Trump tried to humanize himself. Better luck next time

By Michelle Cottle

NEW YORK: Rolling into the Labor Day weekend, Donald Trump was able to relax a little Friday night with a ballroom of smitten women in downtown Washington. He began the week with a controversy over Arlington National Cemetery and ended the week with what smelled like a flip-flop on Florida’s abortion referendum. Trump needs votes from women, and the Arlington and abortion storylines aren’t exactly winners in that regard. So it was interesting to watch him working to firm up a part of his base, at the third annual convention of Moms for Liberty, a conservative group devoted to “parental rights.” He took a stab at addressing the Arlington mess, telling his cleaned-up version of events and whining about how persecuted he is. But mostly, he tried to offer what he thinks women want — Trump unfiltered. Which is, in his head, the ultimate winning strategy.

No doubt, everyone was in a partying mood. Everywhere you looked, there were women rocking Trump T-shirts and cocktail dresses, cowboy boots and stilettos, ponytails and MAGA hats. But Trump’s appearance raised the same question as his recent string of North Carolina rallies: If he’s spending time in safe spaces and once-safe states, when will he start trying to win over on-the-fence women and others who may decide the election?

Forgoing his usual rallies, the former president had agreed to a special “fireside chat” with Moms for Liberty. To signal how cozy and Oprah-esque this was going to be, a vase of red roses sat on a small table beside his large white armchair and the one occupied by Tiffany Justice, a co-founder of the group.

Before the event, Justice shared with me her hopes for the encounter. She wanted Trump to talk parental rights, of course, but she also wanted folks to see a softer side of him: “He’s a dad. He’s a grandfather. He loves his family. We’ve seen him working with his family in politics and business, right? I hope the American people get to know Donald Trump in a little bit of a different way. He’ll get to express his love for his family. I think that’s going to resonate with American voters.”

In theory, this was a brilliant opportunity for Team Trump, which is desperate to humanize the candidate and get him to talk policy rather than simply slag his political enemies. In practice, the evening kept veering off course precisely as you’d expect.

Justice pitched plenty of softballs. Asserting that it was “obvious” Trump loves “being a father and grandfather,” she invited him to share why he continues ”to choose to work with your children in business and politics.” Great time to talk about legacy or family bonds or what a crackerjack attack dog Don Jr. is, right? Wrong!

“I’ve always liked it. I don’t think that I’ll be doing it very much politically,” he said, noting how “unfair” it has been to the kids. Especially Ivanka. “Great student. Beautiful girl.” But everyone was mean to her when she was in the White House. She even gave up her superprofitable womenswear line! And it’s not as though she wanted to be the “United Nations secretary” or ambassador — which he said he wanted her to do. But according to him, she said, “Daddy, I don’t want to do that. I just want to help people get jobs.” He rambled on about how she hired “millions of people during the course of her stay,” before grumpily concluding, “Nothing ever good. It was just very tough.”

Justice also invited Trump to talk about his mother. “She was obviously a very strong woman. Was she hard on you with school?” she asked. “No, she wasn’t,” said Trump. “I had a great mother, a great father.” “Very different people,” he added, but they had a “great” marriage that lasted more than 60 years. “I said, Pop, I’m not going to be able to beat you with that,” he said, laughing.

One might assume that at a Moms for Liberty love-in, Trump would at least pay extra attention to parental rights. One would be mistaken. Now, to be fair, that phrase has become a bloated term applied to pretty much anything that happens around a school that conservatives dislike, from vaccine mandates to discussions of race to a book about the sexuality of sea horses. One member from California told me she had so far gotten 20 books pulled from the schools in her district.

But these days, trans issues are what really juice the faithful, and Trump nodded to that a few times. Asked about the power of the presidency to combat wokeness — “Well, you can do everything!” he crowed — he noted how “incredible” it is that “your kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation.” Um, what? That said, he spent most of his time on the topic talking about Olympic athletes who had “transgendered” — spending extra energy smearing that Algerian boxer, who does not, in fact, identify as trans.

It will surprise no one that in Justice’s tête-à-tête with Trump, the topic of abortion was avoided like ... well, like the former president’s mention of any of his kids not named Ivanka.

Still, there was little Justice could do to keep Trump on track. Not that it mattered to anyone in the room. At evening’s end, the crowd inching toward the escalators was buzzing, and I chatted with some women thrilled simply to have been in the same room with their idol.

But as for the rest of America — all those women and men not already sold on the MAGA king — it’s hard to imagine they saw much of anything different in his fireside chattiness. At least not in a reassuring or humanizing direction.