Pressure on Donald Trump to unify Republican party

Key Republican meeting to focus on toning down rhetoric

Presumptive US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will visit Republican lawmakers today in a pivotal meeting where he will face pressure to tone down his rhetoric and clarify his policy positions as a step toward unifying the fractured party.

Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party has shaken the party’s establishment and prompted soul-searching over whether to reluctantly get behind him or cede any role in the November 8 presidential election, when Hillary Clinton is expected to be the Democratic nominee.

Republican officials and lawmakers say Trump has the potential to appeal to a greater number of Republican voters but must make changes to make party leaders more comfortable with him.

“I think he has to show what kind of president that he would be,” said Senator Susan Collins of Maine.

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— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 11, 2016

“But I believe he can do that, so I am not one who has foreclosed the possibility of eventually supporting him. But I need to see more from him.”

Many Republicans have been appalled at Trump’s incendiary style, such as his suggestion last week that former rival Ted Cruz’s father was in contact with Lee Harvey Oswald before Oswald assassinated President John F Kennedy in 1963.

Some Republicans have also been disgusted by some of Trump’s policy proposals, including his declaration that NATO is obsolete and his call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country.

The most high-profile holdout for Trump is House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who is to meet the billionaire real estate developer and Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus.

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1. Cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans
2. Saddle the rest of the country with the debthttps://t.co/xL95NA3Ofn

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 11, 2016

Ryan said last week he was not yet ready to support Trump, prompting Trump to fire back that he was not ready to support Ryan’s agenda.

But yesterday, Trump had warm words for Ryan and said he thought they were doing fine.

“We’ll see what happens” at the meeting, Trump told Fox News. “If we make a deal, that’ll be great. If we don’t, we’ll trudge forward like I’ve been doing.”

Trump’s victory in the Republican nomination fight has created rifts in the party not seen for decades, leading Priebus and other Republicans to try to mend the fissures in order to avoid a potentially disastrous Election Day when control of Congress will also be at stake.

“His hot rhetoric is one of his strengths. He just has to be wiser on when to use the hot rhetoric and pick smarter fights,” said Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary to President George W Bush.

One of Trump’s biggest backers in Washington, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, is trying to win over sceptics on Capitol Hill by arguing that Trump would advance a mainstream Republican agenda.

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— Reuters (@Reuters) May 11, 2016