--- title: America Can Still Come Together description: Former TIME editor-in-chief Nancy Gibbs writes that Americans are largely in agreement on key issues and should find unity amidst the division. canonical: https://time.com/6999339/political-violence-america-unity/ author: Nancy Gibbs article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-07-18T11:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:25.008Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How America Can Still Come Together og:description: Our current crisis of division feels shocking but not sudden; the dread has been deepening for years, writes Nancy Gibbs og:url: https://time.com/6999339/political-violence-america-unity/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7f129c6e7e10814/698a58d90116825f05986011/america-trump-2024-flag-rally.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-VOTE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How America Can Still Come Together twitter:description: Our current crisis of division feels shocking but not sudden; the dread has been deepening for years, writes Nancy Gibbs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7f129c6e7e10814/698a58d90116825f05986011/america-trump-2024-flag-rally.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How America Can Still Come Together > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs takes readers inside the newsroom, revealing the journalists, ideas and editorial choices behind the stories shaping the global conversation. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=33b90b8d-b789-444e-bd96-b60ea331fa13&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Sam Jacobs, Editor-in-Chief | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership Globally minded knowledge seekers. Readers who turn to journalism to understand the world, with meaningful concentrations among educators, students, media professionals, civic institutions and knowledge workers. ### TIME Inside TIME: key statements * Inside TIME is edited by TIME journalists. Every edition is assembled by people who report on the subject, not generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923, and its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting. Readers can trust what they read. * Inside TIME is free. Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=33b90b8d-b789-444e-bd96-b60ea331fa13&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/subscribe?i=33b90b8d-b789-444e-bd96-b60ea331fa13&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What is Inside TIME? Inside TIME is a twice-weekly newsletter written by TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs. It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: President Joe Biden Gives Oval Office Address Following Trump Shooting [Watch (HLS stream): President Joe Biden Gives Oval Office Address Following Trump Shooting](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Fd1X5U6M.m3u8) (6:25)  _Published 2024-07-15. President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday evening following the assassination attempt of Donald Trump at a political rally._  by [Nancy Gibbs](https://time.com/author/nancy-gibbs/)  ## Nancy Gibbs Jul 18, 2024 11:00 AM UTC  Supporters gather before Trump’s speech at a rally in Butler, PA., on July 13 Supporters gather before Trump’s speech at a rally in Butler, PA., on July 13 Rebecca Droke—AFP/Getty Images  by [Nancy Gibbs](https://time.com/author/nancy-gibbs/)  ## Nancy Gibbs Jul 18, 2024 11:00 AM UTC A country born by breaking with a king inherits dissent as a birthright. Generation after generation faces its test of conflict management: crafting the Constitution itself, with all its convictions and compromises; balancing local vs. federal power centers; [a Civil War](https://time.com/6991271/civil-war-conflict-ray-dalio/) exposing fissures in democracy’s bedrock; and on and on, battles over rights and responsibilities, suffrage, prohibition, isolation vs. intervention, and then the serial upheavals over justice for multiple marginalized groups—Black, female, gay, trans. Each era is tasked with not only choosing its fights but also deciding how to fight them. Our current crisis of division, once again manifest as violence, feels shocking but not sudden; the dread has been deepening for years, a defining quality of this century that began with an election that ended in a tie. As our information streams fill with acid, it eats at grace and trust. Americans have always disagreed, exercised muscles of reason and passion to press for progress and a vision for the common good that we don’t necessarily hold in common. Do we care more about freedom or equality? Privacy or security? Being a leader in the world or tucked in safely at home with oceans to buffer us? Figuring that out was the heart of the democratic challenge, but the information technologies allegedly designed to connect the world conspire to dismantle the values that process depends on.  TIME photo illustration; Evan Vucci—AP The tragedy, but maybe also the opportunity, of _this_ moment is that relative to past brawls, Americans are largely united on key issues—even if you would never know it from the temperature of the debate. “Red states” from Arkansas to Missouri to Florida pass minimum-wage referendums by fat majorities; Kansas votes to [protect access](https://time.com/6203178/kansas-abortion-vote-results-takeaways/) to abortion. Two-thirds of Democrats agree that the situation at the border is a problem; more than 60% of people think it’s too easy to get a gun, and about 80% worry about the solvency of Social Security and Medicare. And in one last flicker of unity, 4 out of 5 people told Georgetown University pollsters that they fear that democracy is under threat. This was echoed in an [Ipsos poll](https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/ipsos-2024-us-swing-state-election-survey-june-2024) of 2024 voters that found that while economy, immigration, crime, and climate ranked high on the list of concerns, “political extremism or threats to democracy” topped them. But this is where shared purpose runs into the shredder of profit and power. People disagree profoundly about the source of the threat to democracy, with voters on the left and right viewing each other as uniquely, historically dangerous—immoral, dishonest, and closed-minded. In that dark vision, gaining and holding onto power, and denying it to the opposition, is more important than any single issue. And now comes the [assassination attempt on Donald Trump](https://time.com/6998302/trump-rally-shooting-2/), instantly cast by his most bare-knuckled allies as the culmination of the Democrats’ campaign to stop him at all costs. Ignorance about the shooter or his motive did not deter reckless speculation; it inflamed it. “Well of course they tried to keep him off the ballot, they tried to put him in jail, and now you see this…” campaign manager Chris LaCivita tweeted and then deleted. “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” wrote Trump’s [vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance](https://time.com/6999522/jd-vance-net-worth-estimations-trump-vice-president-pick-background/). “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.” Naturally Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene went further: “The Democrat party is flat out evil, and yesterday they tried to murder President Trump.” **Read More:** [_What We Know—and Don’t Know—So Far About the Trump Rally Gunman_](https://time.com/6998557/thomas-matthew-crooks-trump-rally-shooter-fbi-motive/) You can call this working the refs, trying to pre-emptively silence criticism, hypocrisy from the partisans who menace their rivals while mocking violence aimed at them. But because X is a reliably squalid place, some Democrats dove into the “Blue-Anon” fever swamps as well: “The last thing America needed was sympathy for the devil but here we are,” Colorado state representative Steven Woodrow tweeted, then deleted. Even as calls came in from across the spectrum for calm, prayers, perspective, peace, the furies channeled by the platforms’ amoral algorithms ensured that poisonous rumors would find a million minds to infect. It was all #staged; the Secret Service was complicit; it was a false-flag operation, just the latest effort of shadowy forces to ensure Trump’s re-election by any means necessary. --- **According to the** Pew Research Center, 8 in 10 Americans think people get different facts depending on where they get their news. This all but guarantees that crises and conspiracies travel in packs. We watched the shooting but didn’t know what we were seeing, so in the face of novel facts we relied on familiar frames. People who already distrust the media, or the Deep State, or law enforcement, were primed to see in the drama of Butler, Pa., a confirmation of their deepest suspicions. The act of “collective sense-making,” as University of Washington professor Kate Starbird explains, is how people interpret events in a shared social exercise—and a way that partisan players can twist an event to suit their agendas. The target himself seized the moment: “Fear Not. I Am Donald Trump And I Will Make America Great Again,” read the fundraising appeal. But here too is a possible path to safer, higher ground. Our discourse amplifies the most radical voices and alienates the rest. Actual news avoidance is at all-time highs, not just in the U.S. but in other deeply polarized countries, as people want nothing to do with the vitriol that they associate with political engagement. According to Pew, 70% of adult social media users say they rarely or never post about political or social issues. So we are left looking in a fun-house mirror, as misunderstanding about actual beliefs drives us further apart. The nonprofit group [Starts With Us found that](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmxSDK6sL08) 9 out of 10 Americans agree on core principles—a government accountable to the people, respect and compassion across difference, the rule of law applied fairly to all people—but only around 1 in 3 Democrats and Republicans thinks the other side cares about these values. Social media companies must be accountable for the harms they create, the addictions they feed, and the lies they promote as they dismantle their trust and safety teams just when they are needed most. This is not a call for censorship; no amount of content moderation can police the posts of a billion users in real time. But like other forms of media, they should be responsible for the content they intentionally choose to amplify and monetize. And we are each free agents of understanding. We can seek out reliable information sources, ones that try to get at the truth and hold themselves accountable if they fail—or we can choose to soak in the comfort of confirmation. Even as overall trust in the media reaches all-time lows, people tend to trust their own news sources. So I urge my students to be intentional about their media diets; omnivorous curiosity is a civic duty. Watch the networks you normally avoid, read writers you disagree with, seek out the perspectives you instinctively reject. The goal is not to change your mind; it is to widen the lens. “Understanding is a two-way street,” Eleanor Roosevelt observed, and when we don’t see and hear the truth of our fellow citizens, we stand little chance of appreciating all that we actually hold in common, even now. ## Transcript My fellow Americans. I want to speak to you tonight about the need for us to lower the temperature in our politics. And to remember, or we may disagree, we are not enemies. We're neighbors, we're friends, co workers, citizens, and most importantly, we're our fellow Americans. We must stand together. Yesterday's shooting at Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania calls on all of us to take a step back. Take stock of where we are. How we go forward from here. Thankfully, former Trump is not seriously injured. I spoke to him last night. I'm grateful. He's doing well and Jill and I keep him and his family in our prayers. We also extend our deepest condolences to the family of the victims who was killed. Core was a husband, a father, a volunteer firefighter, a hero, sheltering his family from those bullets. We should all hold his family and all those injured in our prayers. Earlier today, I spoke about an ongoing investigation. We do not know the motive of the shooter yet. We don't know his opinions or affiliations. We don't know whether he had help or support, or if he communicated with anyone else. Law enforcement professionals, as I speak are investigating those questions. Tonight, I want to speak to what we do know. A former president was shot. An American citizen killed while simply exercising his freedom to support the candidate of his choosing. We cannot. We must not go down this road in America. We've traveled before throughout our history. Violence has never been the answer, Whether with members of Congress and both parties being targeted and shot, or a violent mob attacking the Capitol on January 6, or a brutal attack on the spouse of former speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, or information and intimidation on election officials or the kidnapping plot against the sitting governor, or an attempted assassination on Donald Trump. There is no place in America for this kind of violence or for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions. We can allow this violence to be normalized. You know, the political record in this country has gotten very heated. It's time to cool it down. We all have a responsibility to do that. Yes, we have deeply felt strong disagreements. The stakes in this election are enormously high. I've said it many times that the choice in this selection we make in this election is going to shape the future of America and the world for decades to come. I believe that with all my soul. I know that millions of my fellow Americans believe it as well. And some have a different view as to the direction our country should take. Disagreement is inevitable in American democracy. It's part of human nature, but politics must never be a literal battlefield, a God forbid, a killing field. I believe politics ought to be an arena for peaceful debate, to pursue justice, to make decisions guided by the Declaration of Independence in our Constitution. We stand for an America not of extremism and fury, but of decency and grace. All of us now face the time of testing as the election approaches. And the higher the stakes, the more fervent the passions become. This places an added burden on each of us to ensure that no matter how strong our convictions, we must never descend into violence. Republican Convention will start tomorrow. I have no doubt they'll criticize my record and offer their own vision for this country. I'll be traveling this week making the case for our record and the vision my vision of the country. Our vision. I'll continue to speak out strongly for our democracy. Stand up for our Constitution, and the rule of law to call for action at the battle box. No violence on our streets. That's how democracy should work. We debate and disagree. We compare and contrast the character of the candidates, the records, the issues, the agenda, the vision for America. But in America, we resolve our difference at the battle box. You know, that's how we do it at the battle box, not with bullets. The power to change America should always rest in the hands of the people, not in the hands of would be assassin. You know, the past forward, through a competing visions of the campaign should always be resolved peacefully. No through acts of violence. You know, we're blessed to live in the greatest country on Earth, and I believe that with every soul, every power of my bed. So tonight, I'm asking every American to recommit to make America make America to think about. What's made America so special? Here in America, everyone must be treated with dignity and respect, and ate must have no safe harbor. Here in America, we need to get out of our silos, where we only listen to those with whom we agree, where misinformation is rampant, where foreign actors fan the flames of our division to shape the outcomes consistent with their interests, not ours. Let's remember, here in America, all unity is the most elusive of Gal goals right now. Nothing is more important for us now than standing together. We can do this. You know, from the beginning, our founders understood the power of passion. And so they created democracy. That gave reason and balance a chance to prevail over a brute force. That's the American we must be. An American democracy, arguments are made in good faith. An American democracy where the rule of law is respected. A American democracy where decency, dignity, fair play aren't just quaint notions, but living breathing realities. We owe that to those who come before us to those who gave their lives for this country. We owe that to ourselves. We owe it to our children and our grandchildren. Look, let's never lose sight of who we are. Let's remember we are the United States of America. There is nothing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity. When we do it together. God bless you all to may God protect our troops. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6999339/political-violence-america-unity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6999339/political-violence-america-unity/"},"headline":"How America Can Still Come Together","datePublished":"2024-07-18T11:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:43:25.008Z","description":"Former TIME editor-in-chief Nancy Gibbs writes that Americans are largely in agreement on key issues and need unity in the face of violence.","url":"https://time.com/6999339/political-violence-america-unity/","keywords":["extremism","Cover Story","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7f129c6e7e10814/698a58d90116825f05986011/america-trump-2024-flag-rally.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nancy Gibbs","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/nancy-gibbs/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7f129c6e7e10814/698a58d90116825f05986011/america-trump-2024-flag-rally.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-VOTE","caption":"Supporters gather before trump’s speech at a rally in Butler, PA., on July 13","creditText":"Rebecca Droke—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/extremism/","name":"extremism"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6999339/political-violence-america-unity/","name":"How America Can Still Come Together"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Joe Biden Gives Oval Office Address Following Trump Shooting","description":"President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday evening following the assassination attempt of Donald Trump at a political rally.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Fd1X5U6M/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2024-07-15T01:06:05.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Fd1X5U6M.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6999339/political-violence-america-unity/","duration":"PT6M25S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6999339/political-violence-america-unity/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```