Donald Trump is making a deliberate effort to soften his tone.
Or is he?
I have thought about this, having interviewed Trump twice this year, including two weeks before the election. He was focused and strict, trying to reach a private audience, and while taking campaign-style photos, he was restricted by Trumpian values.
Now that he's the de facto president, I've seen the same Trump shown in a “Meet the Press” interview. Kristen Welker's follow-up must have pissed her off, because she told her she asked “bad” questions.
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During the campaign, such episodes were overshadowed by Trump's rock-n-roll rallies, where he talked about the great Hannibal Lecter or the sexuality of Arnold Palmer. But his announcement on NBC that he also wants to stand up for those who didn't vote for him is a far cry from his 2017 “American carnage” inauguration speech.
And yet, the president-elect has also mastered the art of saying things that can be interpreted in two ways, or sending non-coded messages.
The Washington Post's editorial board, which is not a big fan, says Trump “tried to strike a conciliatory tone” with Welker, backed by the facts.
President-elect Trump appears to be making a concerted, deliberate effort to moderate his tone and rhetoric. (Screenshot/NBC)
Trump has announced that he will not fire Fed chief Jerome Powell, and wants to work with Democrats to protect Dreamers. Trump said he “will not limit the availability of abortion drugs nationally, and that the United States will 'stay' in NATO, as long as other member states cancel their defense pledges.”
And why shouldn't he seem reasonable? He has since received a job that he believes was unfairly taken from him. He can't run anymore. He knows that his first term was marred by a left-leaning media establishment. If he can have a successful second term – after turning on top assistants in the last round – he could change the course of history.
And that brings us to the question of revenge. He said on NBC that the best return is success, the same line he used with me. On “Meet the Press” he even retracted the campaign's announcement that he would name a special prosecutor to succeed Joe Biden.
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When Welker asked if he would order the Justice Department, which he felt had prosecuted him, to investigate Biden and his administration, Trump gave an answer I doubt he would have given the first time.
No, he said that would be up to his attorney general and the FBI director, which would be Pam Bondi and maybe Kash Patel. Would he tell them to do it? No.
It's called distancing.
Now one could argue that he was actually suggesting that they do it by announcing it on national television. But I'm sure they knew his ideas anyway.
Trump's one misstep on NBC was criticizing members of the House Committee on Jan. 6. He said Liz Cheney “did something for no reason, and [Bennie] Thompson and the people on the Select Committee on Political Criminals and, you know, they're crazy,” Trump told moderator Kristen Welker, arguing without evidence that they “deleted and destroyed evidence.” “True, they should go to jail.”
So that was a gift to his critics, which led many journalists to join him in calling for the lawmakers to be arrested. However, their investigations and hearings are protected by the Speech and Debate clause, which gives members immunity.
This changed “Trump 2.0” reared its head during an interview on Meet the Press with NBC's Kristen Welker. (Screenshot/NBC)
Trump's senior adviser, Jason Miller, told CNN that his boss's words were taken “out of context,” that he “wants everyone he puts in key leadership positions … to apply the law equally to everyone,” Bondi and Patel said. .
In the same way, Trump largely avoided attacks on individual journalists, this after saying that he would reach out even to hostile areas. But he did something different and mocked Maggie Haberman of the New York Times when she co-wrote a few stories he didn't like.
So will we be getting Trump 2.0, or Trump 1.0 with a bunch of nice packages?
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But I still believe that we are seeing the most disciplined, self-controlled and balanced Trump so far. He campaigned to shake things up, so there's a lot of conflict to be had. What is impressive is that he is already in charge of the country while Biden has faded and, since the amnesty, refuses to speak to the media.
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