US President Trump handled Scalise shooting incident with maturity: Has he finally grown up at 71?

Has US President Donald Trump finally grown up at 71? The 45^th incumbent had his first major moment of crisis in the domestic politics on Wednesday, June 14, when Republican Congressman Steve Scalise was seriously injured in a shooting on the Republican congressional baseball team in Alexandria, a Washington suburb. And it happened on the day Trump turned 71.

Contrary to his image, Trump has handled the situation with maturity, something which is not generally seen when he acts, especially in issues pertaining to foreign affairs.

Trump's initial reaction on the tragedy was that he and Vice President Mike Pence were "deeply saddened" and then he tweeted, calling Scalise a "true friend and patriot". He then followed it up with a short speech in the White House where he spoke about the health conditions of Scalise and two Capitol Police officers and confirmed that the gunman was dead.

"We may have our differences, but we do well, in times like these, to remember that everyone who serves in our nation's capital is here because, above all, they love our country," Trump said, adding: "We can all agree that we are blessed to be Americans, that our children deserve to grow up in a nation of safety and peace, and that we are strongest when we are unified and when we work together for the common good." On Thursday, June 15, Trump visited Scalise, the House majority Whip, at hospital and tweeted about it, urging all to pray for his recovery.

It's not that Trump has always hit the right chord in the past in domestic matters as well. In June 2016, in the wake of a deadly terror attack in a night club in Orlando, Florida, Trump, who was in the middle of a fierce presidential campaign, had issued a seven-paragraph statement to criticise the then president Barack Obama for shunning the term "radical Islam" and asking him to quit.

But his calm handling of the situation in the wake of the Virginia shooting shows Trump is more careful when it comes to nurturing his image at home and even the Democrats, besides the Republicans, have acknowledged the fact.

While some said Trump "hit the right notes", others said "he sufficiently played the part" which says the man has come a distance since his tactics of polarisation during the presidential race. One will remember how Trump had a nasty fight with the parents of a fallen American soldier during his campaign days, raising serious questions about his ability to serve as a unifier of the American democracy. But in the wake of the Alexandria shooting, the man has been seen as "temperate, compassionate and thoughtful".

The assassin, James Hodgkinson, was identified as a supporter of Bernie Sanders, the Democratic candidate who lost to Hillary Clinton who eventually lost to Trump in the race to the White House, and extremely anti-Trump. Given the way the business tycoon rose to prominence and his election left a section of the Americans dissenting, the extreme reaction as it was found in Alexandria was not something unexpected. But then, Trump did the right thing by not retaliating and playing the role which was expected of him at the hour of crisis – of that of a comforter.

Amid all the chaos, the president of the US has displayed a sense of rationality at last. It is undoubtedly the Americans' highest point in the last five months.