It had been less than 48 hours since the attempted assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, and for four Wisconsin voters, it was yet another sign of how divided the nation has become.
Valori Schmidt, a Republican living in Milwaukee, described the shooting at the former president's Pennsylvania rally as a "wake-up call."
"Unfortunately, it wasn't necessarily a surprise because the climate of hatred has escalated to such a high level," Schmidt said. "The wake up call is we must take the temperature down. We must become more civil, and we must start being factual and not not name calling and just saying awful things about one another."
Next to her, Gary Berns, a fellow Milwaukeean who votes Democratic, replied: "I can't disagree with that."
Berns and Schmidt, joined by other local residents Julie Buckholt and Charlene Abughrin, sat down with ABC News at Miss Katie's Diner just as the Republican National Convention was kicking off in their hometown.
"As far as the loudness and the anger calling, I mean he brings that on himself," Berns said of Trump. Schmidt later countered that Trump, "has been vilified as a Hitler, as an anti-American, as an extremist ... it's been nonstop from all aspects."
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