Social media users shared a video clip from a Zoom call, in which President Joe Biden apparently says the United States is “doomed” because by 2040 the country will be a “minority white European”. Biden’s words were taken out of context. In the call at the time by President Biden with civil rights leaders, the statistics were cited as a reason why ‘significant progress on racial equality’ was so important.
Examples with the extract, or a transcript of it, can be seen here, here, here and here.
The reports contain a quote from ‘Joe Biden 22/12/2020 Leaked ZOOM call’ which reads: ‘This country is doomed, it is doomed. Not just because of African Americans, but because by 2040 this country will be a minority white European – do you hear me? Minority white European. And blacks will have to start working more with Spaniards, who make up a larger section of the population than you do. ”
Comments on the posts include: ‘I watched that Zoom call – I could NOT believe my ears. If ever there was a racist … ‘,’ They’ve declared POTUS 45 racist for four years now and refuse to accept that ‘Uncle Joe’ is the real racist … yes, I said that! !! and “Can we add racism and insanity to his list of honors?”
The full video of the Zoom call can be seen here, obtained and published by the news website The Intercept. According to his story here, the Zoom call took place on December 8, 2020.
A quote close to the one used in the reports begins at 1:14:37 and listening to what Biden has said before helps clarify the statement.
At point 1:14:17, Biden can be heard saying, “I’ve been doing this for a long, long time. I don’t always get it right, but I always take responsibility. If I misunderstand, I admit I’m wrong, but my overarching goal [is] if we can not make significant progress with racial equality, this country is doomed. ”
At 1:14:38, Biden uses words similar to those that appear in the reports: ‘This is not just doomed because of African Americans, but because by 2040 this country is going to be a White European minority. Hear me, white European minority. And you’ll have to start working with Hispanics, who make up a larger part of the population than you do. ”
Biden then continues, about 1:15:02: ‘As for the raw numbers, we’ll have to work with a whole group of people who are, in fact, the most diverse democracies in American history and anywhere in the world. And we need to find out how to unite this country. And you were the leaders to be able to do that, not a joke. ‘
The Biden team did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
VERDICT
Missing context. The video clip was shortened to make Biden sound like he was saying that the US would be ‘doomed’ as white Europeans became the minority. Put in context, it is clear that he is not saying this.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.