On this final Super Tuesday, Donald Trump delivered his first “presidential” speech. Those quotes refer only to the tone that Trump chose, which is one that he should have adopted once Ted Cruz dropped out and (ironically) made things harder for Trump. However, Trump has used this odd limbo before the general election to thumb his nose at the Republican establishment. As soon as Paul Ryan finally decided to endorse Trump, the real estate mogul veered even further off his usual course. He embarrassed the party by insisting that a “Mexican” judge had a conflict of interest because of his fabled Wall. And he did the unthinkable by singling out a rally attendee with a “look at my African-American” pronouncement. Trump went full Trump and saw backlash like he’d never seen until now.
So, Trump took the mic on this election night. This was a prepared speech — quite unlike most of his famously off-the-cuff orations — and (according to a CNN live report) only the third time he’s delivered from a teleprompter. Anderson Cooper gamely wondered, “Does he rehearse these types of speeches?” Well, this was a different brand of Trump, and he must have practiced this speech because he played things very cool and civilized. He opened with “Tonight, we close one chapter in history and begin another.” He graciously thanked his supporters and wooed Bernie Sanders voters who have been quieted by superdelegates: “We welcome you with open arms.”
Trump also took some measured shots at Hillary Clinton. He said, “I beat a rigged system” before pinning that system on the Clintons. And the real estate mogul admitted that he’s “too much of a fighter” while promising that his ultimate goal is “to bring people together.” In this way, he called for unity, which was a bizarre approach for such a divisive candidate. For extra measure, Trump added that he’ll “take care of our African-American people who have been mistreated for so long.” Then, as the television audience struggled to pick themselves up off their fainting couches, Trump promised (once again) to “make America great again.”
Lordy. Well, what do you think of this new and improved Trump, who will never let anyone down? Twitter has a few thoughts on the matter.
https://twitter.com/michaelscherer/status/740359810596655104
Wait. Did Trump just say that he was going to take care of "our African Americans"? I thought that was made illegal…. owning other people.
— HipHughes (@hiphughes) June 8, 2016
Trump speech analysis: It sounded better in the original German.
— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) June 8, 2016
https://twitter.com/owillis/status/740349933031718912
https://twitter.com/Toure/status/740359804099690499