Joe Biden Gets Emotional When Lawrence O’Donnell Asks Him About Beau: ‘He Should Be Sitting In This Chair’

Joe Biden got emotional when Lawrence O’Donnell concluded an interview by asking what the president would say if his late son Beau Biden were to ask him “Hey, Pop, how’s it going?”

At the end of an interview for Wednesday night’s broadcast of Vaccinating America: An MSNBC Town Hall, O’Donnell closed with a doozy of a question.

He prefaced the question by telling Biden “I just have one more question for you, and that is, you’re 113 days into the presidency. This is the top of the mountain. You were climbing this career mountain for many, many years. You’re the most prepared president in history with 36 years in the Senate, eight years as vice president.”

“The one thing you don’t have on this 113th day in the presidency is your son, Beau’s, advice, and I’m just wondering what you would say if Beau called you today and said, ‘Hey, Pop, how’s it going?'” O’Donnell asked.

The President lowered his head solemnly, and said “I’d say, ‘Beau, I remember what you’d say to me every single time we’d talk about a political issue.'”

“He’d say, Dad, look at me. I’d give him my word. Dad, look at me. Remember, home base. Home base. Be who you are,” Biden said, eyes welling slightly.

“The one thing that I’d hope that he would say is, Dad, you’re home base, you’re sticking to it. Some things are worth losing over, old buddy.’ I haven’t done this, this long than I had now to do things that I don’t — I don’t believe,” Biden said.

As the interview ended, the president told O’Donnell, wistfully, “You always catch me off guard with Beau. God love him. He should be sitting in this chair.”

President Biden is known for wearing his grief on his sleeve and frequently talks about Beau as an inspirational figure for him.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.