President Joe Biden delivered a gaffe-riddled address to the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday night, telling Americans to settle their political differences with the “battle box,” when at one point he was referring to the “ballot box.”
Biden said (emphasis added):
I will continue to speak out strongly for our democracy, defend our Constitution and the rule of law, and call for action at the ballot box. There is no place for violence in our streets. That’s what a democracy is about. We debate, we disagree, we compare and contrast the candidates’ characters, their records, the issues, their agendas, and their visions for America. But in America, we settle our differences with battle boxes. We do it with battle boxes, not with bullets.
The speech did not offer any new details about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon. The former president survived despite being grazed by a bullet and suffering a minor injury to his right ear. Former local fire chief Cory Comperatore was killed and two others were injured and hospitalized.
Biden seems eager to change the tone of the country and his own political rhetoric. Even before the assassination attempt, Biden’s campaign social media manager called Trump a “wannabe dictator.” Biden has called Trump a dangerous threat to democracy and said he is creating a climate of hatred that Republicans say is fueling.
Indeed, on Sunday night, Biden addressed several acts of political violence in recent years, focusing on events such as the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol while completely ignoring the left-wing Black Lives Matter riots of 2020.
Law enforcement officials are treating the attack as a political assassination, but the president warned Americans not to jump to conclusions about the motive of the shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Biden’s Oval Office speech was broadcast on the eve of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, possibly suggesting that one of its purposes was to steal attention from Trump before four days of intense media coverage of his opposition.
Biden may also have wanted to show his supporters he was capable of handling the duties of president, especially after facing pressure to drop out of the race following a disastrous performance in last month’s debate.
Joel B. Pollack is executive editor of Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday The show airs Sunday nights from 7 to 10 p.m. (4 to 7 p.m. ET) on SiriusXM Patriot. He is the author of “Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” which is available for preorder on Amazon. He also wrote,Trumpian virtue: The lessons and legacy of Donald Trump’s presidency” is available on Audible. He is the 2018 recipient of the Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter. Joel Pollack.
