Kinder, Gentler Trump

Trump is adjusting his brand.   Trump is New and Improved!

Marketers understand this.  Consumers experience it.    Brands have power.  And sometimes the contents of the brand needs to change.

I am experiencing this with my melon crop.  Consumers know what it means to be a "cantaloupe."   A Tuscan style cantaloupe is enough like the more-familiar cantaloupe that people try the newish-but-still-cantaloupe, and prefer it.  (It has richer flavor and a sturdier netting so it holds up better in transport.)  People accept them.  They think they know them: a cantaloupe.  They buy them.  

 Local melon shoppers don't know canary melons or Santa Claus melons so they don't try them, so they sit unsold.   You can see a mix of the three melon types in this photo of them on my wash-stand.   The Tuscans have the "cantaloupe" beige color, but with dark green ribs.  The canary melons are canary yellow; the green one my hand is on is the Santa Claus.  I can give away the new melon varieties--which are stunningly wonderful, and friends I hand them to discover they love them--but stores cannot sell them.   Cantaloupes have a brand--an expectation of what it means to be a cantaloupe-- which can be extended to include Tuscan style melons.   But the notion of "cantaloupe" only extends so far, and it doesn't include the other two.

"Cantaloupe" includes the ribbed Tuscan melons, but not the others.

Trump is keeping Trump brand, but extending it--not destroying it.

We know the Trump brand: denunciations of stupid, incompetent predecessors and political rivals, spoken in harsh terms, with simple blunt words.  America should use "extreme" tactics, should do so "viciously", should torture suspected enemies, assassinate enemy family members, imprison Hillary, deport millions, monitor Muslims.  The Trump brand presents a policy of authoritarian nationalism on behalf of the traditional American tribe of native born whites and a tone of harsh belittling treatment for those not included.

Breitbart Story: Pivot to Humility

Trump is doing two things simultaneously with hiring a new campaign team.   He is stepping up his harsh scorched earth criticism of Obama and Hillary Clinton--a straightforward affirmation of his brand.   He is simultaneously showing a "New and Improved!" version of  himself, which may provide better appeal to white educated women, a group he is currently losing badly to Hillary and a group he must recapture if he is going to win the election.   Trump wins among white voters and especially white men without college degrees.   He loses among educated white women.

I observe among that group of people a strong sense that Trump fails the "presidential" test.  He is too blue collar, masculine, rough.   But Trump is trying to pivot.
  

   **Trump admitted he spoke too harshly and said he regretted doing so.  He is sorry.

   **Trump visited Louisiana and its flood victims and did the head-of-state work of consoling the victims of tragedy.  Empathetic Trump.

  **Trump spoke to the problems of poverty of "African-Americans"--a group he had previously used as a foil to push against, not for-- and said his presidency would assist them, and he wanted their vote.  Trump isn't racist, see?   You don't have to be racist to vote for Trump.

What is Trump doing?  He is doing what he needs to do.   

Trump apologizes for having been mean, which is itself a news story.

He is preserving his brand, denouncing Obama and Hillary in the strongest terms, while simultaneously extending the brand so that it appeals to a wider audience,  presenting himself as someone empathetic--a kinder, gentler Trump.  The new Trump gives GOP voters skeptical of Trump a basis for thinking their earlier judgement was too fast, that Trump is capable of change and therefore they could dare vote for him hoping Trump would grow into something they would like.   

Trump shows he is a caring person, not just a harsh one.

Trump is showing a "feminine" side: loving mom, not just dad holding a paddle for spanking.  He is still the strong, masculine authoritarian no-nonsence leader, but he cares about the people in his tribe.

New!  Now with the option of Cranberries!

Trump is expressing the Trump brand extension in a speech and the Trump oriented media and is assisting Trump in getting the word out.   There are skeptics that Trump can stay on this new message, but that makes the extension of the message all the more newsworthy.  Serious people sit at round tables on cable news shows and discuss Trump's ten-word semi-apology. Trump can be nice!  Can it last?   Can Trump stay nice?  Does he really mean it when he says he wants to help black people?  Can Donald Trump both be mean and nasty and also be nice to some people?  Keep watching for breaking news of Trump being nice.  Or keep watching for breaking news of Trump reverting back to being nasty-only.  Trump is a master at manipulating the media.  

Trump is preserving his brand while extending it.   Trump is still Trump, the familiar trusted Trump, denouncing incompetence, corruption, losers, foreigners, and especially Obama and Hillary.   But now with a great new feature.