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Trump 2.0? Don't Bet On It

By Clarence Page, Tribune Content Agency on

Oh, so now Donald Trump cares about whom he offends?

The New York billionaire's Republican presidential candidacy is in for a makeover. In fact, his new campaign adviser Paul Manafort told a meeting of Republican National Committee leaders in Hollywood, Fla., that the Donald's pivot to a more cool and cuddly candidate already has begun.

"You'll start to see more depth of the person, the real person," said Manafort, according to a recording obtained by the Associated Press in the closed-door meeting. "You'll see a real different way."

"The negatives will come down," Manafort said. "The image is going to change."

Is he -- and Trump -- for real? The announced transformation conveniently comes at a time when Trump is trying to woo a constituency he underestimated, if he expected it at all: Republican convention delegates who do the actual nominating of the party's presidential candidate.

Will Trump change his tone? Will he no longer sound like the guy sitting at the end of the bar in a monster truck rally T-shirt, complaining about whatever gripe comes into his head?

 

Maybe but I doubt it. Trump has signaled makeovers before but, like his positions on abortion and some other touchy issues, they didn't last long.

For example, in a touch of grace on the evening after his New York primary victory, Trump referred to his opponent Ted Cruz as "Sen. Cruz." But by the next afternoon in Indianapolis, Trump was back to attacking "Lyin' Ted."

More recently he mocked his other opponent, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, for his "disgusting" style of eating at campaign stops.

"At some point I'm going to be so presidential that you people will be so bored," Trump said a Harrisburg, Pa., rally but, "I just don't know if I want to do it yet."

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(c) 2016 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

 

 

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