WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump, who survived an assassination attempt on Saturday, separately called for unity in America even as their respective partisan supporters and activists engaged in furious arguments over who is responsible for the violent outbreak.
In an Oval Office address to the nation, Biden sought to calm tempers in the agitated country saying while “disagreement is inevitable in American democracy….politics must never be a literal battlefield and, God forbid, a killing field.”
“We debate and disagree.We compare and contrast the character of the candidates, the records, the issues, the agenda, the vision for America. But in America, we resolve our differences at the battol [ballot] box. You know, that’s how we do it, at the battol [ballot] box, not with bullets,” Biden said, mangling the word ballot, making it sound like battle.
Separately, in an interview with two conservative tabloids on board his private jet, Trump, speaking with his ear bandaged, marveled at how he survived the assassination attempt and said the escape has given him a chance to bring the country together.
“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together.” he told journalists from the New York Post and the Washington Examiner, adding, “I’d love to achieve unity if you could achieve unity, if that’s possible. There are many good people on the other side… But there are also people who are very divided.
The interview took place in Trump’s jet parked on the tarmac of the airport in Milwaukee, where the former President is set to speak at the Republican National Convention that begins Monday.
The former President told the tabloids that he had thrown out a “very tough speech,” admitting, “I can’t say these things after what I’ve been through” and “now, we have a speech that is more unifying.” The journalists said they were not allowed to photograph Trump, whose ear was bandaged.
Trump also revealed that he had received a phone call from the President after the shooting and he was “very nice.” The White House too said the call was “good, short, and respectful.”
The conciliatory remarks from both leaders came even as Republican and Democratic operatives and activists torched the other side with accusations and theories surrounding the foiled attempt on Trump’s life.
Their starkly different viewpoint was evident in the way Democrats emphasized the Republican affiliation of the 20-year old gunman, while Trump supporters hammered home the fact that he had made political donation to the Biden campaign.
Biden cautioned people against jumping to conclusions, saying “We do not know the motive of the shooter yet. We don’t know his opinions or affiliations. We don’t know whether he had help or support or if he communicated with anyone else. Law enforcement professionals, as I speak, are investigating those questions.”
But radical supporters on both sides were all too eager to duke it out on television and social media, cherrypicking data, quotes and incidents to denigrate the other side.
Republicans came under repeated attacks for their love for guns and provocative, inciting, statements made by Trump, including implicitly advocating violence, while Democrats got the rap for trying to curtail freedoms and allowing “open borders.”
In an Oval Office address to the nation, Biden sought to calm tempers in the agitated country saying while “disagreement is inevitable in American democracy….politics must never be a literal battlefield and, God forbid, a killing field.”
“We debate and disagree.We compare and contrast the character of the candidates, the records, the issues, the agenda, the vision for America. But in America, we resolve our differences at the battol [ballot] box. You know, that’s how we do it, at the battol [ballot] box, not with bullets,” Biden said, mangling the word ballot, making it sound like battle.
Separately, in an interview with two conservative tabloids on board his private jet, Trump, speaking with his ear bandaged, marveled at how he survived the assassination attempt and said the escape has given him a chance to bring the country together.
“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together.” he told journalists from the New York Post and the Washington Examiner, adding, “I’d love to achieve unity if you could achieve unity, if that’s possible. There are many good people on the other side… But there are also people who are very divided.
The interview took place in Trump’s jet parked on the tarmac of the airport in Milwaukee, where the former President is set to speak at the Republican National Convention that begins Monday.
The former President told the tabloids that he had thrown out a “very tough speech,” admitting, “I can’t say these things after what I’ve been through” and “now, we have a speech that is more unifying.” The journalists said they were not allowed to photograph Trump, whose ear was bandaged.
Trump also revealed that he had received a phone call from the President after the shooting and he was “very nice.” The White House too said the call was “good, short, and respectful.”
The conciliatory remarks from both leaders came even as Republican and Democratic operatives and activists torched the other side with accusations and theories surrounding the foiled attempt on Trump’s life.
Their starkly different viewpoint was evident in the way Democrats emphasized the Republican affiliation of the 20-year old gunman, while Trump supporters hammered home the fact that he had made political donation to the Biden campaign.
Biden cautioned people against jumping to conclusions, saying “We do not know the motive of the shooter yet. We don’t know his opinions or affiliations. We don’t know whether he had help or support or if he communicated with anyone else. Law enforcement professionals, as I speak, are investigating those questions.”
But radical supporters on both sides were all too eager to duke it out on television and social media, cherrypicking data, quotes and incidents to denigrate the other side.
Republicans came under repeated attacks for their love for guns and provocative, inciting, statements made by Trump, including implicitly advocating violence, while Democrats got the rap for trying to curtail freedoms and allowing “open borders.”