Former and potentially future President Donald Trump was nearly assassinated on Saturday at his rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania. President Joe Biden made brief remarks that Saturday and on Sunday, but if you were expecting to be inspired or have a sense of hope from the president, you were likely disappointed. Further, Monday's White House press briefing and the interview that Biden gave to NBC News' Lester Holt, which aired during Day 1 of the RNC in Milwaukee, sends what seems to be a clear message about whether or not Biden will turn down the rhetoric.
Throughout Monday's briefing, Jean-Pierre took many questions about Biden's rhetoric and how we got to the point of seeing Trump nearly assassinated. As the briefing went on, and she faced multiple questions, she even became impatient.
This included a question from a reporter who fittingly asked, "so then, given the language from the leader of the free world, how--does the president or the administration bear any responsibility for the environment that we’re in?”
"What I will say is--and this is just a re--re--repetition of what I’m saying here. We have to lower the temperature. You heard that from the president," Jean-Pierre said, with impatience in her voice. "There’s no--no place in America for violence. It is important that we are really clear about that. We do not know--we do not have the answers to what happened on Saturday. What we know is a former president was shot. That is not something that should be accepted here, right? That is something that we have to condemn. That’s what we know. There are a lot of questions that are still out there. There are a lot of questions that are still out there, but we have to lower the temperature," she continued to remind.
The reporter then went for a follow-up when it comes to Jean-Pierre insisting that "we have to lower the temperature."
"The president from the Oval Office said we have to low —the president from the Oval Office said we have to lower the temperature, but he never said it starts with me," he pointed out.
With her rambling response, Jean-Pierre pretty much proved his point. "When it comes to political rhetoric out there--when it comes to being mindful of how we are moving forward with our politics here, it takes all of us to lower that temperature, and I think that’s important--that’s important to note, right," Jean-Pierre wondered. It is important to note, but probably not for the reasons Jean-Pierre is hoping for, given that she's saying it's not so much on the president, but has to be left to the rest of us.
"And I think that’s what the American people want to see. They wanted to hear what the president said in the Oval yesterday. They wanted to hear what the president said on Saturday, right? It is important to speak to the moment that we’re in and say we got to condemn this type of violence. We do," she continued. "Now, there are a lot of open questions here. We don’t have answers to those open questions. The independent investigation will be thorough. That’s what the president wants to see. We want to get to the bottom of it because there are questions that the American people should know as to what happened, what led to that awful, awful night in Saturday--on Saturday," Jean-Pierre then offered, pretty much just rambling at that point.
KJP spent most of today’s press briefing fielding questions about Biden’s own rhetoric after he called on everyone to “lower the temperature.” pic.twitter.com/lRH1jT13PX
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 15, 2024
Jean-Pierre also spent considerable time saying a whole lot of nothing about Biden's tactics, including what won't change.
Another reporter had also pointed out how Biden last week in Michigan called Trump a "threat to this nation," and asked, "should we expect that he will not be calling out Trump with that kind of rhetoric going forward?"
"So, what I will say is that it is important, right--we believe it's important to continue to forcefully speak against any type of political violence," Jean-Pierre began, not answering the question.
She went on to spend a considerable amount of time still not actually saying very much at all. "That is what the president believes, and we do not want to politicize this moment. Politicizing this moment is unacceptable. We believe, and the president believes--you heard from him in very clear--in a very clear statement last night about the importance of uniting this country, the importance of continuing to do so, and that we cannot tear America apart to score political points. We cannot do that. And so, we don't want to politicize this moment. We want to unite. We want to continue to focus on that, and that's what the president's going to focus on," she offered.
It took a follow-up question for Jean-Pierre to finally offer some semblance of an answer. "So, will his messaging change this week," the reporter pressed.
"His messaging is going to be really clear. He's going to continue to engage with the American people," Jean-Pierre said about Biden, despite how Biden is often not very clear. If he's been "clear" on anything, it's how much Biden and his fellow Democrats regard Trump to be a supposed threat to democracy.
REPORTER: Just last week Biden called Trump a "threat to this nation." Can we expect Biden to stop using that kind of rhetoric going forward?
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 15, 2024
KJP: Don’t expect any changes. pic.twitter.com/W3PEVmwHXO
There were plenty more exchanges throughout Monday's briefing, but you get the idea as to how we don't have much to hope for when it comes to Biden lowering the temperature.
Biden himself showed us he's in denial about any role he himself may play. During that interview with Holt, he was asked if he's "taken a step back and done a little searching on things that you may have said that could incite people who are not balanced?"
It was a particularly fair question, but Biden had to make it about his opponent, suggesting he actually has not done "soul searching."
"Well, I--I don’t think-- look, how do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says? Do you just not say anything ’cause it may incite somebody? Look, I--I--I--I have not engaged in that rhetoric," Biden said, not only sounding weak as he stumbled through his words, but like someone just looking to make excuses.
"Now, my--my--my opponent has engaged in that rhetoric. Talks about there’d be a 'bloodbath' if he loses," Biden went on to say, taking Trump's remarks from an Ohio rally in March completely out of context. The full context of such remarks makes it abundantly clear that Trump was talking about an economic bloodbath if he loses.
As he listed more examples, Holt pressed him that "this doesn’t sound like you’re turning down the heat, though," only for Biden to cut him off to insist otherwise so he could screech some more about how Trump is supposedly a threat to democracy.
"Oh, no, no, no, no. Look, what I’m turning down--we have to stop the whole notion that there are certain things that are contrary to our--our democracy that we’re for," Biden insisted, as he rambled on with more examples, including about "MAGA Republicans."
Despite how Holt asked the question in three different ways, Biden still stuck to his original response, even doubling down that he's not at all the problem, Trump is.
LESTER HOLT: "Have you taken a step back and done a little soul searching on things that you may have said that could incite people who are not balanced?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 16, 2024
BIDEN: "I have not engaged in that rhetoric. Now my opponent has engaged in that rhetoric..." pic.twitter.com/osRXn5F2Xs
There is a very distinct and obvious difference between the Biden who talks about "Unity" while reading a pre-written speech form the teleprompter, and the guy who goes "HE'S STILL HITLER AND DESERVED IT" when he is off of the teleprompter https://t.co/y70dPEHBi2
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 16, 2024
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