Trump chilled by cold Election Day reality

Trump chilled by cold Election Day reality
The Republican will strike a moderate tone on immigration as he searches for a path through the swing states.
By ELI STOKOLS 08/31/16 05:21 AM EDT

PHOENIX — When Donald Trump walks on stage here Wednesday, he will be guided by anti-immigration zealots to a more moderate-sounding platform, one that represents a pragmatic calculation of his Election Day challenge if not a deeper belief in the unforgiving border policy that won him the Republican nomination.

Conflicting advice from Trump’s remade inner circle of advisers — including former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, newly installed campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and campaign CEO Steve Bannon — and the outside counsel of conservative mega-donor Sheldon Adelson have led to a series of muddled statements that have left Trump sounding at times like President Barack Obama and his former GOP rivals on immigration, not a hard-liner ready to deport illegal immigrants.

“Trump cannot get the current levels of Latino votes he’s getting in Florida, Colorado and Nevada and win,” one campaign source, speaking privately, acknowledged. “He’s just trying to soften the rhetoric just a little bit. They should have understood sooner the logistical impossibility of what they were saying about mass deportations and the potential political damage, but here we are.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/trump-chilled-by-cold-election-day-reality-227572