Trump Begins to Unify the GOP

Nearing the GOP nomination for president, Donald Trump has begun reaching out beyond his inner circle in an attempt to unify the fractious Republican Party, journalist Robert Costa said Thursday.

Costa, who has covered the 2016 campaign for the Washington Post, said on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that Trump has improved as a candidate and has begun calling party leaders.

“I’ve been with Trump for the last week, covering him,” he said. “He’s a more seasoned candidate than he’s ever been. He’s not really expanding his campaign. It remains a tight ship. But … he’s expanding his circle. He’s making calls daily, not just to Capitol Hill but to thinkers.”

Costa noted that Trump has no campaign pollster or other staples of a modern presidential campaign, and largely operates by gut instinct. He said Republican leaders have been surprised by how accessible Trump is because there are not multiple layers of aides and policy advisers to get through.

“Trump’s a fascinating guy to cover,” he said. “He doesn’t use email. He’s all about printing things that are sent to him and reading them. He reads letters. And he totally loves working the phones.”

Establishment Republicans have been slow to embrace Trump, and many still are trying to conjure scenarios by which they might block him at a contested convention. But Costa said such options increasingly look farfetched — even if Trump falls short of the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination before the Republican National Convention.

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“Trump’s likely to be the leader, if not clinching it, close to clinching it,” he said. “And it’s going to be very difficult to come up with a second-ballot strategy … If Trump continues to pick up momentum, it makes that fantasy, that possibility, more difficult.”

Costa added, “The more Trump wins these primaries — this ‘Never Trump’ movement is real. But so is the idea of winning.”

By November, Costa said, Trump and his current competitors will have a common enemy. He cited conversations he has had with party leaders.

“All they kept telling me, on different calls, is once Trump gets the nomination, watch the party get behind him, because he’s such a warrior when it comes to taking on Secretary Clinton,” he said. “And that’s going to excite the party when he starts hammering her on issue after issue.”