President Biden addressed the country Sunday night with a plea to “cool it down,” a day after a gunman fired on former President Donald Trump at a political rally.
Mr. Biden urged Americans not to draw assumptions about the attack, saying investigators still don’t know a motive for the shooting, nor even whether the dead suspect acted alone.
He expressed relief that Mr. Trump is not seriously wounded and expressed condolences to the rally-goer who was killed in the attack.
And he called for all sides to tone down the war of words.
“Yesterday’s shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania calls on all of us to take a step back,” Mr. Biden said.
He ticked off a series of recent events he said were examples of where things got out of hand, including the Jan. 6, 2021, mob invasion of the U.S. Capitol; a plot to kidnap the Democratic governor of Michigan; “intimidation” of election officials; and an attack on the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
And he tied it to passions he suggested are inflamed by words.
“The political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated,” he said. “It’s time to cool it down. We all have a responsibility to do that.”
Mr. Biden did not assume any of the blame for the rhetoric, instead using his brief address from the White House to deliver a general call for unity.
“Hate must have no safe harbor,” he said.
Mr. Trump has also stressed unity in his public statements.
“In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win,” the former president posted on social media.
Many conservatives have laid blame for Saturday’s attack on an obsession among Trump opponents with the former president, whom they have accused of planning to become a totalitarian dictator who would end democracy.
Some Republicans pointed in particular to Mr. Biden’s own comment to donors earlier this month, reported by Politico, where he urged Democrats to stop focusing on his own struggling campaign and “put Trump in a bullseye.”
That kind of rhetoric is standard but takes on new tones after Saturday’s shooting.
Mr. Biden spoke a day before the start of the Republican National Convention, where Mr. Trump will accept his party’s nomination for a rematch with Mr. Biden.
The president said he expects Republicans to deliver criticism of his record, but disagreements must be settled by voting.
“In America we resolve our differences at the ballot box. That’s how we do it, at the ballot box. Not with bullets,” he said.
Mr. Biden paid tribute to Corey Comperatore, 50, who died at the rally. The president said he died while “sheltering his family from those bullets.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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