--- title: Donald Trump Says Convention Speech Was 'Very Optimistic' description: Donald Trump defended the speech he gave at the Republican National Convention as "very optimistic" amid criticism that it was too "dark" canonical: https://time.com/4420892/donald-trump-optimistic-speech/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-24T14:01:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:30:00.875Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Says His Convention Speech Was 'Very Optimistic' og:description: Critics have called the speech "dark" og:url: https://time.com/4420892/donald-trump-optimistic-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3bf2cc06b7ed65f/69889f085f570f692cb21dd6/gettyimages-578781418.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The 2016 Republican National Convention og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Says His Convention Speech Was 'Very Optimistic' twitter:description: Critics have called the speech "dark" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3bf2cc06b7ed65f/69889f085f570f692cb21dd6/gettyimages-578781418.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Says His Convention Speech Was 'Very Optimistic' by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jul 24, 2016 2:01 PM UTC  Donald Trump, 2016 Republican presidential nominee, left, speaks as Mike Pence, 2016 Republican vice presidential nominee, during a goodbye reception at the Westin Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., on July 22, 2016. Donald Trump, 2016 Republican presidential nominee, left, speaks as Mike Pence, 2016 Republican vice presidential nominee, during a goodbye reception at the Westin Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., on July 22, 2016.Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jul 24, 2016 2:01 PM UTC Donald Trump [in a new interview](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-conventions/trump-i-m-running-against-hillary-not-rest-world-n615581) defended the speech he gave at the Republican National Convention as “very optimistic” amid criticism that the GOP presidential nominee’s message was too “dark.” Trump told NBC’s Chuck Todd in an interview that aired Sunday on _Meet The Press_ that his [speech ](http://time.com/4418398/donald-trump-convention-speech/)Thursday night — which painted a picture of an America plagued by crime, murders and “lurking” terrorists — was optimistic because “we’re going to stop the problems.” “To me, it was an optimistic speech,” Trump said. “I think the only negativity, and, you know, the hate, I call them the haters, and that’s fine. But the only negative reviews were, ‘A little dark.’ And the following day, they had another attack, and then today you see what happened in Afghanistan with many, many people killed.” The real estate mogul’s speech on Friday drew remarks from [President Barack Obama](http://time.com/4419849/president-obama-donald-trump-speech/), who cautioned against Trump’s assessment of the nation and said the fears conveyed by speakers at the Republican National Convention “just don’t jibe with the facts.” “Our convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation,” Trump said in his speech in Cleveland. “The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our very way of life. Any politician who does not grasp this danger is not fit to lead our country.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4420892/donald-trump-optimistic-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4420892/donald-trump-optimistic-speech/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Says His Convention Speech Was 'Very Optimistic'","datePublished":"2016-07-24T14:01:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:30:00.875Z","description":"Critics have called the speech \"dark\"","url":"https://time.com/4420892/donald-trump-optimistic-speech/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3bf2cc06b7ed65f/69889f085f570f692cb21dd6/gettyimages-578781418.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3bf2cc06b7ed65f/69889f085f570f692cb21dd6/gettyimages-578781418.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The 2016 Republican National Convention","caption":"The 2016 Republican National Convention","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4420892/donald-trump-optimistic-speech/","name":"Donald Trump Says His Convention Speech Was 'Very Optimistic'"}}]}] ```