President-elect Donald Trump released a Thanksgiving message on YouTube Wednesday in which he expressed his desire to unify the country, a more diplomatic approach than he’s taken on previous Thanksgivings.
“It’s my prayer that on this Thanksgiving, we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country, strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve,” Trump says early in the video.
Trump later says Americans have a chance to bring “real change to Washington, real change to our cities, and real prosperity to our communities, including our inner cities.”
“So important to me, and so important to our country,” he says of the latter point.
While the video wasn’t all positive–at one point, referencing the election result, Trump says it was “unfortunate” that “tensions just don’t heal overnight, it doesn’t go quickly”–it was a marked change in tone from some of his past Thanksgiving well-wishes, which included friendly nods to his “enemies” and “the haters and losers” following him on Twitter.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone–I love you all, even my many enemies (sometimes!).
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving to all–even the haters and losers!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2013
Watch below:
