Two different things people. If a cheating spouse gets caught, I’m certain that spouse would regret getting caught. Whether or not they are sorry is another thing.
Trump has said he"regrets" some of what he has said. I have no doubts that he regrets MUCH of what he has said. I wouldn’t be surprised if he really regretted saying those things after he saw how the polls reflected his “regretful” statements. But that’s a far cry from being sorry for what he’s said.
Kellyanne Conway explains Trump’s apology.
*“Conway demurred on who specifically Trump was expressing regret to, and said he hasn’t made apology calls to individuals.”
“He’s expressed his regret publicly and said, ‘If I have caused you personal pain – that can include me, that can include you’ – that he regrets that,” Conway said.*
Trump can’t even regret it without “regretting” pain he may have caused himself. I’m thinking he found the perfect bimbo to represent his campaign with the new Mgr. v3.0 here.
It’s clear. Trump just can not ever admit a mistake, or be sorry for what he’s done.
Generally speaking I think this message board and the internet are too quick to jump all over apologies they view as inadequate.
That said, I don’t think that Trump clears even the lowest bar. To say that you have made mistakes in the past amounts to a claim that you are not a megalomaniac. It’s understood that to err is human. To act in the realm of regret or apology, you have to have some degree of specificity.
Here’s an example: “I could have worded my discussion of immigration policy better.”
Now that’s pretty bad, as it doesn’t apologize and trivializes the critique. And it’s maddeningly vague.
But it’s superior to this: [INDENT][INDENT] 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…
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. [/INDENT][/INDENT] That doesn’t rise to the level of a half apology, since it’s simply unclear what he’s referring to. A half apology diminishes culpability and can be vague, but at least the referral is clear. Not so in Trump’s case. Treat it as a denial of megalomania. Not to draw too fine a distinction, but it’s also a denial of sociopathy. Trump is claiming that he does not enjoy inflicting pain, “Believe it or not.”
<snark>
“Look, as I said in the beginning,** I deeply regret** that we lost four Americans.” -Hillary Clinton in debate. Washington Post transcript here
Regrets, but didn’t say she was sorry those Americans died.
And yet…
"I can tell you that I may be a lot of things but I am not dumb. And I wrote about going to Bosnia in my book in 2004, I laid it all out there. And you’re right, on a couple of occasions in the last weeks I just said some things that weren’t in keeping with what I knew to be the case and what I had written about in my book. And you know, I‘m embarrassed by it. I‘m very sorry I said it. I have said that, you know, it just didn‘t jive with what I had written about and knew to be the truth. " - Hillary Clinton speaking about her previous ‘landing under fire in Bosnia’ statement
She’s sorry about her statements about *this *incident?
</snark>
I think we read entirely too much into the precise words used. And if you try hard enough you can play the gotcha’ game with most any public figure who has been around long enough and has a multitude of statements on the record.
There may have been others, but I can only think of one occasion in the campaign when Trump has been specific in where he’s been upset about something done in his name, and that was criticizing his team’s decision to delete a tweet sourced from white supremacists (the ‘six pointed star’ image). For all we can tell, this apology is directed towards David Duke for Trump’s not fully endorsing him, instead of just winking at his (Duke’s) supporters.
Iggy - Trump has a “No apologies” policy, as Starving Artist as described. Trump thinks that apologies show weakness. I say we’re electing a President, not a strongman.