“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”, the Republican presidential nominee told a crowd in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Trump has since backed down on the proposal and appeared to deliver an apology to people offended by a string of controversies at his rally last night. “I have done that, and I regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain”.
Trump’s son, Eric Trump, told Fox News in an interview that will air Sunday that his father anxious questions about Manafort’s past were taking attention away from the billionaire’s presidential bid.
It was a rare admission for a man who has said that he prefers “not to regret anything” and it underscores the dire situation he finds himself in.
Trump’s campaign on Wednesday announced a staff shake-up replacing Manafort as campaign manager after just two months.
Rarely do presidential campaigns undergo this level of tumult at this stage of the general election.
Yet Trump has struggled badly in recent weeks to offer voters a consistent message, overshadowing formal policy speeches with a steady stream of self-created controversies, including a public feud with an American Muslim family whose son was killed while serving in the USA military in Iraq.
The Republican presidential candidate appointed Steve Bannon, the head of the conservative Breitbart News website, as campaign CEO.
“Donald Trump on Thursday shelved his guiding mantra – never back down, never apologize – and did what he has refused to do in public in more than a year of campaigning”.
With his new leadership team promising a sharper message, Donald Trump on Thursday moved to invest almost $5 million in battleground state advertising.
In addition to the outlay of $1.4 million in Florida and $1 million in Pennsylvania, the campaign will buy $831,000 worth of ads in North Carolina and $746,000 in OH, with an additional $1 million in cable buys yet to be publicly designated for a particular state, according to CMAG/Kantar Media.
Conway said she was confident Trump “can stay on message” and accused Clinton of waging “disappointing and unbecoming” attacks on her Republican opponent.
The pro-Clinton organization American Bridge cited news reports that Manafort will continue to be an ally of Trump’s, and added that “the Trump campaign will have plenty of Russian Federation ties without him – starting with the Putin-admiring, NATO-hating candidate himself”.
Democrats said the repeated upheavals of Trump’s campaign reflect dysfunction and disarray.
Ironically enough, Robert Costa’s reporting over this news is for the Washington Post, a news organization that Donald Trump banned from covering his campaign in June.
“He believes he should stay true to what got him this far”, said David Bossie, the leader of a pro-Trump super PAC.
“What do you have to lose by trying something new?” he asked.
Trump has dramatically revamped his campaign this week following a staff overhaul, trading his freewheeling rally speeches for teleprompter remarks and polished ads.
“You know, I go around, I make speeches”.
There is much speculation if elected, Trump will select as former U-S Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton as Secretary of State.
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It remains to be seen whether Trump’s reboot comes too late, and whether he has the discipline to maintain it. “And I don’t think she’s going to do anything to help that”.
