Eavesdropping: Dave Ross hears delegate admit Trump ‘could actually win’
Jul 22, 2016, 5:37 AM | Updated: 6:37 am
Before Thursday’s speech Donald Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, did a walk through with the teleprompter.
“The font is good for you Dad?” Ivanka asked.
“I like that size if you want to make it bigger for Ivanka do it,” Trump said.
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And then they stuck to a script that promised to remodel the Republican Party.
“He is color blind and gender neutral,” Ivanka said.
Ivanka explained that at her father’s company there are more female executives than male executives. Women, she said, are paid equally. And when a woman becomes a mother they are supported, not shunned.
And Trump himself had a message for the party.
“I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens…” Trump said.
By the way, the Q in LGBTQ was an ad lib — not in the original script. It represents a category known as Queer or Questioning. And when the Republican crowd cheered that line, Trump paused to thank them.
Then there was another significant moment: when the crowd broke into the “Lock Her Up” chant after a line about Hillary Clinton, instead of joining in or shouting Crooked Hillary, Trump gently corrected them.
“Let’s defeat her in November,” he said.
I eavesdropped on a few delegates on the bus ride to the hotel. They are still terrified of his trade policy and worried he’s too much like a Democrat, but they trust him more than Hillary Clinton. And I heard one of them say, “For the first time, I think he could actually win.”