MILWAUKEE – Nearly 2,500 delegates are gathering in Milwaukee this week for a roll call vote to select the Republican presidential nominee. It comes as Americans are still reflecting on an attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump, at a political rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Trump was injured in the attack that also killed a spectator and critically wounded 2 others.
IPM News producer Jose Zepeda is in Milwaukee. On Sunday, he asked several people how to reduce political tensions in America.
JZ: “How do we try to calm down the political rhetoric on both sides?”
Milwaukee man (who didn’t want to share his name): “I don’t know. I don’t know. People got to come together. That’s, that’s, that’s all. I mean, let’s stop calling each other black and white, and let’s just call each other men or women.”
JZ: “What do you think of the political rhetoric on both sides of the aisle?”
Lisa, visitor from South Carolina (didn’t want to share her last name): “It’s not on our side. We don’t do it.”
JZ: “Okay. What do you think of Biden’s response to the situation so far?”
Lisa: “A little too late. Too little too late.”
JZ: “Do you think that both parties need to cool down at all, or name one thing that we’ve done the right has done?”
Lisa: “I think the left needs to cool it.”
JZ: “Is there anything else you’d like to add?”
Lisa: “No, I just feel like, if you’re from NPR, you guys are supposed to be a national publication. You guys lean so far left that you’re part of the problem, that if you really want to help our country, that you’ll cool the temperature. The media will cool the temperature. You guys will calm the rhetoric. You guys in the media has caused all of this.”
Jermaine King-Tray, Milwaukee resident: “I don’t necessarily go by what the media says. I go by personal experiences, my personal finances, how it affects my family. What happened to Donald Trump last night, if I like him or not, it should never happen to anyone in one of the most public rallies that we have as American people. That being so impactful, it has nothing to do with the media. It has something to do with the tempo of America’s society right now. I don’t know if Biden did it. Trump don’t know if Biden did it all. Trump knows he got shot now he’s gonna act like Tupac.”
JZ: “How do we try to cool the rhetoric on both sides of the aisle?”
Jermaine King-Tray: “Traditionally, politics has been the same. This is nothing new. This is just a new age and time. So, it’s nothing’s going to change. They already have their own agenda, which is going to be, you know, putting an effect, regardless of what we think. I have no opinion on it, because I can just live how they want me to live. That’s my opinion, I have no impact on politics, my family, nobody’s family. They’re going to do what they want to do anyway.”
JZ: “What do you think of the American political climate? I mean, this isn’t the first-time violence has been incited towards Democrats or Republicans. I don’t know if you have any thoughts on that.”
Isabella Overholt, Milwaukee resident: “The world is the way the world is. They’ll do what they want to do. Unfortunately, we can’t always stop things from happening. We can try to make safety measures, but that doesn’t stop things from happening. Unfortunately, when it comes to the violence, I am one of those people that do believe that we do need to be a little bit more strict on our like gun policies and stuff like that, because that because that does stop things like yesterday from happening, but going back and forth from parties, George Washington told us not to do parties, and here we are. So, I feel like we’re always going to butt heads on different things no matter what happens. So that’s just the way that people are and how we have our feelings and opinions. So, there’s not, there’s not really much we can do about it.”