Report: Campaign chair says Trump's "behavior can be changed"
Courting congressional Republican aides and other GOP operatives, Donald Trump's newly-named campaign chairman Paul Manafort said Thursday that Trump's "behavior can be changed," according to a report by Politico.
Manafort met with the top Republican staffers at the offices of Washington, D.C. law firm Jones Day, in an attempt to coax more support out of the party's establishment figures.
When questioned about Trump's high negative ratings among the national electorate, Manafort told the Capitol Hill gathering that the rough Republican primary was responsible and that the presumptive nominee's "behavior can be changed" ahead of November. According to Politico's sources, Manafort further emphasized that Ronald Reagan, a Republican party hero, had once been criticized in a similar manner to Trump.
Hillary Clinton, in contrast, had "high negatives" because of her "character," Manafort said. He added that "it's something we can't wait to exploit."
Manafort, whose expanded role within the Trump operation was announced Thursday, said that to appeal to general election voters, the campaign would also make a play for the Latino population. Trump does not currently poll well among Hispanics, in part because of policy proposals like deporting undocumented immigrants and building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, coupled with inflammatory campaign trail comments about Mexican "rapists" and criminals.
This is not the first time Manafort has suggested behind closed doors that Trump will soon "change" his bombastic ways.
Last month, while courting Republican National Committee members during the party's spring meeting in Florida, Manafort assured them Trump was playing a "part" in the primaries and that his "image is going to change."
But Trump knocked down that notion just a day after Manafort issued the statements.
While campaigning in Connecticut, Trump said, "Paul [Manafort] was down in Florida and he said, 'You know, Donald might be changing a little bit over a period of time and he, maybe he'll tone it down, maybe he won't... But who knows what happens?' I sort of don't like toning it down."