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President Joe Biden used a rare Oval Office address on Sunday to condemn political violence and plead with Americans to turn down the temperature in the increasingly toxic political system after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
“A former president was shot. An American citizen killed while simply exercising his freedom to support the candidate of his choosing,” Biden said. “We cannot, we must not go down this road in America. We’ve traveled it before throughout our history. Violence has never been the answer.”
The president has long emphasized the importance of national unity, but his message has taken on a new weight after a gunman opened fire at Trump’s rally in Western Pennsylvania over the weekend, sending the 2024 campaign into a spiral.
It was a full-circle moment for Biden, who vowed in his 2020 victory speech to be a president who sought to unify the country after the tumultuous Trump years, Covid pandemic and a summer of racial justice protests. And now in the heat of another presidential campaign, Biden once again found himself delivering the same message to a nation still reeling from division.
The address marked Biden’s attempt to negotiate inherently conflicting roles. As president, his most immediate duty is to heal a fractured country. At the same time, he is desperately trying to revive a struggling reelection campaign that has hinged on warnings of the existential threat he believes Trump poses to American democracy — a campaign message Biden indicated he would not change.
“Yes, we have deeply felt, strong disagreements. The stakes in this election are enormously high,” Biden said. “I’ve said it many times, that the choice that we make in this election is going to shape the future of America and the world for decades to come. I believe that with all my soul.”
Sunday was just the third time Biden used the gravitas of the Oval Office to address the nation, underscoring the significance of the moment. He delivered an Oval Office speech in October to advocate for aiding both Israel and Ukraine, and last summer, he spoke from behind the Resolute Desk about a bipartisan agreement to avoid defaulting on the nation’s debt.
His address is part of the White House’s effort to navigate the delicate situation in the wake of the shooting, which injured Trump and left one person dead. The shooting has upended an already tumultuous presidential race, as Biden faces calls from other Democrats to step down from the top of the ticket and as Trump prepares to pick his running mate and officially accept the GOP nomination.
Speaking from the Resolute Desk, Biden decried that the political rhetoric has gotten “very heated” and urged Americans to “cool it down.” He said disagreements in a democratic system were inevitable, but politics should be an “arena for peaceful debate,” and not a “killing field.”
But Biden made clear that he would not be deterred from campaigning for his reelection, speaking out about the need to protect American democracy and the constitution. The president said he expects the GOP to attack his record at this week’s Republican convention but argued that was the way a healthy democracy is supposed to work.
“In America, we resolve our differences at the ballot box,” he continued. “Not with bullets. The power to change America should always rest in the hands of the people — not in the hands of a would-be assassin.”
While the shooting prompted a momentary pause in politicking, Biden’s camp plans to resume normal activities, including ads, on Tuesday, according to a campaign official granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. Aides believe Biden’s message on Sunday, and in the days ahead, is connected to the central thesis of his campaign — defending democracy and the need to combat political violence.
The campaign will reinforce that the president has long called out political violence, from the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to the attack on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi. On Sunday night, he likened those events to the attempt to intimidate election officials and “the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.”
“There’s no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence, ever,” Biden said.
The campaign official said they would likely back down from their messaging about Trump being a “threat to democracy” this week as the country tries to collectively process the attack. But the person said such a horrible event called for strong, steady leadership — a case the president would make for himself in the coming days.
Elena Schneider contributed to this report.
