MILWAUKEE, Wis. – When asked about President Joe Biden’s call for “unity” following Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, many conservatives at the Republican National Convention pointed to the president’s long-standing and harsh rhetoric.
“In America, unity is our most elusive goal right now, but we must remember that nothing is more important to us right now than unity,” Biden said in an Oval Office speech, also referencing Jan. 6 and the brutal attack in October 2022 on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Watch — Donald Trump Jr. calls MSNBC “clowns” from the Republican National Convention:
Breitbart News spoke with Lt. Gov. Leslie Rutledge (R-Arkansas), journalist Jack Posobiec and several delegates at the Pfizer Forum, where Trump was formally nominated as the Republican presidential candidate.
“As the lieutenant governor of Arkansas and as an American citizen, I am astounded that it has taken Joe Biden and his Democratic allies, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and all Democrats, to call for unity after 10 years of demonizing Donald Trump,” Rutledge said in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News.
She said the world witnessed “the shock” when President Trump was shot in the ear while speaking at what was supposed to be a jubilant rally on Saturday night.
WATCH — Republican National Convention protesters: We need to ‘elevate’ our rhetoric; Trump assassination attempt is ‘just theater’:
Joel B. Pollack/Breitbart News
“So I plead with President Biden to be a man of his word,” Representative Rutledge added. “I’m where his youngest grandson is from. I know that family, he doesn’t know that family. And let me say this: You can’t be the face of America if you’re going to turn your back on your own grandchildren. It’s time for Joe to go.”
Asked for his opinion on Biden’s call for unity in his third Oval Office address, Posobiec called on Biden to “drop” the federal cases against Trump, as well as pardon and commute the sentences of Trump’s former senior staffers Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro.
“If President Biden wants unity, he can start by pardoning Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, commuting their sentences, and dropping the cases against Trump. He can do all of this in under five minutes,” Posobiec told Breitbart News exclusively. “And if he’s honest and really wants to call for unity, he’ll start filing for pardons right away.”
WATCH — RNC protesters: “Shut it down!”
Joel B. Pollack/Breitbart News
Anthony Sabatini, a Republican former U.S. House candidate and alternate representative for Florida, told Breitbart News that Biden’s speech was “embarrassing” and “completely off the mark.”
“President Trump was almost assassinated, [Biden] “In fact, if you listen carefully to this speech, in many ways it was all about him,” he said of the speech. “It was very shameful, very egocentric and clearly a sign that this man has lost his mind.”
Several North Carolina representatives spoke out against Biden’s call for unity.
Lee Brown, of Concord, said she believes Biden’s “inflammatory” comments about Trump created the atmosphere that led to the shooting.
WATCH — Rep. Ashley Hinson talks about safety and security for Trump at the Republican National Convention following the assassination attempt:
“The American people want unity, but the only way we’re going to get there is by taking responsibility for our actions. If President Biden is serious about unity, he will retract all of the inflammatory rhetoric that led to President Trump’s shooting on Saturday,” she told Breitbart News.
Martha Jenkins, first vice president of the National Federation of Republican Women, said Biden “was given three and a half years to unify the country and he hasn’t done it.”
“Every action he’s taken has pitted people against each other rather than uniting them. I’m hopeful that President Trump will actually be someone who unifies this country,” she added.
“A lot of people are rallying together, not because of Biden, but because of what he’s done and what he’s said, and now they’re rallying together in support of President Trump,” Alison Powers of Waxhaw, North Carolina, told Breitbart News.
