WASHINGTON — For nearly 24 hours, Donald Trump was quiet. As Hillary Clinton waded through the most perilous stretch of her campaign to date, the Republican presidential nominee held his tongue, allowing amateur footage of his foe stumbling after falling ill to play over and over on TV without his commentary.
The episode underscored a new political reality: After more than a year of off-the-cuff comments and chaotic cleanup, Trump’s campaign seems to have found its footing.
Over the past four weeks, with a new leadership team in place, Trump has largely done away with his free-wheeling rallies, replacing them with teleprompter-guided speeches. While he is by no means a typical candidate – he derisively referred to Sen. Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas” and questioned the integrity of the FBI and Department of Justice during a morning show call-in on Monday – he has nonetheless refined many of his campaign’s rougher edges. He’s trying to broaden his appeal and win over the moderate and independent voters he’ll need if he hopes to win.
Gone are the endless attacks on his former Republican rivals and his aversion to more intimate campaign events. He has even lifted his extraordinary ban on credentialing particular news outlets he’s deemed unfair.
And on the worst weekend of Hillary Clinton’s year, Trump stayed largely silent and let her problems make the headlines.
Trump’s team had already imposed a day of silence order for Sept. 11, asking supporters to refrain from news interviews and suspending outright campaigning as the nation marked the anniversary of the attacks on the Twin Towers and Pentagon.
But Team Trump even kept quiet Sunday as the news dripped out about Clinton – confusion about where she’d gone after feeling “overheated,” video of her needing assistance and then stumbling while entering a van, her campaign’s eventual revelation that she’d been diagnosed with pneumonia. There were no gloating tweets, no “told-you-so’s” from supporters who’ve been pushing conspiracy theories about her health.
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