Fact Check: Biden Said Every Trucker 'Knows They're Likely Not To Have a Job in the Next 3, 4, 5 Years' — But the Quote Is from 2019

Taija PerryCook
·3 min read
1.5k
Getty Images
Getty Images
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Claim:

U.S. President Joe Biden stated in a 2019 interview that "Every trucker out there with an eighth grade education or a high school education knows they're likely not to have a job in the next three, four, five years."

Rating:

Rating: Correct Attribution
Rating: Correct Attribution

Context:

Biden was speaking of the employment challenges facing independent truck drivers and other workers, and what could be done about it.

 

In late May 2024, a video of U.S. President Joe Biden went viral in which he said: "Every trucker out there with an eighth grade education or a high school education knows they're likely not to have a job in the next three, four, five years." The video spread across multiple platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and X.

Multiple X users questioned the video's validity. "It's fake, but you knew that," one user wrote. "If you can't verify WTF are you sharing it?" Another commented.

The video is authentic, meaning it was not AI-generated or digitally altered in any way. We traced it back to footage from a live-streamed interview that took place on Dec. 27, 2019, by the editorial board of the Des Moines Register, a newspaper based in Des Moines, Iowa. The quote is heard at timestamp 18:52.

Biden was responding to the following question, and his more contextualized – though not complete – answer was as follows:

You talk about how you would reach out to Republicans or Independents who might vote for you and maybe voted for Trump the first time or are disaffected, how do you reach those people?

... We had 220,000 in this town and my town of Wilmington and big cities all across America that lost their jobs that did retail sales on outlets like further Sachs or Benetton. They're gone, because you're all buying your gifts online ... You know, I mean, truckers. Guys I grew up with back in Claymont, Delaware. Ran into one a couple years ago, he goes "Joey baby," grabs my cheek, he says "how you doing?" If I hadn't recognized him the secret service was gonna shoot him, but anyway, I said "how you doing, you still driving?" He said "nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, only guys like you never worked Joey can continue to drive, I mean, to work ... I said "how's your son?" He says "he's worried Joey," independent trucker. Well guess what? We don't treat these people with respect, we think they don't listen to the news. Guess what? Every trucker out there with an eighth grade education or a high school education knows they're likely not to have a job in the next three, four, five years.

So how do you address that?

To address that you gotta provide alternatives. What you do is you have to, and this is the hard part, you gotta go and say "but there are a lot of jobs out there, but you're gonna have to go back and retrain..."

While some commenters assumed that his comments were antagonistic toward truck drivers, the broader context shows that this comment was in reference to the topic of job loss across multiple industries and lack of respect for truckers.

Multiple news outlets, including USA Today, reported on the quote's context as well as what Biden has done for truckers while in office.

Because the quote is demonstrably authentic, we rated this claim "Correct Attribution."

Sources:

Barber, Rachel. 'Resurfaced Clip of Biden Talking about Trucking Jobs in 2019 Sparks Backlash'. USA TODAY, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/21/joe-biden-truck-drivers-trucking-jobs-video-resurfaced/73786121007/. Accessed 21 May 2024.

Full Interview: Joe Biden Meets with the Register's Editorial Board (12.27.19). www.youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruTtVyO7DSU. Accessed 21 May 2024.

Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/tae_love_harris/reel/C7Nx4XJuTLR/. Accessed 21 May 2024.

TikTok - Make Your Day. https://www.tiktok.com/@bidendumbquotes/video/7371091688653163818. Accessed 21 May 2024.