going down. that, i think, is also a fact. >> absolutely. of course. but that's just the prices were not going up as fast as they had been, right, but there were surrogates that were saying that prices were going down. >> megan hays, remarks any minu. we will bring them to you as soon as he begins. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. maybe it's time for your home to start taking care of you.

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let's go to arlington national cemetery. [ applause ] >> thank you, thank you, thank you. it's a great honor to stand here again. 160 years ago, during what would become his final days in office, president abraham lincoln addressed this nation, and he said, let us strive to finish the work we're in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who born the battle. americans, first lady vice president harris and the second gentleman, mayorkas, chairman

brown, most importantly, our veterans, service members and their families, i've said it many times before. i got in trouble for saying it when i was a young senator. i said, we have many obligations, but only one truly sacred obligation, sacred. prepare those we send into harm's way and to care for them and their families when they return home, and when they don't. it's an obligation. not based on party or politics but on a promise that unites us all. today, as we strive on to finish the work of our moment, to bind the nation's wounds once again, we commit and recommit to this sacred vow. this is the last time i will stand here at arlington as commander in chief. it's been the greatest honor of

my life, to lead you, to serve you, to care for you, to defend you, just as you defended us generation after generation after generation. you are the greatest fighting force -- and this is not hyperbole -- the greatest fighting force in the history of the world. i'll never forget standing at valley forge, our nation's first soldiers laid down their lives. for a nation, for everyone is entitled to unalienable rights, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. i'll never forget walking the hills of gettysburg where thousands more shed their blood to make those words real. and i'll never forget bellow woods, visiting there, to pay tribute to the heros who stepped

on that beach, were standing in the cliffs of normandy 80 years after d-day to honor the service members and veterans who literally saved the world. absolute heroism. just standing there, you wonder, how in god's name did they have the courage to do what they did? i'll never forget, a career of america's sons and daughters, they've called to defend the people they had never met. to pay my respects in hanoi, where so many of our troops defended democracy, including my friend and once worked for me, senator john mccain. never forget my trips to afghanistan and iraq, where tour after tour, young men and women served and sacrificed to keep

our nation safe. four presidents faced a decision after we got bin laden, whether to end our longest war in history in afghanistan. i was determined not to leave it to the fifth. every day, i carry a card with me. i schedule every single day for the last ten years. on the back of my schedule, it says, "u.s. daily troops in afghanistan, troops tied to afghanistan as of today, 2,456." troops wounded in afghanistan, 20,769. u.s. troops, iraq, died in iraq, 4,620. wounded in iraq, 32,766. ladies and gentlemen, this is my duty as president, but also as a

parent. like many of you, our son, beau biden deployed with the national guard. i remember the day he asked me to pin his bars on him. he stood ramrod straight, how proud jill and i, our entire family felt. like so many of you, we also remember how hard it was when he was deployed. empty seats at the dinner table. missed holidays and birthdays. prayers of hope and worry repeated every morning, every night. just as we ask everything of our veterans, we ask everything of their families. poet john milton wrote, and i quote, "they also serve, only stand and wait, as so many of you have."

so to all military families, those with loved ones missing or unaccounted for, to all americans grieving the loss of a loved one who wore the uniform, jill and i want you to know we see you, we thank you, and we'll never stop working to meet our sacred obligation to you and your family. jill and i, doug and kamala, our entire administration are proud of our work for the past four years. together we've passed more than 30 bipartisan laws to support our veterans and their families, caregivers and survivors. we've brought veterans' homelessness down to a record low. we delivered more benefits to more veterans than any ever before in v.a. history. we invested record resources, reduced the scourge of veterans to suicide. we took action to protect veterans from scams because no veteran should be defrauded by those they defended. all these actions are vital, and

i'm particularly proud of finally passing the pact act. [ applause ] this is the most significant law in our history, our nation's history. to help millions of veterans exposed to toxins by agent orange and burn pits during their military service. pits the size of football fields that incinerated the waste of war. tires, chemicals, batteries, jet fuel, and so much more. pits that left too many veterans with headaches, numbness, dizziness, asthma, and cancer. the pact act helped over 1 million veterans and their families get the benefits they deserve. they deserve those benefits. [ applause ]