From Donald Trump, a stunning admission and a new direction

In general, in a campaign filled with controversial statements, it's fair to say Donald Trump doesn't do apologies and he doesn't do regret. Which is why it was extraordinary that in his speech in Charlotte Thursday night — one of his first under a new campaign management — Trump did that rarest of things: he expressed regret for rhetorical excesses of the past and conceded that they may have caused pain for some people.

"Sometimes in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don't choose the right words or say the right thing," Trump told the crowd at the Charlotte Convention Center. "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."

That was new Trump. Very new Trump.

But there was much more new Trump in Charlotte. Trump introduced a theme of a "New American Future" — his team capitalized in in his prepared text — which all Americans would reach by working together in a Trump administration. For the man who at the Republican convention proclaimed that "I alone can fix" the nation's problems, the Charlotte speech represented a remarkable turn toward common effort. According to the prepared text, Trump used the word "together" seven times in the speech, which must be a record for him. (He used "together" once — once — in his convention acceptance speech.) From Charlotte:

"We are one country, one people, and we will have together one great future."