“He criticized Trump but he didn’t mention him; it wasn’t overt,” added former Rep. Luis Gutierrez
Yet Biden was not calling for bipartisan cooperation on individual policy proposals. His was a much broader plea to turn down the temperature for the sake of preserving the country’s centuries-old experiment in democracy — a sharp contrast to Trump’s speech four years ago in which he warned of the “American carnage” wrought by liberal policies.
"Politics doesn't have to be a raging fire, destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn't have to be a cause for total war,” Biden said. “And we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured."