Remarks by President Biden After Visiting with Firefighters and Their Families on the 20th Anniversary of the September 11th Attacks
SEPTEMBER 11, 2021
Location: Shanksville, Pennsylvania

1:25 P.M. EDT 
 
Q    Mr. President, what is going through your mind today, sir?
 
THE PRESIDENT:  I’m thinking about my — for real, this is my fourth trip here.  And I was thinking about a guy named Davis Sezna that I grew up with, who, like a lot of people, are probably having a tough day today.  He — I was sitting at home watching television in 2000 and — 2000, in September, and I was watching TV, and my kids were in the swimming pool just outside, and — and all of a sudden came on TV this guy sitting on a bank
in the — on the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal. 
 
And he — and they said he just lost his son that ran into a beam that was coming up in the D&C Canal that had been there from another, I guess, dock.  And his — he lost his 15-year-old son, Teddy.  And he’s on the phone, and all of a sudden, my phone rings, and he’s calling me.  It turned out to be my buddy, Davis Sezna, because he knew I had lost — anyway.
 
And then, a year later, I got a call.  His son was on the 106th floor, and he lost his son.  And they called him “Deeg.”  He was Davis Jr. 
 
And so, it’s a tough day for him and everybody who’s lost somebody. 
 
And, you know, I know you’ve heard me say it before, and I’ll probably get criticized for saying it again, but these memorials are really important, but they’re also incredibly difficult for the people who were affected by them — because it brings back the moment you got the phone call.  It brings back that instant you got the news, no matter how many years go by. 
 
So I’ve been thinking about him.  I’ve been thinking of all the people I was — when I was down at the rock, talking to a number of family members who lost somebody.  You know, think about it — talk about genuine heroism.  I’m not talking about any — I’m not talking about the news media now.  But think of all of you, if you’re on that plane, knowing two terrorists are in the cockpit.  How many would say, “I got a good idea: Let’s go up and rush that cabin”?  Even though you knew that probably they were going to do something and you were going to lose anyway. 
 
But it’s one thing to say, “I know I should step up,” and another thing to do it.  That’s genuine heroism.  That’s not “on the margins.”  That’s not “maybe you did a heroi-…” 
 
I mean, you know.  And I just — I just think — I thought that President Bush made a really good speech today — genuinely good speech — about who we are.  We’re not — the core of who we are is not divided.  It’s just this notion of — I don’t know how to explain it. 
 
I think, Jeff, I talked to you a little about this.  I think the real issue for those kids that — just had a picture taken with — couple of them had Trump hats from last year — I think, for them, it’s going to be: Are we going to, in the next 4, 5, 6, 10 years, demonstrate that democracies can work, or not?
 
Because I had — just had a long — I’m not going to discuss with you now, but I had a long conversation with President Xi for over an hour and a half — not last night; the night before last.  And I’ve had that one-on-one summit with Putin.  And I’ve spoken with others. 
 
There’s a lot of autocrats who truly believe that democracies can’t function in the 21st century.  Not a joke.  They think because the world is changing so rapidly and people are so divided, you can’t bring people together in a democracy to get a consensus, and the only ones that are going to be able to succeed are the autocrats. 
 
That’s why it’s so damn important we demonstrate — everybody says, “Biden, why do you keep insisting on trying to bring the country together?”  That’s the thing that’s going to affect our wellbeing more than anything else: how the rest of the world responds to us — knowing that we actually can, in fact, lead by the example of our power again.  And I think we can do it.  We got to do it. 
 
And so it’s all tied.  And meeting with these people — you know, I know you’re all tired of hearing me say, you know — a lot of good folks on Wall Street, but they didn’t build the country.  Hardworking middle-class folks built this country, and the unions built the middle class.  It’s about time we start showing them some real respect again.
 
And that’s why I’m hopeful.  I know a lot of you think I’m just always too optimistic, but I think we’re going to get major pieces of legislation through, both on a bipartisan basis, and I think we’re going to get something done consequentially — consequential on the whole issue of dealing with human infrastructure. 
 
And we do that — it’s more than just how it’s going to grow the economy in an exponential way near-term, but the rest of the world is going, “Whoa.  How did he do that?  I thought they didn’t talk to each other.” 
 
Anyway, you asked what I was thinking.  That’s what I’ve been thinking about today.
 
Q    How do you get back to that state of unity that you were talking about and that President Bush was talking about, Mr. President?
 
THE PRESIDENT:  By being honest when I make a mistake, by being straightforward, telling people exactly what I want to do, letting them know and — know that there’s nothing — no hiding the ball. 
 
You know, if you take a look at the polling data, it is down — as my numbers have dropped — you’ve seen that my package is overwhelmingly popular.  Overwhelmingly popular.  And so that’s why you’re going to see — and I get it — a lot more direct attacks on me, not what I’m for.  And that’s — I’m a big boy.  I’ve been doing this a long time. 
 
But I really think that, you know, so far, most people, understandably, thought I couldn’t get any of this done, I couldn’t get the first bill passed.  We got it passed.  It grew the economy, where, you know — where, you know, the 40 percent — anyway.
 
So I think it’s just a matter of showing — showing that what I’m saying, when it works, letting it — be clear how it works, and when it doesn’t work, say I’m going to change that. 
 
But I think people are just looking for, I hope — we’ll find out — just some straight talk: what should be done, what you believe to be done. 
 
And I’ve been doing this long enough.  There’s, you know — again, I apologize.  For somebody who’s covered me a long time, like you, you’ve heard me say some of this before, but I mean it from the bottom of my heart.  I told you the story about when I won as a 29-year-old kid.  Everybody said, “Well, what’s the secret?  What’s the secret?  Had to be some special secret.  How the hell could I win?”  (Laughs.)  You know, straight up.  I had to find something.  And I said the secret is figuring out what’s worth losing over (inaudible).  What are you willing to lose over?  That’s your belief.  If you can’t figure that one out, you shouldn’t run.  You shouldn’t do it. 
 
And so the things that I’m pushing, I believe.  I believe.  Now, I’m not — it doesn’t mean I’m — you know, everybody has to agree I’m right.  I mean — but I’m just laying out what I think has to be done to bring this country back.
 
You’ve heard me say it a thousand times: This is the most unique country in the whole damn world.  We’re an idea.  It’s an idea.  It’s not based on ethnicity.  It’s not based on geography.  It’s not based on religion.  It’s not based — it’s an idea.  It really is.  “We hold these truths…”  I mean, we never lived up to it, but we’ve never walked away from it, except the last — previous four years.