President Donald Trump pointed the finger Wednesday night at Democrats and the news media for the turbulent national political environment, on the same day explosive devices were mailed to the Obamas, the Clintons, CNN and other public officials.
Trump took no responsibly for the tone of the political discourse.
During a rally in Wisconsin, the President promised to bring those responsible for mailing the explosive devices to justice.
"Any acts or threats of political violence are an attack on our democracy itself. No nation can succeed that tolerates violence or the threat of violence as a method of political intimidation, corrosion or control, we all know that. Such conduct much be fiercely opposed and firmly prosecuted," he said.
"We want all sides to come together in peace and harmony. We can do it. We can do it. We can do it. It'll happen."
Then he pivoted, saying those in the political arena "must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective."
"The language of moral condemnation and destructive, routine -- these are arguments and disagreements that have to stop," he said.
He complained of "mobs" -- a reference to protesters, who opposed Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination and confronted Republican senators on Capitol Hill, and who have challenged GOP lawmakers and Trump Cabinet officials at restaurants and in public.
"No one should carelessly compare political opponents to historical villains, which is done often and all the time. It's got to stop. We should not mob people in public spaces or destroy public property. There is one way to settle our disagreements -- it's called peacefully, at the ballot box. That's what we want," Trump said.
He then said it's the news media's responsibility to set the national political tone.
"The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks and stories. Have to do it," he said.
Trump took no responsibility for his own rhetoric -- which has included attacks on news outlets and Democratic opponents, as well as moments like a recent rally in Montana where he praised a Republican congressman who pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his body-slamming a reporter.
