Pivot Alert by RICH LOWRY
August 18, 2016 10:31 PM @RICHLOWRY
Trump said tonight, “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. 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 issues.”
This is smart:
1) Because no matter how much the Trump “pivot” has become a joke, the media is desperate to write the Trump pivot story and has been for some time (even though it hates Trump, it also likes switching-up the narrative).
2) Because it’s such an out-of-character tone for him, it will drive coverage, and not in negative way–a nice change for him.
3) Because–even if scripted–it shows an emotional range beyond his usual bombast.
On the other hand:
1) He will be asked about this unspecified regret in interviews and will need to explain in more detail and carry it off convincingly.
2)
It will put a premium on not saying the sort of incendiary things he now supposedly regrets in the future, and if he does, it will make this moment useless. 3) As someone pointed out on Twitter, it would have been much better to do this sort of thing at the convention, when more people were paying attention, and try to carry the new tone into the post-convention period.
If he had actually done that, he might have avoided some of the self-inflicted wounds of the last few weeks. The name of the game for Trump now is bottoming-out and hoping to knock Hillary down a couple of notches so the race looks more competitive again. Then, he needs to climb, which will be even more difficult, but he should re-gain some Republican support if it looks like at least he’s trying.
Of course, all of this is subject to change hour-by-hour.
Read more at:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/439172/trump-regrets-past-words-pivot
