Donald Trump recasts himself as a kinder, gentler candidate after Indiana win

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Washington: "It's a beautiful thing to behold" – so spoke Donald Trump as he celebrated a win in the Indiana primary, which effectively crowned him as the Republican Party's presumptive nominee for the US presidency.

Outlining the likely contours of his general election campaign, Trump declared almost in his first breath: "Hillary Clinton does not understand trade. Her husband signed, perhaps, in the history of the world, the single worst trade deal ever done. It's called NAFTA [The North American Free Trade Agreement].

Donald Trump's campaign has used songs by The Rolling Stones several times. Photo: AP

"We're going to bring back our jobs and we're going to keep our jobs. Let me tell you, the miners in Pennsylvania and West Virginia are going to start to work again. You're going to be proud again to be miners."

Speaking from notes and trying to keep his propensity for biffo in check, Trump was gracious in acknowledging his last-surviving challenger – that would be Texas Senator Ted Cruz who, just hours earlier, had denounced Trump as a 'pathological liar,' 'a narcissist,' and 'a philanderer.'

Trump said of Cruz: "… he's one hell of a competitor. He's a tough, smart, guy. And he's got an amazing future. I want to congratulate Ted. I know how tough it is. It's tough…"

Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee. Photo: Bloomberg

This speech was a new manifestation of the candidate – not the ferocious 'counterpuncher,' as he likes to say of himself; and not the Teleprompter-induced automaton that we saw when he spoke on foreign policy in Washington last week.

In victory Trump could afford to be mellow. But there was more of his stream-of-conscious ramblings – thanks to various people; shout-outs to others and between all that snippets of policy and self-congratulations.

After thanking his wife, kids, his late parents and his brother, Trump sounded almost humble, saying: "It's been some unbelievable day, evening and year...I've never been through anything like this... it's a beautiful thing to behold and we're going to make America great again."

Signs are displayed outside a campaign event for Donald Trump in Evansville, Indiana. Photo: Bloomberg

And a little surprised that he might sweep all of Indiana's 57 convention delegates, which he had discovered on surfing the news channels on his return to New York on Tuesday evening.

"I must say, in staying in various places in Indiana, I turned on the television and all I saw was negative ads," he said. "It was the same as Florida. 60,000 negative ads, most of which are absolutely false and disgusting. ... And the people are so smart, they don't buy it, they get it."

Then he looks ahead, to the general election - "We're gonna win. We're gonna win in November. And we're gonna win big."

He promises 'unbelievably good relationships with other countries…' with a rider – "but they're going to have to treat us fairly." But he saves the poetic best for the US: "We're going to love each other, we're going to cherish each other, we're going to take care of each other, and we're going to have great economic development…"

And for the GOP that in recent days it had been his practice to eat alive – "We want to bring unity to the Republican party. We have to bring unity. ... Many, many people are calling, like you wouldn't believe." He even commiserated good-humoredly with Republican National Committee chairman Reince Preibus, over the unwieldy field of would be nominees - "It's not an easy job dealing with 17 egos… I guess he's now down to one ego."

And then those shout outs…

"Sarah Palin has been from Day One, incredible."

"Jerry Falwell Jr, from Liberty University... he's a special guy."

And then a possible end to the sterile 'happy holidays' greeting in the US - "We're going to be saying Merry Christmas again."

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