Really??!! If the very Jewish NYT thinks that Trump is “hardening” the Republican Party’s tone on race, are they ever going to call on the Democratic Party and the mulatto in the White House to soften their tone on race? Obama’s unsoftened attitudes–“If I had a son, he’d look like Travyon“, et cetera, have led to towns on fire, riots, demonstrations, and the murder of police officers. How can Trump compete? The people whose attitudes Trump is hardening are WHITE. But if Trump ‘softens’ because he signed the pledge not to run as a Third party candidate, we’re toast.
Republicans Fear Donald Trump Is Hardening Party’s Tone on Race
Republicans are growing increasingly concerned that Donald J. Trump’s inflammatory language is damaging the party, fearing that his remarks are hardening the tone of other candidates on racial issues in ways that could repel the voters they need to take back the White House.
Some party leaders worry that the favorable response Mr. Trump has received from the Republican electorate is luring other candidates to adopt or echo his remarks. It is a pattern, they say, that could tarnish the party’s image among minority voters.
“Any candidate that allows Trump to dictate the conversation about what they’re campaigning on is going to be harmed irreparably,” said Josh Holmes, a Republican strategist and the architect of Senator Mitch McConnell’s re-election campaign in Kentucky last year. “And to the extent that there are mainstream candidates dragged into the musings of Trump on a day-to-day basis is really bad news for us.”
Since he entered the race in June with a declaration that Mexican immigrants were rapists and drug traffickers, Mr. Trump has given voice to conservative activists’ unease with America’s changing demography. But his attack last week on Jeb Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail set off a new, more intense wave of anger from Republicans who say they believe that Mr. Trump’s widely covered provocations are becoming toxic for a party struggling to appeal to nonwhite voters.
“Knocking somebody because they have the skills to reach out to another community that has plenty of conservatives is political malpractice,” said Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma. “If we’re going to be a majority party in the 21st century, we’re going to have to be a multiracial, multiethnic and inclusive party.”
Mr. Trump has become a deeply polarizing figure, polls show. While his standing among whites has inched up in recent months, he is highly unpopular among blacks and Hispanics. A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that only 15 percent of African-Americans and 15 percent of Hispanics view him favorably, while more than 80 percent of each group views him unfavorably.
Yet as summer nears its end, Mr. Trump shows few signs of fading, leading to unease among Republican leaders, not because they believe the developer and reality TV star will become their nominee, but because of how he is shaping the campaign conversation.
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