Donald Trump senior aide Paul Manafort said Thursday behind closed doors at a Republican National Committee meeting that Trump is “projecting an image” that will change at he moves toward the general election.
Manafort was speaking at a private briefing at the RNC spring meeting in Hollywood, Fla.
“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 audio obtained by The Associated Press.
He added, “You’ll start to see more depth of the person, the real person. You’ll see a real different way.”
The Trump campaign has been attempting to assuage the fears of RNC members as the New York businessman gets closer to clinching the nomination. RNC member Steve Duprey said on Wednesday, “There are a fair number of RNC members who were discounting his chances of success when we met in January and now see that he’s building a substantial lead and may in fact get to 1,237 before we get to the convention.”
Manafort in the meeting said, “he gets it. 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.”
He added, “the image is going to change.”
Trump has spoken of the move to moderate his tone, at a rally Thursday he said, “at some point, I’m going to be so presidential that you people will be so bored.”