Yes, and that’s why he said today that’s he’s going to be nice after all the screeching about him not being nice.
He knows how to campaign as an insurgent in an establishment world.
He also knows the mood of the electorate is anti-establishment, not policy driven.
This is merely the manner in which The Donald negotiates.
First he makes a statement, or stakes out a position, that is patently silly or outrageous. Then he backs off a little, and offer something a little less ridiculous, and it sounds so much better than his first offer, that the opposition seizes upon the lesser offer, which is rather much closer to what The Donald wanted in the first place.
Seeing that The Donald has been argued into a more “reasonable” stance, the opposition, in their new-found (but false) confidence then makes a counter offer. The Donald, no fool he, then begins to pick apart the opposing position, at the fringes, and rapidly nibbling away at the edges, soon has the supposed “victory” hollowed out, and the collapse into the very position The Donald wanted in the first place.
Even if you may not like the outcome, you have to admire the technique.