Donald Trump is testing out themes to use against Democrat Hillary Clinton as the presumptive U.S. Republican presidential nominee tries to persuade disgruntled party loyalists to get behind his campaign.
Some top leaders within his party – U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan among them – are still expressing reluctance to rally behind him but Trump is hoping to entice more support from Republicans by highlighting their common opponent.
On Friday, Trump took aim at Clinton for her use of a private email server while U.S. secretary of state. Clinton has said she did not send or receive information marked as classified. The FBI is investigating whether laws were broken.
“The email scandal should take her down but I don’t think it’s going to because I think she’s being protected by the Democrats,” Trump said on “Fox & Friends,” a television news program that attracts a large conservative viewership.
Trump tried to cast Clinton and Democrats as facing more internal strife.
“If you look at what she’s going to do, she’s going to be so bad on jobs that wages are going to go down for workers,” he said.
Republican Chairman Reince Priebus has already begun his efforts to rally behind Trump, saying at an event Friday hosted by Politico that behind the scenes the candidate is “more gracious and personable than I think you see at rallies.”
“I think there’s work on tone to do,” Priebus said, adding that he has made that point to Trump recently. “I think he gets it. I think you’re going to see it. I think you’re going to see the change in tone.”
In addition to changing tone, Trump also faces an uphill climb to bring the party together. Ryan, the top elected Republican in the United States, said on Thursday he was not ready to support Trump, a sign of lingering establishment concern about the candidate’s position on immigration and trade.
