WASHINGTON (AP) — In a week when Americans witnessed a public political assassination, oceans of angry words and a collective sense of horror and exhaustion, one man stepped up to a microphone and said something that stood out: It doesn’t have to be like this.

That man, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, appeared weary, emotional, at times angry and on the verge of tears Friday. While he had the country's attention, he used the moment to ask his fellow Americans to turn down the temperature.

Cox, long an advocate for civility, said he didn't “want to get too preachy.” But he described the moment as one where the country's very ideals were on the line. He made an impassioned plea for Americans and young people in particular to use the horror of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination a

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