Trump says he would ‘like to have a much softer tone’
President Trump conceded Monday that he could take a softer tone, but refuted any suggestion that his heated rhetoric about immigration has emboldened racism in the country.
“There would be certain things, I’m not sure I want to reveal all of them,” Trump told WJLA in Washington, D.C., amid a campaign blitz on the eve of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
{mosads}”But I would say tone,” he continued. “I would like to have a much softer tone. I feel to a certain extent I have no choice. But maybe I do, and maybe I could be softer from that standpoint.”
Trump added that he’d “love to get along” with Democrats, but suggested that bipartisanship would have to wait until after the midterm campaign.
WJLA’s Scott Thurman also asked Trump if he believes that his inflammatory rhetoric about immigrants and immigration policy has led to fearmongering or racism.
“No I don’t, and it’s not racist, it’s just that people have to come into our country legally, otherwise you don’t have a country,” Trump said.
Trump has faced renewed criticism over his repeated and intense attacks on Democrats, the media and immigrants in the wake of a spate of bomb threats against prominent critics of his presidency and a massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
Critics have argued the president’s rhetoric has further inflamed divisions in the country, but the president denied that he was to blame for either incident. He instead suggested the media is responsible for the “great anger” in the country.
Pressed late last month if he would temper his rhetoric at his raucous campaign rallies, Trump suggested he could “tone it up.”
“I think I’ve been toned down, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said.
Trump repeatedly labels negative coverage “fake news,” and has in recent months declared some media outlets are “enemies of the people.”
He has faced criticism for his rhetoric about immigrants dating back to the launch of his presidential campaign in 2015, when he suggested that some Mexican immigrants were “criminals” and “rapists.”
Trump has seized on immigration as a signature issue in the closing weeks of the midterm campaign, repeatedly painting a so-called caravan of Central American migrants as an imminent threat to national security. The president has claimed that “criminals,” “thugs” and “unknown Middle Easterners” are among the group, but has not elaborated on those suggestions.
Fox News and NBC have both pulled an anti-illegal immigration ad from Trump — originally sent out via his Twitter account — amid sharp backlash and accusations of xenophobia.