Biden Calls for Lowering Political Heat After Trump Shooting: Violence is Never the Answer

JAKARTA - United States President Joe Biden asked Americans to lower the political temperature, considering they are neighbors after the shooting of Donald Trump, as he spoke from the Oval Office of the White House on Sunday.

The shooting of Republican presidential candidate Trump while campaigning in Pennsylvania on Saturday "calls on all of us to take a step back," President Biden said, as reported by Reuters on July 15.

"We cannot allow this violence to become commonplace. The political rhetoric in this country has become too heated. It's time to calm it down. We all have a responsibility to do this," he said.

"In America, we settle our differences at the ballot box. Well, that's how we do it. At the ballot box. Not with bullets," President Biden said in a speech that lasted about seven minutes, and was broadcast live on major news networks and Fox News.

It was President Biden's third use of the Oval Office to comment on issues of vital importance to the American people since he took office in 2021. This time, with less than four months to go before the November 5 election, his political future is in doubt.

In the speech, President Biden discussed several examples of political violence in the US in recent years, including the January 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol by Trump loyalists and the gavel injury suffered by Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in 2022.

"Violence is never the answer," President Biden said.

Four US presidents have been assassinated and several have survived assassination attempts. Several presidential candidates have been shot, some fatally.

Separately, White House officials are hoping that the attempted shooting of Trump will ease pressure on President Biden to step down by encouraging Democrats to support him.

"Tonight I ask every American to recommit," President Biden said.

"Hate has no safe haven," he said.

Previously, President Biden condemned the shooting of Trump, prayed for his rival in the 2024 US Presidential Election, emphasized that there is no place for violence in Uncle Sam's country, in a post on his social media account.

Yesterday, President Biden also directed Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle "to review all security measures, all security measures, for the Republican National Convention."

The FBI is investigating the shooting at Donald Trump's campaign as a possible domestic terrorism attack and murder.