There has been this amazing, kind of hilarious conversation recently where the media has
become convinced, absolutely convinced that Donald Trump is all of a sudden going to
remake himself into a moderate.
Trump's comments appear a more moderate shift and some are asking, is it a sign of
things to come?
To be fair, this is something Donald Trump and his campaign keep telling them.
His aide Paul Manafort went to a private meeting with Republican National Committee members
and he told them that Donald Trump knew his negatives were terrible, he knew he would
need to change to win a general election, and so, Manafort said, [Trump's] "image is
going to change."
Donald Trump has been saying the same thing himself.
Back in January he told a bunch of voters in Iowa:
"When I'm president I'm a different person, I can do anything. I can be the most politically
correct person that you've ever seen."
Which is not usually what politicians tell voters, that they're completely lying about
who they are and they'll just totally change it as soon as they win the election.
But here's the thing: Donald Trump can't be
the most politically correct person you've ever seen.
He can't be some other guy, the image isn't going to change.
To see this, go back to 1990, when Donald Trump gave this amazing, incredibly telling
interview to Playboy, almost everything Donald Trump says there, he could say today.
But one part of the interview in particular, it sums up his ideology so perfectly.
He says: "People need ego, whole nations need ego. I think our country needs more ego, because
it is being ripped off so badly by our so-called
allies ... They have literally outegotized this country."
For Donald Trump, being this brash, confident egotist, projecting this kind of intense charisma
and power hunger, it's not just personality, it's ideology.
And it has served him in good stead it is the core of not just his presidential campaign,
it is the core of his business.
Trump is a man who puts his name on buildings, on steaks, on board games, on books, on bicycle
races, on golf courses, on bottled water.
He puts it on cologne, he literally has a cologne called "Success" by Donald Trump,
whatever that smells like I can't imagine.
He puts his name on eyeglasses, he became a reality television star through sheer force
of personality.
He was a bit character in the World Wrestling Entertainment, where he body slammed Vince
McMahon and shaved his head.
There's a reason Donald Trump is more famous than your average rich guy.
This is who Donald Trump really is, it is who he has spent decades becoming, it is who
he believes that he needs to be, it is who he believes countries need to be.
This is how he has gotten so rich, it is how he's become so successful, it is how he's
gotten his name everywhere.
It is how he has dominated the Republican primary.
None of it is changing, it's worked to well for him for it to change.
Now, I can imagine what some of you are thinking, that moderation, it's not just about personality,
it's also about policy, and couldn't Donald Trump
just come out and have more moderate policies.
But if that were true, if it were just that,
we wouldn't be having this conversation at all.
The fact of the matter is, Donald Trump, in many cases, has more moderate policies than
most Republicans do already.
He's promised to protect Social Security and Medicare from cuts.
"We're going to save Social Security, we're not going to cut Social Security, we're not
going to cut Medicare."
He's promised that he will cover everyone with government-provided health insurance.
He's promised to tax the rich.
"It reduces or eliminates most of the deductions and loopholes available to special interests
and to the very rich."
None of this has made him a moderate in the eyes of the press, in the eyes of the voters,
none of it has fixed his image problem.
And there's a reason for that: for better or for worse, and sometimes it's for worse,
moderation in American politics is as much a personality type as it is a political position.
The candidates, the politicians who get called moderates, they're cautious, they're compromising,
they're sober, they're comforting in their public demeanor.
Moderation is a political style, not just a political position.
Donald Trump is the opposite of that political style.
He is uncompromising, offensive, even when he's saying things that are moderate in their
substance, he says them in ways that shock people, that insult people.
He's completely contemptuous of political institutions.
"No you're a tough guy, Jeb."
He routinely violates existing standards of decorum.
"I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you"
To reinvent himself as a moderate, in other words, Trump would need to discover not simply
gentler policies, but a gentler personality, a whole different personality.
But he can't do that, not after decades of being Donald Trump, of learning to be Donald
Trump, of finding success by being Donald Trump.
Like all of us, Donald Trump can't escape who he really is.
And he's not some sober, reassuring moderate. He's this guy:
"I could be presidential. But if I was presidential, I would only have about 20 percent of you would be here
because it would be boring as hell, I will say. Now let me be unpresidential just for a little
while longer, and maybe I'll be a little bit unpresidential as I beat Hillary..."