Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump expressed regret for some of the caustic comments he has made during his campaign that have “caused personal pain,” acknowledging that he sometimes said “the wrong thing”.
Appearing to reflect the influence of a revamped campaign team behind him by delivering an unusually measured speech, Mr Trump offered a rare act of contrition for the outspoken businessman at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina as he spoke from a prepared script.
It was the first time that the businessman showed remorse for remarks he has made, though he did not specifically say which comments he regretted.
“Sometimes, in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don’t choose the right words or say the wrong thing. I have done that, and believe it or not, I regret it,” he told the crowd in the battleground purple state.
“And I do regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain. Too much is at stake for us to be consumed with these issues.”
The speech marked a startling change in tone from a brash candidate who has polarised political debate, divided his own party and maligned opponents with personal insults, abusive remarks and xenophobic comments.
It comes a day after his new campaign manager Kellyanne Conway promised to “sharpen” the TV personality’s message with scripted remarks and to maintain his “authenticity”.
‘Let Trump be Trump’
His address, read by Trump from a teleprompter in contrast with the free-wheeling style he prefers at rallies, caused some surprise in political circles. His appointment of Steve Bannon, the controversial head of the hard-right conservative Breitbart News website, as the chief executive of his campaign team was interpreted by many as a likely return to the no-holds-barred “let Trump be Trump” rhetoric of the Republican primary election.
The change follows a dramatic fall in Trump’s poll numbers since the Republican national convention last month when he was picked to be the party’s standard-bearer in the November 8th presidential election to take on Democrat Hillary Clinton.
He has been damaged by a series of gaffes over the past month, clashing publicly with the parents of a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq, proclaiming President Barack Obama to be the “founder” of the Islamic State militant group, urging Russian cyber-spies to hack US government computers to find Clinton’s deleted emails from her time as secretary of state and suggesting that only “second amendment” gun-rights activists can stop Clinton’s path to the White House and her appointment of judges to the US supreme court.
Clinton holds a commanding lead over Trump in must-win states for the businessman such as Pennsylvania and Ohio, according to opinion polls, which if replicated on voting day would hand the former US secretary of state an easy victory over the property developer.
Trump’s remarks in North Carolina last night contained softer language at times in a speech punctuated with uncharacteristic rhetorical flourishes for the New York billionaire.
“I refuse to let another generation of American children be excluded from the American Dream,” he said.
“Our whole country loses when young people of limitless potential are denied the opportunity to contribute their talents because we failed to provide them with opportunities they deserved. Let our children be dreamers too.”
He maintained the bare-knuckles style of the Trump of old though when it came to attacking Clinton, saying that she has “proven to be one of the greatest liars of all time,” giving a taste of his attacks to come over the 81 days remaining in the election campaign.
The Clinton campaign dismissed his speech, saying that Trump “started his campaign by insulting people” and has continued to do so for 428 days “without shame or regret.”
“We learned tonight that his speechwriter and teleprompter knows he has much for which he should apologise,” said Mrs Clinton’s deputy communications director Christina Reynolds.
“But that apology tonight is simply a well-written phrase until he tells us which of his many offensive, bully divisive comments he regrets - and changes his tune altogether.”
