While revamping his campaign to appear more inclusive and empathetic, Trump makes no changes to his political agenda and continues to maintain that he tells the truth while Clinton “is the exact opposite.”
For the first time during his presidential campaign, perhaps due to his trailing position in the polls in key battleground states, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump apologized for his controversial remarks that may have been hurtful to others.
“I’ve never been politically correct… Sometimes in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don’t choose the right words or you say the wrong thing. I have done that,” Trump conceded in an address to a rally Thursday evening in Charlotte, North Carolina. “And believe it or not, I regret it — 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 issue,” he said.
At this late hour in the game, Trump, known for making insensitive and politically incorrect remarks, has revamped his campaign. On Wednesday he announced the hiring of conservative media personality Steve Bannon as his new campaign chief and Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager.
Among of the most damaging episodes in the Trump campaign was his response to the fierce attack against him at the DNC made by Muslim Gold Star parent Khizr Khan, who claimed that the GOP candidate “vows to build walls and ban us from this country.”
“If you look at his wife, she was standing there,” Trump callously responded. “She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me.”
Direct appeal to black community
In his North Carolina speech, Trump, apparently trying to appear more inclusive after alienating minority voters across the country, appealed directly to the African-American community, which traditionally votes Democrat and among whom he has a two-percent rating, according to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll.
“If African-American voters give Donald Trump a chance by giving me their vote, the result for them will be amazing,” he declared. “We will not rest until children of every color in this country are fully included in the American dream.”
“What do you have to lose by trying something new? I will fix it,” he said, adding that Clinton takes their votes “for granted” and, therefore, there has been no reason for Democrats to produce and they haven’t. They haven’t produced in decades and decades.”
Clinton and Obama ‘unleashed ISIS’
Despite working on his new image, Trump made no change to his agenda and policies, vowing to defeat radical Islamic terror – repeating his assertion that Clinton and U.S. President Barack Obama are responsible for “unleashing ISIS” across the world – and to restore law and order.
He also pledged to “work as hard as I can to bring new opportunity to places in our country which have not known opportunity in a very long time.”
“In my Administration, every American will be treated equally, protected equally, and honored equally. We will reject bigotry and hatred and oppression in all of its forms, and seek a new future built on our common culture and values as one American people,” he said.
Fighting for ‘these forgotten Americans’
“Our campaign is about representing the great majority of Americans – Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Conservatives and Liberals – who read the newspaper, or turn on the TV, and don’t hear anyone speaking for them. All they hear are insiders fighting for insiders. These are the forgotten men and women in our society, and they are angry at so much on so many levels. The poverty, the unemployment, the failing schools, the jobs moving to other countries.
“I am fighting for these forgotten Americans.”
Trump has been priding himself on telling the truth to the American voters, referring consistently to his Democratic opponent as “Crooked Hillary.” He continued this theme, saying, “I’ve traveled all across this country laying out my bold and modern agenda for change. In this journey, I will never lie to you. I will never tell you something I do not believe…
“So while sometimes I can be too honest, Hillary Clinton is the exact opposite: she never tells the truth. One lie after another, and getting worse each passing day.”
His address began with words of condolence for the people of Louisiana who suffered devastating flooding this week, in which 13 people died; seven thousand are in shelters, having lost their homes, and thousands are without power. “We are one nation. When one state hurts, we all hurt, and we must all work together to lift each other up,” Trump stated.
By: Atara Beck, World Israel News
Please note: We do not endorse any political candidates.