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US President Joe Biden has called on Americans to “lower the political temperature” in the country in the wake of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump during a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania.
“The political rhetoric of this country has gotten very heated,” Biden said in a rare address to the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday evening. “It’s time to cool it down and we all have a responsibility to do that.”
“Disagreement is inevitable in American democracy, it’s part of human nature. Politics must never be a battlefield, God forbid a killing field,” he added.
Biden’s comments on primetime television represented the president’s most forceful attempt to reassure Americans shocked by a brazen act of political violence.
It also offered Biden, 81, an opportunity to project steady leadership amid turmoil within his Democratic Party and doubts about his fitness to wage a re-election campaign against Trump, let alone govern for a further four years.
Trump has opened up a 1.9 percentage point lead in national polling since Biden performed disastrously in a debate against him last month. He is ahead in most swing state polls, while prediction markets are showing the former president increasingly favoured to win in November.
Biden had rushed back to Washington from his Delaware beach house on Saturday night after Trump was struck in the ear by a gunshot at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In images seen around the world, Trump crouched and then stood, defiantly pumping his fist before being rushed offstage to his motorcade.
One person attending the rally was killed in the shooting, along with the gunman, whose motive has not been established. “We do not know the motive of the shooter yet. We don’t know his opinions or affiliations. We don’t know whether he had help or support or if he communicated with anyone else,” Biden said.
Trump issued his own call for unity in the wake of the attack in a lengthy post on social media on Sunday.
“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,” Trump wrote.
After spending the night in New Jersey at his golf club, Trump travelled to Wisconsin on Sunday ahead of the Republican National Convention, which is due to open on Monday, and where the party will formally nominate him for president.
The Biden campaign said it was pulling its advertisements from television in the wake of the assassination attempt, but the US president is not suspending his re-election activities. On Monday, he will record an NBC interview before flying to Las Vegas, Nevada — a vital swing state.
“I’ll be travelling this week, making the case for our record and my vision for the country,” Biden said. “I’ll continue to speak out strongly for our democracy, stand up for our constitution and the rule of law, to call for action at the ballot box.”
The attack in Pennsylvania has also silenced — at least temporarily — mounting calls from Democratic lawmakers for Biden to step aside and let a new nominee challenge Trump in the November election.
But the unrest is still simmering. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat, told CBS on Sunday that “unless there’s a major change, that there’s a high risk that we lose this election”, after raising his concerns on a call with Biden on Saturday before the shooting.
“We know how to fight and we know how to win these tough elections. In reading the tea leaves, it’s very troubling for many of us right now,” he said.
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