Following Trump’s narrow escape from an attempted assassination, US President Joe Biden and his Republican opponent, Donald Trump, have urged Americans to put aside their differences and unite.
In a six-and-a-half-minute speech from the Oval Office on Sunday night, Biden stated that political violence cannot be normalized and that all Americans must “cool it down” when it comes to hot political rhetoric.
We cannot, and must not, continue down this route in America. Biden added that we’ve been there before in our history.
“Violence is never the answer.”
Recognizing the stark differences between Democrats and Republicans, Biden stated that he would continue to explain his vision for the country ahead of the November presidential election but that political disagreements must always be resolved at the ballot box.
Disagreement is unavoidable in American democracy. It is an element of human nature. However, he emphasized that politics should never be a battlefield or, God forbid, a killing ground.
Biden’s primetime message came as the United States grappled with the fallout from the first attempted assassination to wound a current or previous president since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
Trump’s face was wounded after a gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, injuring the former president in the ear.
Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old former fire chief, was killed, while several others were injured in the attack.
Investigators are currently looking into the intentions of the suspected shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, who was shot dead by police shortly after opening fire on the demonstration.
The FBI believes Crooks, who registered as a Republican but donated money to a Democratic-aligned political action organization, acted alone and has yet to identify any affiliation with a specific ideology.
Acrimonious race.
The attempted assassination has transformed a contentious election in which each contender portrays the other as an existential threat, diverting attention away from weeks of speculation about Biden’s age and fitness following a terrible debate performance last month.
Biden, who has portrayed Trump as a severe threat to US democracy, temporarily halted television commercials and political messages in response to the incident.
Earlier on Sunday, Biden told reporters at the White House that he had a “short but good conversation” with Trump over the phone following the incident.
“Jill and I will keep him and his family in our prayers. We also send our heartfelt sympathies to the family of the victim who died. “He was a father, protecting his family from the bullets being fired,” Biden explained.
Trump, who has accused Biden of endangering democracy and using the judicial system against him, arrived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Sunday ahead of the start of the Republican National Convention, where he will be formally proclaimed the party’s nominee later this week.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner on Sunday, Trump said he would deliver a “whole different speech” at the convention than the “humdinger” he had first prepared.
This is an opportunity to bring the entire country and the whole planet together. He assured the publication that the address would differ from two days ago.
Trump reportedly told the outlet that “reality is just setting in” while discussing the incident.
I rarely turn away from the audience. We wouldn’t have been talking today if I hadn’t done it then. Would we?
Trump had previously stated on his Truth Social platform that Americans should stay united and not allow “evil to win”. He said that he had opted to attend the convention as planned because he could not enable a shooter,’ or prospective assassin to force changes in scheduling or anything else.
Since the attempted assassination, several prominent Trump supporters have gone on the offensive, accusing Biden and Democrats of setting the environment for violence.
JD Vance, an Ohio Senator and a significant contender for Trump’s running mate, accused the Biden campaign of portraying Trump as an “authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs”.
“That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination,” Vance said in a post on X on Saturday.
Some political observers believe the incident will increase the likelihood of a Trump victory in November, mainly because it occurred in Pennsylvania, a vital swing state critical to Biden’s re-election prospects.
Pollster Frank Luntz predicted that Trump’s vote share will grow by one or two percentage points.
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“It’s difficult to imagine either Biden or any of the potential Democratic candidates delivering full-throated crowd-pleasing attacks on the former President now, taking away most of their ability to play the Trump card by labeling him a ‘threat to democracy’ when he just survived a real threat to democracy,” Luntz said in a post on X on Sunday.
The 2024 presidential election is now Trump’s to lose.
In his speech, Biden, who trails Trump in most polls, acknowledged that his past and views would be scrutinized during the convention as part of the usual political process.
We argue and disagree, comparing and contrasting the candidates’ personalities, records, issues, agendas, and visions for America. But in America, we resolve our disputes at the voting box,” Biden said, vowing to continue making the case for democracy and “action at the ballot box”.
That’s how we do it—at the voting box, not with bullets. The ability to transform America should always be in the hands of the people, not a potential assassin.
