A new and reformed Trump?

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Rhetorical gymnastics on full display..

Donald Trump's campaign is attempting to simultaneously soften his position on immigration without alienating voters who support his hardline stance. In a series of interviews on Sunday, high-profile members and allies of the campaign — such as vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, and Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus — refused to answer Trump would follow through on his plan to deport the millions of immigrants living in the country illegally.

Yet each also insisted that Trump's plan was "consistent" with the immigration platform he touted during the Republican presidential primaries.  "Nothing has changed about Donald Trump's position on dealing with immigration," Pence said during an interview on CNN's "State of the Union."

When repeatedly pressed by CNN host Jake Tapper over whether Trump still supported a so-called deportation force, Pence said it was more of a "mechanism, not a policy." But he did not elaborate on Trump's plan.

Conway took the argument slightly further, reiterating that the deportation force may be off the table, as she did in an interview last weekend.

Donald Trump's campaign scrambles on deportation rhetoric - Business Insider

A "mechanism, not a policy" LOL.

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Last month, the Donald Trump campaign promised a reset of its minority outreach efforts, aimed at reversing Trump's tanking poll numbers among voters of color and his lack of support among nonwhite political figures. After his hardline immigration speech on Wednesday night, it looks like that effort isn't going well. Three campaign surrogates have revoked or are reconsidering their support for Trump following his speech in Phoenix, Politico reports.

Latino Trump Surrogates Withdraw Support After Immigration Speech | Mother Jones

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In their joint news conference, Mr. Trump’s diplomatic tone surprised and impressed supporters and non-supporters. There was none of his trademark bluster. When asked by a reporter, Mr. Trump acknowledged that they had discussed the wall but not who would pay for it, prompting people to wonder whether he was being more conciliatory in his approach. Feeling pretty good, Mr. Trump flew to Arizona to give a much-awaited speech on his immigration policy.

When he landed, Mr. Trump learned that Mr. Peña Nieto had pulled the rug out from under him–and that he had used only 90 characters to do it. In a move that could have been straight from Mr. Trump’s unorthodox campaign, Mexico’s president tweeted that he began their private meeting by saying Mexico would never pay for the wall.

That tweet transformed the dynamic of the day. Heading into the candidate’s big speech, Trump campaign surrogates were forced to spend time responding to the tweet. For many Trump skeptics, the tweet erased his moment as a conciliatory diplomat and reinforced the notion that he was a novice out of his depth. For Trump supporters, they not only didn’t see their candidate stand up to Mexico’s president: They saw him get played by Mexico’s president. 

Mr. Trump didn’t help matters with his address. If there was any sense that he would (as his campaign advisers had said) adopt a softer tone, his remarks in Phoenix put that to bed. And his Twitter exchanges with the Mexican president about the wall over the next day further undermined the image of a productive meeting.

How Mexico’s President Beat Donald Trump at His Own Game - Washington Wire - WSJ