A kinder, gentler Trump? The president-elect takes a more moderate stance

Donald Trump is making a deliberate effort to soften his tone.

Or is it him?

I’ve thought about this a lot after interviewing Trump twice this year, including two weeks before the election. He was focused and substantial, trying to reach a more independent audience, and while he took some campaign-style photos, he was relatively restrained by Trumpian standards.

Now that he’s the de facto president, I saw a similar Trump in the “Meet the Press” interview. Kristen Welker’s follow-ups must have bothered him, because he told her that she had asked him “nasty” questions.

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During the campaign, those episodes were overshadowed by Trump’s rock and roll rallies, where he rambled about the great Hannibal Lecter or Arnold Palmer’s genitals. But his statement on NBC that he also wants to represent those who didn’t vote for him is a far cry from his 2017 inaugural speech about “American carnage.”

And yet, the president-elect has also mastered the art of saying things that can be interpreted in two ways, or sending not-so-coded messages.

He Washington Post Editorial BoardNot a big fan, he says Trump “tried to take a conciliatory tone” with Welker, backed by substance.

Trump declared that he would not fire Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell and wants to work with Democrats to protect Dreamers. Trump said he would “not restrict the domestic availability of abortion drugs and that the United States will ‘absolutely’ remain in NATO as long as other member states spend what they have pledged on defense.”

And why shouldn’t it seem more reasonable? He has the job that he believes was unjustly taken from him. He can’t run again. He knows that his first term was savagely attacked by the left-wing media establishment. If he can have a more successful second term – after turning to some of his top advisers in the last round – he could change the verdict of history.

And that brings us to the question of compensation. He said on NBC that the best reward is success, the same line he used with me. On “Meet the Press” he even walked back a campaign statement that he would appoint a special prosecutor to go after Joe Biden.

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When Welker asked whether he would order the Justice Department, which he believes has persecuted him, to investigate Biden and his administration, Trump gave an answer I doubt he would have offered in his first term.

No, he said, that would be up to his attorney general and FBI director, which will definitely be Pam Bondi and probably Kash Patel. Would you tell them to do it? No.

It’s called distancing.

Now you could argue that he was actually suggesting they do it by announcing it on national television. But I’m sure they knew his views anyway.

Trump’s only misstep on NBC was lashing out at members of the House January 6 Committee. He said Liz Cheney “did something that is inexcusable, along with (Bennie) Thompson and the Non-Select Committee people who are political thugs and, you know, disgusting,” Trump told moderator Kristen Welker, arguing without evidence that they “deleted and They destroyed “testimony. “Honestly, they should go to jail.”

So that was a gift to his critics, allowing most journalists to follow his example of wanting lawmakers behind bars. By the way, its investigation and hearings are protected by the Speech and Debate clause, which grants immunity to members.

Trump’s senior adviser, Jason Miller, told CNN that his boss’s words had been taken “out of context,” that he “wants everyone he puts in key leadership positions… to apply the law equally to everyone”, mentioning Bondi and Patel. .

Similarly, Trump has mostly avoided attacks on individual journalists, this after saying he would reach out even to hostile media outlets. But he made an exception and mocked the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman when she co-authored a couple of stories he didn’t like.

So will we have Trump 2.0 or Trump 1.0 with lots of fancy packaging?

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Veteran Trump watchers know that he can get off track when he gets angry, that it’s not just about mass deportations, reducing inflation and drills, baby, drills.

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But I still believe that so far we are seeing a more disciplined, restrained and moderate Trump. He campaigned to change things, so there are many confrontations to develop. The fascinating thing is that he is essentially already running the country, while Biden has faded away and, since the pardon fiasco, has refused to speak to the press.