July 14 (UPI) — President Joe Biden spoke directly to the nation Sunday night, a day after the failed assassination attempt of Donald Trump, and called for a cooling to the nation’s political rhetoric, stating “politics should never be a literal battlefield or, God forbid, a killing field.”
Speaking from the Oval Office behind the Resolute Desk, Biden made the case that politics have been heating up in the United States for sometime but that there is no place in the country’s democracy for violence.
He said members of Congress have been targeted and shot at. Election workers harassed and threatened. The Capitol attacked. The spouse of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bludgeoned. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan targeted for kidnapping. And now, a former president and the presumptive Republican nominee has been shot at.
“There’s no place in America for this kind of violence, or any violence ever. Period. No exceptions,” he said. “We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.”
He called on the nation to cool down its “very heated” political rhetoric and told the nation that “we all have a responsibility to do that.”
As the political stakes raise, the more fervent passions become, he said, stating that with so much on the line in November the added burden is placed on the American public to ensure “that no matter how strong our convictions, we must never descend into violence.”
“I believe politics ought to be an arena for peaceful debate, to pursue justice, to make decisions guided by the declaration of independence and our Constitution,” he said. “We stand for an America not of extremism and fury but of decency and grace.”
The Republican Convention opens Monday, and Biden said he expects his record and vision for the country to be attacked, just like he plans to defend both next week, but the place to settle the differences is at the ballot box.
“That’s how democracy should work,” he said. “We debate and disagree. We compare and contrast the character of the candidates, the records, the issues, the agendas, the visions for America. But in America, we resolve our differences at the ballot box. That’s how we do it, at the ballot box, not with bullets.
“The power to change America should always rest in the hands of the people, not the hands of a would be assassin. Not through acts of violence” he said.
Biden spoke for about 6 1/2 minutes Sunday night after calling for unity earlier in the day.
He said earlier Sunday that he had spoken with Trump and that he was “grateful that he’s doing well.”
He described the conversation he had with the former president as “short but good.”
Biden said nothing is more important in America now than unity, and that “we’ll debate and we’ll disagree.”
“That’s not going to change, but we’re not going to lose sight of who we are as Americans. We must unite as one nation and demonstrate who we are.”
As a former president and presumptive Republican nominee for 2024, Trump receives a heightened level of security from the Secret Service and that will continue, Biden said.
The president said he has directed the Secret Service to review all security measures for the Republican National Convention, scheduled to kick off Monday in Milwaukee, and called for an independent review of security at the Pennsylvania rally Saturday, where Trump was shot and wounded during his speech, a rally attendee was killed and two others were injured.
Trump on his Truth Social social media platform said Sunday that a bullet had “pierced” the upper part of his right year.
The Secret Service posted video on social media of Trump walking down the steps of his campaign plane with no assistance.
World leaders, including newly elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, condemned the violence and hoped for Trump’s speedy recovery.
“Political violence in any form has no place in our societies, and my thoughts are with all the victims of this attack,” Starmer wrote on X.
The shooter, who has been identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, is believed to have acted alone, the FBI said Sunday.
