The Real Never Trump Campaign

Last week in Palm Beach, Donald Trump’s campaign adviser Paul Manafort gave a presentation to Republican National Committee members on how the candidate would make himself less toxic in a general election, and someone leaked a tape of the proceedings to the Washington Post. In the primaries Trump had been “playing a part,” Manafort assured his audience, and he would play a different one in the general. That got the headlines. But Manafort said something else interesting, too. Trump’s problems, he claimed, were only matters of “personality.” Hillary Clinton’s ran deeper, to “character.” Fixing personality issues “is a lot easier,” according to Manafort. “You can’t change somebody’s character, but you can change the way a person presents himself.”