So I didn't say what you said. What I said is "by the end of the year." But I think it could even be sooner than that. It could be during the month of October, actually. Could be before November.
Q But aren't you also saying that for political reasons?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I'm saying that because we want to save a lot of lives. The fast - with me, it's: The faster, the better. With somebody else, maybe they would say it politically, but I'm saying it in terms of this is what we need. We have to have - if get the vaccine early, that's a great thing, whether it's politics or not.
Now, do benefits inure if you're able to get something years ahead of schedule? I guess, maybe they do. But the most important thing to me is saving lives; it's the most important thing.
Yeah, go ahead. In the back.
Q Hi. Just based on some of your recent tweets, do you -
THE PRESIDENT: You sound so clear as opposed to everybody else, where they refuse.
Q Your tweets about the 1619 Project -
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q - why do you object to that being taught in schools? And do you object to slavery itself being taught in schools?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, so - no, I want everybody to know everything they can about our history. I'm not a believer in cancel culture, the good or the bad. If you don't study the bad, it could happen again. So I do want that subject studied very, very carefully and very accurately.
But we grew up with a certain history, and now they're trying to change our history - revisionist history. That's why they want to take down our monuments. That's why they want to take down our statues.
I saw something the other day, which was absolutely horrendous: Washington Monument, they want to rename it - the D.C. committee, but the D.C. committee is all Democrats. Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson - I mean, we're talking about - this is the big stuff now. This is the big stuff. And they want to rename it. They want to re-designate it. They want to take some down. No, we don't do that. Never going to happen with me, I guarantee you that.
Well, I want to thank you all, and I just want to wish you a very happy Labor Day. And we're having tremendous success, whether it's on the vaccines, whether it's on the pandemic - the plague that came in from China, that China should have never let happen because I will never feel the same about China. And I just want to again wish you a happy Labor Day.
Thank you very much, everybody.
END
You can visit a collection of all White House posts by clicking here.