A senior aide to Donald Trump told Republican Party officials that the candidate’s actions are part of a planned image. And that image will change as the election continues to unfold.
In a recording of the meeting with Republican National Committee members obtained by the Associated Press, senior Trump aide Paul Manafort said Trump will start to reveal “the real person” he is, not the bombastic, often controversial one he is on stage.
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“When he’s out on the stage, when he’s talking about the kinds of things he’s talking about on the stump, he’s projecting an image that’s for that purpose,” Manafort said in the private meeting. “You’ll start to see more depth of the person, the real person. You’ll see a real different guy.”
Manafort added: “The part that he’s been playing is evolving into the part that now you’ve been expecting, but he wasn’t ready for, because he had first to complete the first phase. The negatives will come down. The image is going to change.”
Some party officials welcomed Manafort’s message, while others raised concerns about Trump’s authenticity, the AP reported.
During a town hall Thursday on NBC’s “The Today Show,” the Republican presidential front-runner said he will soon make his demeanor more “presidential.”
“It’s easier for me to be presidential than for me to be doing what I’ve been doing for the last, really, nine months,” Trump said. “But at the right time, I will be so presidential, you will be so bored. You will say, can’t he have a little bit more energy?”
