Interview with Seth Meyers on NBC's "Late Night"

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody.

MEYERS: Welcome back, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: It's good to be back. Why haven't you invited me earlier?

MEYERS: Well, you know, you're a busy guy. Did you think when you were here in 2014, this show would make it 10 years?

THE PRESIDENT: No.

MEYERS: Yeah. We appreciate -- we appreciate the honesty, you know. Now, you guys actually -- you've been colleagues before. You worked together. You did an episode of Parks and Recreation. We talked about it back in 2000.

THE PRESIDENT: Are you kidding me? I bragged about that all for a long, long time.

AMY POEHLER: That was really fun.

MEYERS: That was -- before president, this was the best gig you ever had.

THE PRESIDENT: And maybe the best gig I ever had, period.

MEYERS: Yeah. How was -- Amy, how was -- how was the president as a scene partner?

POEHLER: Well, it was an awesome time to go to DC because we met with the then Mr. Vice President -- Mr. President Vice President President.

MEYERS: That is right.

POEHLER: I don't want to get it wrong.

THE PRESIDENT: No. No.

POEHLER: I don't want to get it wrong. But we met people from both sides of the aisle. And then if you remember, we did that scene together, and then you said to me, how should I act? And I said, just act like what is this lady doing here? And you nailed it.

MEYERS: There's something that I've been very -- it just speaks to the air we live in now. There's a Dark Brandon conspiracy meme, and this is something that you seem to have a lot of fun with. You've co-opted. You've co-opted Dark Brandon. This is a yard sign. And do you enjoy playing around with the Dark Brandon meme?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I resent the hell out of it.

MEYERS: OK. Now, I want -- my favorite one recently is there are 18% of Americans, according to recent polling, have believe that you and Taylor Swift are actually working in cahoots. And after the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl, you -- you posted this on social media and wrote -- you wrote "Just like we drew it up." Now, can you -- I have you on the hotspot here. Can you confirm or deny that there is an active conspiracy between you and Ms. Swift?

THE PRESIDENT: Where are you getting this information? It's classified.

MEYERS: It's classified information?

THE PRESIDENT: That's classified information.

MEYERS: You won't share it with us.

THE PRESIDENT: I'm not going to. But I will tell you, she did endorse me in 2020.

MEYERS: She did. You might be wondering -- might be wondering, you think it might come around again?

THE PRESIDENT: I told you, it's classified.

MEYERS: I'm going to -- I'm going to ask you another question because we mentioned Parks and Rec, and Parks and Rec was a show that was about how government could actually help people. And it was a really optimistic show. Real quick, though. Well, do you believe any conspiracy theories, Amy?

POEHLER: Oh, yeah. I do have one conspiracy. I think that octopus -- an octopus is an alien.

MEYERS: OK.

POEHLER: And the bottom of the sea floor is actually the top of the Earth.

MEYERS: He's leaving. He's got to go.

POEHLER: Wait. Wait. Hey.

MEYERS: I told you to stop telling people that.

POEHLER: So, if that's wrong, don't spoil it for me.

THE PRESIDENT: I'm not. I'm not.

MEYERS: All right. So, Parks and Rec was about optimism. You, I believe, are more optimistic about this country than certainly I am, than a lot of people are. Why do you continue to be optimistic about this nation despite everything that's happened in recent years?

THE PRESIDENT: Look, I tell every world leader, and I mean this sincerely, never underestimate the ability of the American people. There's nothing beyond our capacity. Nothing. Think about it. Every single crisis we've ever, ever, ever been in, we've come out stronger than we went in. Everyone. And folks, it's because of you, not because of your leaders. Because of you, really and truly. The American people are incredible. And we're the -- you know, I've told -- I asked -- I was asked by Xi Jinping about -- when I was in the Tibetan mountains with him, and he said can you define America for me? I said, yeah, one word, possibilities. America believes anything is possible. And by the way, people step up -- people here step up. And look what's happening. We've got the best economy in the world. Now, we've got a long way to go, but the best in the world now, and we're going to get it better.

MEYERS: Well, I have a lot more to ask you about what's coming up next. You, guys, that's President Joe Biden. That's Amy Poehler. We'll be right back with more from President Biden.

[commercial break]

MEYERS: Welcome back to Late Night. We're here with President Joe Biden. You mentioned some classified materials, some documents recently leaked, some classified documents. And this isn't a gotcha show, but I do want to ask about it that says you are currently 81 years old.

THE PRESIDENT: Who the hell told you that?

MEYERS: Yeah.

THE PRESIDENT: That's classified.

MEYERS: That's classified. All jokes aside, according to recent polling, this is a real concern for American voters. How do you address that concern going forward as you come up to the 2024 election?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, a couple of things. Number one, you got to take a look at the other guy. He's about as old as I am, but he can't even remember his wife's name.

MEYERS: Yeah.

THE PRESIDENT: And -- number one. Number two, it's about how old your ideas are. Look, I mean, this is a guy who wants to take us back. He wants to take us back in Roe v. Wade. He wants to take us back on a whole range of issues that are 50, 60 years. They've been solid American positions. And -- and I really mean this sincerely. The -- I think it's about -- about the future. And everything -- every single thing we've done, I think we've gotten some good things done. Everything -- and they told us we couldn't get them done because things were so divided. And -- but I think everything -- everything we've gotten done, he's just frontally stated he wants to do away with if he gets elected. And I really think his views on where to take America are older than -- anyway, I don't want to get called.

MEYERS: You talked about bipartisanship and that you could actually work across the aisle when you ran in 2020. I was one of the people who thought that was maybe a foolish proposition. But you have gotten things done: Infrastructure, CHIPS, Inflation Reduction Act, some gun safety. You even got an immigration bill that passed in the Senate but never got taken up in the House.

THE PRESIDENT: It will be.

MEYERS: And what do you would you want to do? What's your 2024 agenda? Because I feel like we live in such crazy times that that is one of the things I feel we hear less about.

THE PRESIDENT: Look, the 2020 agenda is to finish the job. For example, we're now in a position where we have the strongest economy of any major nation in the world, number one. We've got a way to go yet. Inflation is down, 880,000 manufacturing jobs. You know, we have some 14 million new jobs. The unemployment rate is the lowest it's been for the longest time. We're building wealth for people. But it really -- we have to do more. The first thing I have to do is stop it from being turned around. For example, you -- you talked about the border, it didn't pass. Well, guess what? We're going to pass that border. It's overwhelmingly -- overwhelmingly supported by Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate. But because, I don't know this for a fact, but I was told that Trump was picking up the phone, calling the speaker of the House, saying don't let it pass. Why? Not because he doesn't think it's good. Because it will benefit Biden. That's no way to run a country. That's no way to deal. We didn't even -- when we had real divisions back when I was a young senator among Democrats and Republicans, that -- that -- that wasn't the way it worked. And look, I think -- let me put this, it's not your father's Republican Party. This is -- they got about 30% of the Republican Party controlling it all. And -- and I think it's -- we're going to break it.

MEYERS: One of the things about this is not your father's Republican Party, it must be for somebody who's been doing this as long as you have. You can't get aid for Ukraine passed. And it seemed like for a long time, the American people agreed that Russia was a threat. And all of a sudden, now, you see a Republican Party that is basically refusing to aid Ukraine in their fight. Again, it seems like Donald Trump is saying Russia can do whatever they want to NATO countries. Are you shocked?

THE PRESIDENT: Not seems like, that's what he is saying. He's been saying it all along. He'd been saying it when he ran the last time. Look, the idea that any American -- think about this, if I told you all there was going to be an American president who said to Putin, Putin, come do whatever you want and -- to -- to NATO if they don't -- if the other guys on our team don't pay up every single cent they promised to pay for. I mean, what are we talking about here? What in God's name? How -- the idea that the president of the United States is inviting Vladimir Putin to invade Eastern or Western countries is bizarre. Absolutely bizarre. And it's totally against our interests. And by the way, I've known every major foreign leader for the longest time, and I know all these guys extremely well. They're scared to death of what it means for them -- for them, what it means if we walk away. Madeleine Albright was right, the former secretary of state. She said we are the essential nation. We are the essential nation. We don't have people fighting in those areas, but we're providing the wherewithal for them to be able to protect themselves. And it's just outrageous what he's talking about.

MEYERS: He talked about how he wants to be a dictator on day one, but only on day one. You were someone who has dealt with dictators over the years. It does seem as though democracy in vague terms somehow is not easy for us to grasp. Having dealt with dictators, what do you see in a world where democracy is actually at risk in a way it might be in this election?

THE PRESIDENT: The first thing they do -- dictators do is they disregard whatever the rule of law is. They just disregard it. Here's the guy who says he wants to -- he thinks he can change the Constitution and ignore it. Just ignore portions of the Constitution. Here's the guy who talks about retribution. Here's the guy -- look, you have the guys -- the thousands of people who stormed the Capitol -- stormed the Capitol.

MEYERS: They're insurrectionists. Two cops died. Other people were badly hurt. And what did he say? They got convicted and/or they pled guilty, and he said they're patriots. God. Patriots? And he says he's going to forgive them all. He's going to -- and he's going to -- every one of them is going to be released.

THE PRESIDENT: What is -- I mean, that -- that's what happens in Eastern European countries. That's not what happens in America. We're -- and the idea that he thinks he can do that. The idea -- he talks about things like, for example, the idea that he said the Congress wants to pass an overwhelmingly a border provision that would allow us to control the border. The first bill I've ever introduced called for that. And here, they're saying, he's saying, no, don't do that because that'll help Biden. Help Biden? It's about -- not about Biden. It's about the United States of America. And look, it just -- I don't want to get started. I really don't.

MEYERS: Yeah. I get it. I get it.

THE PRESIDENT: Our Democracy is at stake. It literally is.

MEYERS: I want to ask about the situation right now in the Middle East. You have forcefully spoken about the horrible events of October 7th and how Hamas is continuing threat to the safety of the people who live in Israel. You've been negotiating -- trying to negotiate the release of the hostages. At the same time, you've said that the response in Gaza is too much and that the loss of an innocent life in Gaza is just as horrible as the loss of an innocent life in Israel. And yet, there have been calls for an immediate cease-fire. You have not supported those calls. Again, you seem like an optimistic person. You believe maybe there's a future for a two-state solution. But from where I'm sitting, it does seem like there doesn't seem to be any appetite for that right now. Do you see -- what is -- because again, we see this horrible -- every day, we see these horrible images out of Gaza. And is there a path forward? Is there a safe future for the people who live there?

THE PRESIDENT: There is a path forward with difficulty. But here's the path forward. Look, first of all, there are -- the hostages being held must be released. And then we've got -- and it's an in-principle agreement, there will be a cease-fire while that takes place. Ramadan is coming up, and there's been an agreement by the Israelis that they would not engage in activities during Ramadan as well in order to give us time to get all the hostages out. That gives us time to begin to move in directions that a lot of Arab countries are prepared to move in. For example, Saudi Arabia is ready to recognize Israel. Jordan is -- Egypt. There are six other states I've been working with. Qatar. And the bottom line is that I'm not -- I think the only way Israel ultimately survives, and I make no bones about it, I get criticized for having said a long time ago, you need not be a Jew to be a Zionist. I'm a Zionist. Where there's no Israel, there's not a Jew in the world who'll be safe. But here's the deal. They also have to make up -- take advantage of an opportunity to have peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians who are being used as pawns by -- by the -- by Hamas. And so, there's a process underway that I think if we get that -- that temporary cease-fire, we're going to be able to move in a direction where we can change the dynamic and not have a two-state solution immediately, but a process to get to a two-state solution. A process to guarantee Israel's security and the independence of the Palestinians, but without them being able to, for example, invite in a, you know, another country to provide their defenses. There's ways to do this, and I don't have time to go into it now. But -- and in the meantime, there are too many innocent people that are being killed. And Israel has slowed down the attacks in Rafah. They have to -- and they've made a commitment to me they're going to see to it that there's an ability to evacuate significant portions of Rafah before they go and take out the remainder of Hamas. But -- but it's a process. And look, Israel has had the overwhelming support of the vast majority of nations. If it keeps this up without this incredibly conservative government they have, and Ben-Gvir and others, most -- I've known every major foreign policy leader in Israel since Golda Meir. They're going to lose support from around the world, and that is not in Israel's interest.

MEYERS: Well, I wish you the best of luck with that because they are really horrifying scenes, and I'm happy to hear you agree with that as well. I do want to close by thanking you for something. When you were here in 2014, you gave me two gifts. First, you gave me an Amtrak whistle. And -- and it was 10 years ago. I didn't have kids yet. And I have kids now, and it's their favorite thing and they blow it all the time, and it's really irritating. So, I want to give it back. And --

THE PRESIDENT: I'm not going to take it back. We're going to give it to your kids.

MEYERS: It's covered with germs. I'll say you gave me this -- this conductor's hat and this meant the world to me because when I put it on, I realized that you didn't just buy this at a store. You obviously went out of your way. You got my hat size, because when I put it on, it was such a perfect fit. And --

THE PRESIDENT: Let's get moving.

MEYERS: Let's get moving. I really want to thank you so much for being here, Mr. President. It means the world to celebrate the anniversary with you. That's President Joe Biden, everybody. We'll be right back with more Late Night.