US President Joe Biden on Sunday said it is time to lower the temperature of the country’s hostile politics, seeking to calm a divided nation after his election rival Donald Trump survived an assassination bid the day before.
“You know, the political record in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down,” he said in the televised speech, as the country reeled from the images of a bloodied Trump waving his fist after surviving an attack at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Biden delivered only his third speech from behind the historic Resolute Desk during his presidency, saying both sides have a responsibility to ease the situation ahead of a deeply polarised election that will now be a “time of testing” for the US.
The short but forceful speech went without any major hitches — bar him twice referring to the ballot box as a “battle box”. The president has been under close scrutiny following a disastrous debate performance against Trump recently.
Politics in the US have become increasingly hostile, with Trump building his image around inflammatory verbal assaults and many Democrats expressing fury and disgust at the former president’s rise.
Here are top quotes from the American president’s speech:
- On political rhetoric: President Joe Biden said US politics “must never be a literal battlefield, a, God forbid, a killing field”. He said: “I want to speak to you tonight about the need for us to lower the temperature in our politics and to remember, while we may disagree, we are not enemies we are neighbours, friends, co-workers, citizens, and most importantly, we are fellow Americans.”
- On national unity: Biden said both sides have a responsibility to ease the situation ahead of a deeply polarised election that will now be a “time of testing”. “We must stand together. 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 and how we go forward from here,” he said.
- On political violence: “A former president was shot and an American citizen killed for simply exercising his freedom to support the candidate of his choosing. We cannot… we must not go down this road in America. We’ve travelled before throughout our history. Violence has never been the answer,” he said. “There is no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions. We can’t allow this violence to be normalised,” he said.
- On American democracy: “We must be an American democracy. where arguments are made in good faith…. where the rule of law is respected and where decency, dignity and fair play aren’t just quaint notions but living breathing realities. We owe that to those who come before us, those who gave their life in this country and we owe that to ourselves…… Let’s remember we are the United States of America. There is nothing beyond our capacity. When we do it. Together,” Biden said.
- On elections ahead: In a passionate appeal to the nation, Biden said, “We stand for an America not of extremism of fury, but of decency and grace. All of us now face atomic testing as the election approaches. The higher the stakes, the more fervent the passions become. This place is an added burden on each of us to ensure that no matter how strong our conviction was never descending into violence.”
(With agency inputs)
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