Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures while speaking at a rally in Warren, Michigan. (AP)
Warren, Michigan — Donald Trump is embracing what he calls flexibility on issues like torture and illegal immigration, abandoning at least for now the tough rhetoric that has fueled his rise to Republican front-runner status.
His critics, as well as fellow Republican candidates, remained skeptical Friday.
In the days after his dominant Super Tuesday primary performance, Trump is using more moderate tones and downplaying his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.
Trump has shot to the top of the primary contest with denigrating remarks about Hispanics immigrants and Muslims. But in Thursday’s chaotic debate, he signaled his willingness to compromise on immigration, among other issues.
He said he was retreating from the anti-visa position advocated in a position paper posted on his website, one of the few specific policies his team has released during the campaign.
“I’m changing. I’m changing. We need highly skilled people in this country, and if we can’t do it, we’ll get them in,” he said in the debate.
More broadly, Trump insisted that compromise would be part of any immigration reform. That didn’t sit well with challenger Ted Cruz, the Texas senator.
“’Flexible’ is Washington code word that he’s going to stick it to the people,” said Cruz, who holds second place in the number of Republican delegates collected so far on the way to the party’s nominating convention this summer.