Donald Trump's new strategist, Paul Manafort, is trying to soften his candidate's harsh image, but recent events in cities across the country are making that exceedingly difficult: the conflicts between police departments and those protesting their treatment of black men.
Mr. Trump is known for cheering on those in the crowd at his rallies who resort to violence, even offering to pay legal fees they may incur in the process. Cheering on that kind of behavior obviously is not what the country needs right now from the presumptive presidential nominee of a major party.
It's especially hard to defend in light of the report from Dallas Police Chief David Brown that the black man who shot and killed five police officers said he wanted to kill white officers.
At a time the nation's president and its presumptive Democratic nominee are calling for a coming together of all Americans, Mr. Trump's racial comments about blacks, Mexicans and Muslims throughout his campaign have already badly marked him as a serial societal divider.
Right after the Dallas shootings, Mr. Trump's campaign staff attempted to set up an appearance at a New York City Police Department roll call. Commissioner William Bratton, however, interceded, commenting, "We're not in the business of providing photo-ops for our candidates" in this contentious time.
Mr. Trump then made a video statement in which he deplored the shootings but made no mention of the fact that it was black man who committed them. He called the episode "an attack on our country" and said it was "a coordinated, premeditated assault on the men and women who keep us safe."
Casting it entirely in terms of law enforcement, Mr. Trump said: "We must restore law and order. We must restore the confidence of our people to be safe and secure in their homes and on the street."
Segueing to the earlier shootings of blacks by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, Mr. Trump spoke, erroneously, of the "senseless, tragic deaths of two motorists" held at police gunpoint in their cars that "remind us of how much more needs to be done." Only one of the victims was a motorist.
These boilerplate observations failed to address the issue of police targeting of blacks, calling only for prayers for the "police officers and first responders who risk their lives to protect us every single day." Mr. Trump said only that America "has become too divided. Too many Americans feel like they've lost hope. Crime is harming too many citizens. Racial tensions have gotten worse, not better. This isn't the American Dream we all want for our children."
While sounding like Richard Nixon in the heydays of his winning law-and-order presidential campaign of 1968, there was no bombast in Mr. Trump's remarks as he followed his script. "We must stand in solidarity with law enforcement," he said, describing the police as the force "between civilization and chaos."
The restrained marks pleased conservative leader Erick Erickson, writing on his Red State internet site that Mr. Trump "did the smartest thing he has ever done. ... He shut up. He gave us time off." But then Mr. Erickson added, "We'll see how long it lasts."
The problem for Mr. Trump, however, is not that he speaks out on major public issues; it's what and how he says it. Even a temporary lull in the Trump tirade inevitably brings recollections and references to the wild bluster that has customarily come from him before.
In circumstances that cry out for responsible leadership, it is not enough for Mr. Trump to moderate his tone. The current crisis in racial relations demands constructive and conciliatory proposals, and we've yet to hear from him in that vein, as Manafort strives to present him as a more acceptable nominee.
Jules Witcover is a syndicated columnist and former long-time writer for The Baltimore Sun. His latest book is "The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power" (Smithsonian Books). His email is juleswitcover@comcast.net.