He will no doubt try, but when the fur starts flying, he will revert to type.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/...o-tone-it-down
A kinder, gentler Trump?
By Niall Stanage
Getty
Donald Trump is set to shift his strategy to win the White House, becoming less antagonistic toward the GOP establishment and adopting a less abrasive tone on social issues. But the approach brings risks as well as potential rewards.
At a closed-door briefing with Republican National Committee (RNC) members Thursday, Trump aide Paul Manafort assured his audience that his boss is not “running against” the national party and that he “cares about the united team.”
In his remarks, first reported by The New York Times, Manafort also raised eyebrows by saying of Trump, “the part he’s been playing is evolving.”
But Trump will have to tread a fine line, as comments he made at the weekend acknowledged. At a Saturday rally in Waterbury, Conn., Trump suggested that he would never have reached his current position as the dominant GOP front-runner had he "acted presidential" from the outset of his campaign.
The key question is whether Trump can establish more civil relations with the RNC and set a more sober-minded tone in general — while also not disenchanting supporters who were drawn to the businessman as a brash voice unwilling to pay deference to the powers-that-be.
Manafort’s comment about Trump playing a part could also raise doubts about his sincerity, echoing a 2012 comment from an advisor to GOP nominee Mitt Romney that, after the primary had been won, Romney’s approach could be changed like “an Etch A Sketch.”
On social issues, Trump raised eyebrows with some conservatives when he suggested he was opposed to North Carolina’s controversial “bathroom law” requiring transgender people to use the restroom of their original gender.
Originally, speaking to NBC’s “Today” show, Trump said there was no real need for the law, arguing that “there have been very few complaints the way it is.” Trump finessed that point later that day, telling Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity that “local communities and states should make the decision.”
Trump will give a major foreign policy speech at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on Wednesday. He is expected to use the occasion to present a more statesman-like approach to a candidacy that has so far been characterized by controversial stances on illegal immigration, Muslims and a host of other issues.
Some commentators are less than thrilled with the new version of Trump — and they are blaming Manafort and other recent additions to his team.
“I wish Trump would go back to retweeting juvenile photos of Heidi Cruz,” pundit Ann Coulter tweeted on Friday. “I hate the new Manafort & Black Trump.”
(“Manafort & Black” alludes to a Washington lobbying firm in which Manafort and another scion of the GOP establishment, Charlie Black, were principals. The company has not had that name since a merger in the 1990s.)
In Connecticut on Saturday, Trump insisted he does not plan to start "toning it down." He also said, “You know, being presidential’s easy — much easier than what I have to do. Here, I have to rant and rave. I have to keep people going. Otherwise you’re going to fall asleep on me, right?”
Most Republican strategists believe that there is an imperative for Trump to tack toward the center and try to unify the party, however.
“I don’t know if Trump is playing a part but he certainly needs a second act,” said GOP strategist Ford O’Connell. “Cozying up to the GOP establishment is risky because it could conceivably reinvigorate the Never Trump crew. Nevertheless, it’s the right thing to do if he wants to win the general election.”
The GOP establishment is welcoming Trump’s overtures. RNC chairman Reince Priebus told the Washington Post on Friday: “Donald Trump is conciliatory. You notice he hasn’t been saying ‘RNC’ lately. He hasn’t been saying that lately. He certainly hasn’t been talking about me lately.”
The same day, Priebus had slammed the Never Trump movement, insisting that “it is essential to victory in November that we all support our candidate” and adding, “politics is a team sport, and we can’t win unless we rally around whoever becomes our nominee.”
GOP strategist Matt Mackowiak said that those statements “made sense from [Priebus’s] perspective” since he has to support the nominee, whoever that is. But Mackowiak also said that the statement “felt like it might have been the result of some outreach [the Trump campaign] may have been making to the RNC.”
Mackowiak, however, suggested that political risk for Trump resided less in easing off his confrontations with the RNC and more in statements such as his one about the North Carolina bathroom law.
“It just reinforces the idea that he is not the full-throated conservative that he says he is,” the strategist said.
Trump's most serious rival for the GOP nomination, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, has seized on the comments about the North Carolina law. Cruz's campaign released an ad highlighting what Trump had said. At a campaign event in Frederick, Md., on Thursday, the senator cited the remarks as a "stark illustration" of why conservatives should not vote for the business mogul.
Mackowiak and O’Connell also independently questioned whether Trump would have the restraint to stick to a more reserved, statesman-like tenor.
That question was heightened even before his remarks in Connecticut on Saturday. At an earlier event, on Friday afternoon, Trump appeared to mimic an Indian accent when discussing a call he had made to a foreign-based call center.
“He already had the image of the fighter who won’t back down, down pat,” said O’Connell. “He has to start demonstrating that he has the steady hand of presidential leadership. The tone and rhetoric is better. But does he have the discipline? We don’t know.”
"Do not think that I came to bring peace... I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34
He will no doubt try, but when the fur starts flying, he will revert to type.
If he throws the people without GEDs into gulags, first, it would be entertaining to see how long his base continues to standby him. Sort of a reverse-Pol Pot.
"It [the draft] is duty rather than slavery. I part with the author on the caviler idea that individual freedom (whatever that may be to the person) leads to nirvana, anyone older that 12 knows that is BS."
-(Midcan5)
"Allow me to masturbate my patriotism furiously and publicly at this opportunity."
-(Ib1yysguy)
"There is no 'equal opportunity' today unless the government makes it so."
-(apple0154 )
"abortion is not killing Its birth control"
-(Desh)
That would be Cruz. Trump is in it for the ego. He's ascending the cursus honorum as a new man outside the political mainstream. He's still has a long way to go. I just don't see the way open for him with a 66% unfavorable view by women and a staggering +90% unfavorable view by minorities. There's no tacking back to the center. Just like there was no taking back the 47% comment by Romney or the "I was again it for I was for it" comment by Kerry. Trump has provided his opponents with far to much ammunition making it very difficult for him to tack back towards the center. There just simply aren't enough angry red necks to get him elected.
You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic!
Rune (05-04-2016)
Again.....LEFT WING PROJECTION appears to be the word of the today. Comparing a conservative to Hitler when..this nation has just endured 8 years of ILLEGAL executive orders attempting to circumvent COMMON LAW....the unconstitutional attack on the Bill of Rights including the 1st and 2nd Amendments. Executive Nation Building in the middle east void of Congressional edict....but its A REPUBLICAN that has yet to serve 1 day in office that is being compared to HITLER? Nope....no IRS scandle here folks, nope....no fast and furious here folks, nope.....no removing heads of states in the middle east and replacing them with the Muslim Brotherhood...nope no refusing to charge Black Panthers with voter intimidation here folks....nope....no suing STATES for simply demanding the RULE OF LAW be enforced going on here folks, nope....no providing ISLE with ARMS in the middle east going on here folks....Hillary was not involved up to her ass in ARMS DEALING in Benghazi....move along...nothing to see here folks.
ITS THE EVIL ASS CONSERVATIVE DEMANDING ENFORCEMENT of the CONSTITUTIONAL RULE OF LAW that is comparable to (wink, wink) HITLER...
As I said....entertaining and laughable. Talk about simple minded DOLTS.
D O L T: A person not very bright, as in anyone that even considers this left wing propaganda as TRUTH.
You dolts do comprehend that FASCISM is a bisexul bitch...no? It swings to both the extreme right and the extreme left. In this case its the EXTREME leftists attempting to paint a MODERATE CONSERVATIVE as some type of fascist when in reality....The personification of FASCISM is setting in the white house at 1600 pa. av. as this propagandized article of projection is being presented....suggesting that anyone that simply demands THE RULE OF LAW BE ENFORCED is the radical. ALINSKY anyone? Do these FASCISTS really believe WE THE PEOPLE are that STUPID? Or have they been dumb downed so much and became so simple minded they actually believe that up is down, white is black and north is south?
There is no REASON or LOGIC on the left, only hate filled EMOTION. Kind'a feminist in nature. Has every Democrat in this nation had their "nads" removed by the Femi-Nazis?
Last edited by Ralph; 05-04-2016 at 06:36 AM.
Callinectes (05-04-2016)
The gender unfavorables are a wash since Hillary doesn't poll well with men. The conventional wisdom is that Trump can't get the minority vote. But the conventional wisdom 0-10 against Trump lol.
The thing with the minority vote is it's not monolithic; blacks are not Hispanics and vice a versa, so he could conceivably get enough of the black vote that the Hispanics are irrelevant. Keep in mind Trump doesn't need to win the minority vote [that onus is on Hillary] he just needs to do enough damage with it to win the election.
In fact, if Trump wanted to be cynical about it, he could steal a page out of the democrats play book and pit the blacks against Hispanics using immigration for leverage.
Coup has started. First of many steps. Impeachment will follow ultimately~WB attorney Mark Zaid, January 2017
FUCK THE POLICE (05-04-2016), Rune (05-04-2016)
He is trying, I heard Trump on Morning Joe this morning and they served him a soft ball to hit Hillary hard on experience and judgment and he quickly turned it around and just talked about his own judgement and ability leaving her alone.
I am not sure of what his strategy is in doing that, but its certainty a departure from what he has been doing in the primary.
4,487
18 U.S. Code § 2071 - Concealment, removal, or mutilation generally
44 U.S.C. 2202 - The United States shall reserve and retain complete ownership, possession, and control of Presidential records; and such records shall be administered in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
LOCK HIM UP!
Hardly. Ike's job as Allied CINC was predominantly political. In fact Marshall promoted him to the position because of his political skills that MacArthur was so critically lacking in.
I doubt I will eat my words. I'm not saying that Trump can't win. I'm saying he has a low probability of winning.
You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic!
Jarod (05-04-2016), Phantasmal (05-04-2016), Rune (05-04-2016)
It is common of the far right to tack to the center and promise the moon before an election, and if they're delivered a victory, follow up with the gulags and genocides. That was what Hitler did. Hardly a mention of antisemitism in 1932 and 1933. Just, "We will make Germany great again!" But he eventually got around to it.
And all he delivered Germany to was the smoking ruin of their nation.
Last edited by FUCK THE POLICE; 05-04-2016 at 08:38 AM.
"Do not think that I came to bring peace... I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34
Phantasmal (05-04-2016), Rune (05-04-2016)
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