US President Joe Biden sent out a message of unity a day after his rival-predecessor Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt, calling on the nation to lower the temperature of hostile politics.
In a rare Oval Office address on Sunday, Biden maintained that fellow Americans are not enemies, but friends and co-workers who must stand together despite disagreements.
“I want to speak to you tonight about the need for us to lower the temperature in our politics and to remember, when we disagree, we are not enemies, we are neighbours, we are friends, co-workers, citizens and most importantly, we are fellow Americans. We must stand together,” he said.
Trump, the 78-year-old Republican whose candidature in the Presidential elections is all but finalised, was left with a bloodied face after being hit in the ear at a rally in Pennsylvania while a bystander was killed in the attack.
The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks – a registered Republican, was shot dead at the spot.
After the attack, Trump too shared a message of unity and said Americans must not allow “evil to win”. “It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” he said on social media.
Biden, in a televised address from behind the historic Resolute Desk, said it’s time to “cool down” the country’s political record.
“Yesterday’s shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania calls on all of us to take a step back, take stock of where we are, how we go forward from here…Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is important than that right now – unity,” he told the nation.
Both sides had a responsibility to ease the situation, added the 81-year-old Democrat.
Biden had earlier denounced the shooting incident in an online post, asserting there’s no place in America for any kind of violence. Earlier in the day, he said he had a “short but good conversation” after the attack with Trump.
“As assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation. It’s not America, and we cannot allow this to happen,” he said earlier in the day.
