(The Center Square) – President Joe Biden said “there is no place in America for this type of violence” and “it’s time to cool it down” when it comes to the fervor of political disagreement.
Biden, 81, addressed the nation Sunday evening from the Oval Office a day after the assassination attempt on political rival and former President Donald Trump.
Speaking for just under seven minutes, looking high to a screen rather than into the camera to give his prepared remarks, the president took his audience through several recent events to include Jan. 6, 2021, and an Oct. 28, 2022, attack at the home of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
“There is no place in America for this type of violence,” Biden said. “We can’t allow this kind of violence to be normalized.”
The president opened offering sympathy to the families of those who lost their lives in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Trump, by the margin of a split-second turn of his head, narrowly escaped when a 20-year-old gunman from a building on adjacent property opened fire.
Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old man from Buffalo Township, Pa., died. The president called the former firefighter a hero who shielded his family from bullets.
“We should all hold his family, and all those injured, in our prayers,” Biden said.
The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by security. Two others were critically injured.
Biden said the shooter’s motive for killing Trump remains unknown.
As he spoke of the political climate running high, he said “violence has never been the answer.”
“It’s time to cool it down,” he said.
The president talked about the stakes being “enormously high” this election, and recognized both Democrats and Republicans are fighting for what each believes is best. He described the higher stakes bringing increased fervor to respective passions.
“Disagreement is inevitable,” he said. “But politics must never be a battlefield. It should be an arena for peaceful debate.
“We stand for an America, not of extremism and fury, but of decency and grace.”
Biden said the ballot box is the place for settling political disagreements.
“The power to change to America should rest in the hands of the people,” he said.
He closed saying, “Let’s never lose sight of who we are. We are the United States of America.”
