WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden called on Americans to "lower the temperature" of political rhetoric in an address from the Oval Office on Sunday night, asking for more respectful discourse and civility in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
“Disagreement is inevitable in American democracy,” Biden said, but politics should never devolve into a “killing field.”
“While we may disagree, we are not enemies,” Biden said in remarks that lasted about six minutes. “We’re neighbors, we’re friends, co-workers, citizens, and most importantly, we are fellow Americans. We must stand together."
The speech is only the third one Biden has delivered from the Oval Office during his term. Presidents traditionally reserve the Oval Office for speeches of the highest consequence, typically those about war and peace.
A gunman shot at Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, bloodying his ear. A counter-sniper killed the suspected shooter before Secret Service agents whisked Trump to safety.
The attempt on Trump's life capped a political season marked by dire warnings in which the two parties have accused each other of wanton criminality. Social media has functioned as an accelerant, angering partisans on both sides as the nation slogs toward Election Day.
"There is no place in America for this kind of violence — for any violence, ever. Period. No exceptions," Biden said. "We cannot allow this violence to be normalized."
National unity is a theme that Biden first emphasized when he took office but in the crucible of a tough re-election fight has largely set aside.
In his inaugural address in 2021, Biden called upon Americans to "end this uncivil war that pits red against blue." As his term unfolded and he launched his re-election bid, his comments took a more partisan turn. He cast the MAGA movement that Trump leads as a dire threat to American democracy that needed to be quashed, not accommodated.
Biden has softened his language in the wake of the shooting. He used the address Sunday night to remind Americans that politics is an arena for rational debate. Settling differences through violence is anathema to the country's democratic traditions, he said.
"We stand for an America not of extremism and fury, but of decency and grace," he said.
"In America, we resolve our difference at the ballot box, not with bullets," he added. "The power to change America should always rest in the hands of the people, not in the hands of would-be assassins."
Biden spoke as his future as the presumptive Democratic nominee is in doubt. After he turned in a poor debate performance last month, several Democratic lawmakers have stepped forward and called on him to bow out of the race in favor of a younger candidate.
Every public utterance is now scrutinized for signs that, at 81, Biden is slipping and is no longer up to the rigors of the job.
The shooting has put Biden in an awkward spot. Trump has shown little empathy over the years when it comes to threats against Democratic foes. After a man entered former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home in San Francisco and attacked her husband with a hammer, Trump blithely told California Republicans last year: "How's her husband doing, anybody know?"
One of Trump's favorite foils, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, wrote in an essay in 2020 that whenever Trump hurled insults at her, threats against her family spiked.
Now that Trump has been targeted for assassination, Biden has shown a measure of compassion that Trump has seldom displayed amid his rivals' difficulties. Biden's campaign pulled down its advertising, and Biden took the rare step of phoning Trump — "Donald," as he referred to him — to check on his condition. He described the call as a "short but good conversation" and added that he and his wife, Jill Biden, "are keeping him and his family in our prayers.”
It will not be long before the hard-edged campaign attacks resume. Republicans are holding their nominating convention in Milwaukee this week.
“The conventiongoers here in Milwaukee are extremely grateful for the luck that President Trump has," said Corey Lewandowski, an adviser to the GOP nominating convention. "When he [Trump] walks in that arena for the first time, the decibel level will be so high it will be almost unmeasurable.”
Meantime, Biden will take part in some counterprogramming. He is flying to Las Vegas for events on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"If you’re running against someone you think is an existential threat to democracy and the freedoms of this country, there’s no day off," said Cornell Belcher, who was a pollster for former President Barack Obama.
A Biden campaign official added that after Biden sits for an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt on Monday, "both the DNC [Democratic National Committee] and the campaign will continue drawing the contrast between our positive vision for the future and Trump and Republicans’ backwards-looking agenda over the course of the week."
Since the shooting, Biden has made three public appearances. Earlier Sunday, he gave an address at the White House cautioning Americans against making “assumptions about [the shooter’s] motives or his affiliations.”
He mentioned the briefing he received in the White House Situation Room, which included Vice President Kamala Harris and top White House advisers.
Biden also said he has asked the director of the Secret Service to review all security measures for the Republican convention. Biden said he asked for an independent review of security at Saturday's rally and promised to make the results of that review public.
In his initial remarks reacting to the shooting Saturday evening, Biden condemned the violence, saying, “It’s sick. It’s sick. It’s one of the reasons we have to unite this country. ... We cannot condone this.”
