Biden implores nation to ‘lower the temperature’

President Joe Biden on Sunday pleaded with the American public to “lower the temperature in our politics” in the United States in the wake of an assassination attempt on this Republican opponent, Donald Trump.

“While we may disagree, we are not enemies, we are neighbors, we’re friends, coworkers, citizens, and most importantly we are fellow Americans,” Biden said in the less than seven-minute address delivered from the Oval Office. “We must stand together.”

Biden decried the shooting at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally over the weekend, which the FBI is investigating as a possible act of domestic terrorism, as well as other instances of political violence: the attack on Paul Pelosi, a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol in which Trump has been charged.

“We cannot allow this violence to be normalized,” Biden said. “It’s time to cool it down.”

Biden recognized the difficulty of uniting a country during divisive and highly-charged political times, but he urged Americans to get out of their “silos” and listen to those with whom they do not necessarily agree.

“Here in America, we need to get out of our silos, where we only listen to those with whom we agree, where misinformation is rampant, where foreign actors fan the flames of our division to shape the outcomes consistent with their interests, not ours,” Biden said. “Why unity is the most elusive of all goals right now, nothing is more important for us now than standing together.”

Biden spoke from the Oval Office about 24 hours after the shooting which killed one rally goer and left others injured; he delivered two short speeches earlier about the attack, including one on Saturday night. On Sunday, authorities identified the person who was killed as Corey Comperatore, a firefighter who was trying to protect his family from the gunfire.

“We should all hold his family and all those injured in our prayers,” Biden said Sunday, mentioning Comperatore by his first name. 

Trump, who was not seriously injured but suffered cuts on his ear, left on Sunday for the Republican National Convention, which begins Monday in Milwaukee. Biden and Trump spoke by phone on Saturday evening hours after the shooting.

• World leaders from around the globe reacted to the shooting.
• Some Republicans blamed Democrats for the attack on Trump, Semafor’s David Weigel reported.
• The Secret Service is under tremendous scrutiny following the shooting, The Washington Post reported.