Trump: "If I was totally presidential ... you'd be falling asleep"
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. --Donald Trump's new campaign manager is now telling Republicans they'll be introduced to an evolving candidate, one with "depth."
"If I was totally presidential, we have 10,000 people here or something I'd have about 300 and you'd be falling asleep after 20 minutes okay?" Trump said.
It was a message designed to ease the fears of Republican delegates like New Hampshire's Steve Duprey.
"They understand a general election is very different. You actually have to talk substantive policy and you have to speak to a general audience in a different way than you have a primary."
Ted Cruz said the comments prove Trump has been lying all along.
"These are their words -- that all of this is just a show. That he doesn't believe anything he's saying, he's just trying to fool gullible voters," he said.
Trump supporters said they understood why the candidate has been so brash.
"He had to do what he had to do. He had 17 people up there debating and he put em all down. He was the man," said one voter. "Sometimes you have to call the baby ugly if its ugly. You can only put lipstick on a pig so many times," said another.
Ted Cruz is mathematically out of winning the race. Now all he can do is be a spoiler, never a nice thing to do. I will beat Hillary!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 20, 2016
But Republican delegates remain concerned that Trump's divisive rhetoric could lead to chaos at a possible contested convention this summer.
RNC chairman Reince Priebus said he's not nervous yet: "I just kind of take one day at a time and one issue at a time."
Some delegates are still steaming at Trump's criticism of party nominating rules, which Priebus called science fiction, and several delegates said Trump should have come to make his case in person -- like Cruz and Kasich did.