By Nandita Bose and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden used the formal setting of the White House Oval Office on Sunday to urge Americans to lower the political temperature and remember they are neighbors after a suspected assassin injured Republican rival Donald Trump.
Trump’s shooting “urges all of us to step back,” Biden said in remarks lasting less than seven minutes. Fortunately, Trump was not seriously injured, he said.
“We cannot allow this violence to be normalized. The political rhetoric in this country has become very heated. It’s time to cool down,” he said. “We all have a responsibility to do so.”
It was the third time that Biden used the formal environment of the Oval Office to comment on issues of great importance to Americans since taking office in 2021.
Biden’s appearance allowed him to demonstrate the power of the office, an important symbolic image as he battles some in his own Democratic Party who want the 81-year-old leader to stop seeking re-election over concerns he lacks the mental acuity to do so. that. another four-year term.
Last October, he gave a prime-time speech to comment on the Gaza and Ukraine conflicts, and in June 2023, he spoke when a deal was reached with Republicans to avoid a breach of the US debt ceiling.
Gun violence is a fact of life in the United States. However, political violence is much rarer. Four US presidents have been assassinated and several have escaped assassination attempts. Several presidential candidates have been shot, some of them fatally.
Biden and his team are trying to chart a course for their campaign after the assassination of Trump, the former president who Biden considers a threat to American democracy if he is elected on November 5.
The campaign canceled verbal attacks on the former president to focus on the future. Within hours of Saturday’s shooting, the Biden campaign was pulling television ads and suspending other political communications.
“Tonight I am asking all Americans to recommit,” Biden said. “Hate should have no safe haven.”
(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Steve Holland; additional reporting by Stephanie Kelly; editing by Heather Timmons and Stephen Coates)
