Donald Trump’s victory in his native New York on Tuesday was huge, as the candidate would say. This week’s primaries in five other East Coast states will probably be good for him, too.
But more intriguing than Trump’s renewed popularity at the ballot box is a less expected development: He finally appears to be thinking strategically.
Over the last two weeks, the famously impulsive real estate promoter has stopped giving nonstop television interviews, reassessed his campaign plan, and made some significant changes.
He’s belatedly realized that his team of insurgents is failing miserably at the basic job of organizing for state caucuses and conventions where delegates are chosen. As a result, Cruz’s campaign is scooping up dozens of delegates in states where Trump actually finished first.
Trump demoted his pugnacious campaign manager. The candidate hired a new team of campaign mechanics, including the venerable Paul J. Manafort (who rounded up convention delegates for Gerald Ford in 1976). And just like a traditional politician, Trump has begun courting members of Congress and other GOP power brokers who might support him.
He’s planning a series of non-impromptu speeches on weighty subjects from the economy to foreign affairs, to show — contrary to every impression he’s given so far — that he actually has pondered what a president should do.
Perhaps most significant, there are signs that Trump is willing to spend some money to win the nomination, despite months of bragging that he wouldn’t need to.
None of this means that Trump has lost any of his essential Trumpness. His end-stage strategy includes a dose of anti-establishment bluster, too.
He has accused the Republican National Committee of “rigging” the process against him and of administering “a corrupt system.” He has accused Cruz of stealing delegates, when all Cruz did was exploit rules that have been in place for more than a year.
At this point, only one last element is missing from Trump’s strategy: An old-fashioned effort to woo uncommitted delegates.
Amazingly, there are few limits on what a candidate can do to try to win a delegate’s vote — short of an explicit cash bribe or a promise of federal office.
Manafort knows the rules well. When he was working for Ford’s re-election campaign, the candidate invited delegates to White House dinners and rides on Air Force One to bring them into his camp.
Trump claims he doesn’t want to do that.
“Look, nobody has better toys than I do,” he said this week.
But, he added, “that’s a corrupt system.”
We’ll see how long his self-denial lasts. Other campaigns are already making promises, and if Trump stays clear of that kind of deal-making, he’s not the man I think he is.
A presidential campaign is supposed to test whether a candidate can handle complicated, fast-paced challenges under pressure. Or, as Trump would say, does he know how to make a deal? We’re about to find out.
Doyle McManus is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Email: doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com
