Trump calls for unity after shooting

NEW YORK » It was a sadly familiar ritual: an American president addressing the nation at an unsettling time, decrying violence while urging citizens to set aside their differences and pray for the recovery of victims.

But this time, it was President Donald Trump who was called upon to speak words of comfort in such a troubled moment, one fraught with the overtones of gun politics and the heated rhetoric of a nation sharply divided along party lines.

Trump’s measured response to Wednesday’s shooting at a congressional baseball practice stood in stark contrast to his inflammatory reactions to some previous acts of violence. He delivered a brief address from the White House Diplomatic Room in which he denounced the shooting of a top House Republican and others as a “very, very brutal assault.” He said that “many lives would have been lost without the heroic action” of Capitol Police officers who took down the gunman.

“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. “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.”

Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana was shot in the early morning fusillade of gunfire, and several other people, including members of Scalise’s security detail, also were wounded. The gunman was killed.

Trump, whose 71st birthday was Wednesday, was informed of the shooting minutes after it occurred. The White House press office quickly put out a brief statement noting that Trump was “deeply saddened by the tragedy,” and the president followed up with a tweet: “Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, a true friend and patriot, was badly injured but will fully recover. Our thoughts and prayers are with him.”

Wanting to present the president as a steadying hand and avoid any distractions after the shooting, the White House then quickly canceled a presidential event on apprenticeships at the Labor Department and scuttled any plans for a briefing. Instead, aides drafted the short, somber remarks Trump delivered from the Diplomatic Room.

The president praised Scalise as “a very good friend” and “a patriot,” telling the legislator he had “not just the prayers of the entire city behind you, but the entire nation and frankly the entire world.” He praised Capitol Police officers and first responders who mobilized at the softball field where the Republican baseball team was practicing ahead of Thursday night’s charity game against the Democrats.

“Their sacrifice makes democracy possible,” he said.