Donald Trump makes a healing pitch with conciliatory notes on Kansas shooting, immigration

WASHINGTON: A softer, gentler, more Presidential Donald Trump emerged on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, seeking to heal a bitterly divided America on issues from racism to immigration while still projecting a muscular United States bound for glory in his time at the White House.

In a nearly hour-long speech to the joint session of the US Congress+ , the 45th President, just five-weeks-old in office, finally embraced the conciliatory aspect of the job, by telling Americans of all race, colour, and creed that "We are one people, with one destiny."

In doing so, Trump also offered direct denunciation of the threats and vandalism against the Jewish community in the US and the shooting in Kansas+ that claimed the life of an engineer from India. The incidents, he said, "remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms."

Trump had been panned for not directly condemning the attack against minorities and immigrants, specifically the Kansas incident, even though he has frequently railed against attacks by immigrants of minority stock.

The US President also refined his position on immigration+ , calling for a merit-based entry to the United States that was prevalent before the 1960s, when family-based and low-skilled immigration became prevalent.

"Switching away from this current system of lower-skilled immigration, and instead adopting a merit-based system, we will have so many more benefits. It will save countless dollars, raise workers' wages, and help struggling families, including immigrant families, enter the middle class. And they will do it quickly and they will be very, very happy indeed," Trump said.

The President's position, which has to be legislated into effect by Congress, will effectively regulate emigration from across the world into the US of the wealthy and the high-skilled (and potentially high earning) while keeping out "your poor,...your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...the wretched refuse of your teeming shore," that is enshrined on the Statue of Liberty.

But Trump was unapologetic about his stand, insisting that "it is a basic principle that those seeking to enter a country ought to be able to support themselves financially." He said the current, "outdated system depresses wages for our poorest workers and puts great pressure on taxpayers," and pointed to nations like Canada and Australia that have a merit-based system.

The US President also implicitly connected immigration to extremism and terrorism, urging those given the "high honor of admission to the United States should support this country and love its people and its values," and warning, "We cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form inside of America. We cannot allow our nation to become a sanctuary for extremists."

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Trump dealt only broadly with foreign policy issues while calling for a "direct, robust and meaningful engagement with the world" in which the American leadership is "based on vital security interests that we share with our allies all across the globe."

Despite his frequent dissing of Nato, he said the US strongly supports the organization (as long as the partners meet their financial obligations), and pledged that "our allies will find that America is once again ready to lead."

Even the President's unremitting critics acknowledged that this was a different Trump from the one whose incendiary words inflamed US politics for a year during the presidential campaign, and continued into the two-month transition and a month of the Presidency itself.

As Trump urged, that "time for small thinking is over. The time for trivial fights is behind us," even the New York Times, which has been systematically eviscerating Trump (amid his denunciation of its failings) noted that "at precisely the moment he needed to project sobriety, Mr. Trump delivered the most presidential speech he has ever given." And from the Washington Post: "This may have been the best speech Trump has given since he entered politics in June 2015, and people rooting for his imminent demise may be disappointed."