President Biden calls for national unity in Oval Office speech

President Joe Biden made a stern plea for Americans to tone down political rhetoric and work together as a nation in the wake of Saturday’s shocking assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Biden’s Republican presidential rival in November.

“We cannot and should not go down this path in America. The political rhetoric in this country has become very heated,” Biden said in a rare Oval Office speech that aired live on multiple networks at 8 p.m. ET. “It’s time to cool it down.”

“Politics should never be a literal battlefield — or God forbid, a killing field,” Biden added.

Biden expressed concern about Trump, who was hit in the ear by a bullet during a rally in Butler, Penn. crossfire with the Secret Service during the meeting. The deadly political violence is yet another shocking development in a presidential race between Biden and Trump that has been unprecedented.

Biden cited the personal sacrifice and courage of Comperatore, the father of two girls, who threw himself on top of his relatives when the shooting began. Two other Pennsylvania men were “critically injured” in the attack, the Washington Post reported.

“We must stand together,” Biden said during his six-minute speech. The president urged his audience to remember that despite political differences, “We are not enemies, we are neighbors, we are friends, colleagues, citizens, and most importantly, we are fellow Americans. We must be strong together. Yesterday’s shooting calls on all of us to take a step back, take stock of where we are and how we move forward from here.”

Biden was referring to the rising tide of political violence that has swept the country in recent years, including the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the 2022 attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He also mentioned shooting incidents involving members of Congress and now the attack on Trump at an outdoor rally. He also cited a kidnapping scheme against a sitting governor — believed to be a reference to Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer — and increasing incidents of doxxing and other forms of intimidation against elected officials and officials. “There will never be a place for this kind of violence in America,” he said.

Biden acknowledged that disagreements are inevitable in such a large country, but that Americans must lean on our democratic traditions to settle disputes “at the ballot box,” Biden said more than once.

Democrats and the Biden campaign have faced criticism in the aftermath of the shooting for what some see as overheated strategies to portray Trump as a social threat.

The stakes in this election are extremely high,” Biden said. “These elections will shape the future America and the world for decades to come. I believe that with all my soul.

“The higher the stakes, the more fervent the passions become,” Biden said. “This puts an extra burden on all of this: no matter how strong our convictions, we must never fall into violence.”