Trump may bring more policy, less hype to AIPAC speech

WASHINGTON – A day before controversial Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is to address a plenary session of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference, the real estate mogul-turned-politician’s campaign signaled that a calmer, more presidential Trump might appear on stage at the pro-Israel confab.

Trump is likely to face one of his toughest audiences in recent months as he faces a pro-Israel crowd at Washington DC’s Verizon Center as the only GOP candidate who has said he favored neutrality over support for Israel in peace talks with the Palestinians.

But on Sunday, Trump suggested he would not bring his trademark brash, tough-talking, detail-avoiding rhetoric to the conference. In a preview of the themes his Monday evening speech would address, he seemed to back away from his promise to remain “neutral” in brokering an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Trump, who was roundly criticized by his Republican opponents for insisting on that neutrality, emphasized his support for Israel on Sunday while arguing that a peace deal “would be in Israel’s interests.”

Trump pledged that he would work to broker such a peace deal, promising to deliver the details of such a deal during his address to AIPAC.

“Well, you can hear what I’m going to say at the speech, and I’ll save it for that; there’s nobody more pro-Israel than I am,” Trump said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday morning. “I think making a deal would be in Israel’s interests,” he continued.

“I don’t know one Jewish person that doesn’t want to have a deal, a good deal, a proper deal, but a really good deal,” Trump asserted, adding that such a deal would be “one of the toughest” deals to make “because there’s so many decades of hatred between the two sides.”

If he makes good on his promise to offer details of his views on Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, it would mark a rare departure from a campaign better known for sweeping promises that has studiously avoided delving into the nitty-gritty of policy.

Casino mogul and Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, a well-known backer of Israeli right-wing parties and leaders, has indicated in recent days that he would support a Trump run in the general elections. But Trump has struggled with other Jewish audiences, including Republican ones.

He was openly booed in December at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Candidates’ Forum when he refused to commit to moving the US embassy from its current location in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

There were other indications that the Trump who will arrive in Washington on Monday will try to show he can fit the mold of a more mainstream politician.

In a marked departure from his usual off-the-cuff speaking style, Trump is reported to be preparing a formal speech for AIPAC, and has consulted Jewish advisers about its content.

And before he appears at the conference, the candidate who has bandied his anti-establishment credentials will hold a series of meetings with Republican legislators and operatives at a DC law firm within walking distance of Capitol Hill.

The meeting, brokered by pro-Trump Senator Jeff Sessions, will be followed by a press conference.

Despite the apparent departure from his populist style, Trump will not completely abandon his trademark showmanship while in the capital. In addition to his political commitments Monday, the real estate mogul will host a group of reporters on a walk-through of a hotel he is building in the city’s historic Old Post Office Building.

For all his efforts, however, Trump is likely to find it difficult to put his campaign-trail performances entirely behind him. In recent weeks, violence has marred a number of his campaign events, and his supporters have been accused of physically attacking anti-Trump protesters.

Whatever image Trump hopes to convey on Monday, he faces hundreds of AIPAC delegates who plan to protest his past rhetoric, which they say has marginalized women, Muslims, immigrants and the disabled. AIPAC leaders have repeatedly urged delegates to behave civilly during his speech.

Trump’s speech will take place in the same plenary session as his Republican rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich, whose participation was announced after Fox News called off a Republican debate scheduled for the same evening.