Conciliatory messages at the Republican convention were an acknowledgment by the president’s campaign that appealing to his right-wing base will not be enough to win re-election.
It is President Trump’s clearest path to re-election: winning back the suburbs in a handful of swing states that drifted from the Republican Party in the 2018 midterms. And that imperative has been vividly apparent each night of the party’s national convention, with speakers and videos trying to recast Mr. Trump’s divisive record, which hurt Republicans two years ago. There have been glowing tributes from women, scenes of friendly banter between Mr. Trump and immigrants and a Black family, and stories from people he reached out to in their times of despair.
