Well, this is a relief. It turns out that Donald Trump really isn’t a loud, obnoxious, name-calling, insult-throwing, sneering, misogynistic bully.

He was “projecting an image” say his top aides.

Associated Press:

Donald Trump’s chief lieutenants told skeptical Republican leaders Thursday that the GOP front-runner has been “projecting an image” so far in the 2016 primary season and “the part that he’s been playing is now evolving” in a way that will improve his standing among general election voters. The message, delivered behind closed doors in a private briefing, is part of the campaign’s intensifying effort to convince party leaders Trump will moderate his tone in the coming months to help deliver big electoral gains this fall, despite his contentious ways. Even as his team pressed Trump’s case, he raised fresh concern among some conservatives by speaking against North Carolina’s “bathroom law,” which directs transgender people to use the bathroom that matches the sex on their birth certificates. Trump also came out against the federal government’s plan to replace President Andrew Jackson with the civil-rights figure Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. The developments came as the GOP’s messy fight for the White House spilled into a seaside resort in south Florida. While candidates in both parties fanned out across the country before important primary contests in the Northeast, Hollywood’s Diplomat Resort & Spa was transformed into a palm-treed political battleground. Trump’s newly hired senior aide, Paul Manafort, made the case to Republican National Committee members that Trump has two personalities: one in private and one onstage. “When he’s out on the stage, when he’s talking about the kinds of things he’s talking about on the stump, he’s projecting an image that’s for that purpose,” Manafort said in a private briefing. “You’ll start to see more depth of the person, the real person. You’ll see a real different way,” he said. The Associated Press obtained a recording of the closed-door exchange.

Magical, delusional thinking. Republicans who read this should be scared witless by a campaign team that has such a tenuous hold on reality.

Do they think that Democrats are going to let people forget the insults, the juvenile name calling, the outrageous claims? Are they going to scrub the internet of Trump’s incoherent rants and proof of his ignorance of domestic and foreign policy?

“Playing a part,” “projecting and image” — these are the tools of the charlatan, not a candidate for president of the United States.

Even as Mr. Manafort tried to assure GOP leaders that Trump is emerging from his cocoon, ready to make the transformation from ugly caterpillar to beautiful butterfly, The Donald contradicted him:

While Trump’s top advisers were promising Republican leaders that the GOP front-runner would moderate his message, the candidate was telling voters he wasn’t ready to act presidential. “I just don’t know if I want to do it yet,” Trump said during a raucous rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Thursday that was frequently interrupted by protesters. “At some point, I’m going to be so presidential that you people will be so bored,” he said, predicting that the size of his crowds would dwindle if he dialed back his rhetoric.

And into this man’s hands, the GOP is about to commend their party and its future.