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Everything you had said I find plausible.

But I also kind of find it plausible that his complete twitter weirdness and crudeness is actually a benefit, depending on how mad everyone who is going to bother to vote in the general actually is. I can see a lot of folks maybe thinking ‘hey he has pulled back, I like when he was outraging everyone and making them clutch their pearls, so maybe he is just like everyone else, I’ll just not vote again.’ Do you think the average voter cares enough about that crudeness stuff as much as they did in 1980? Maybe, especially the women thing. But the ones that never got involved before, and are only in now to vote Trump? I don’t know.

Freegards

I can see a lot of folks maybe thinking ‘hey he has pulled back, I like when he was outraging everyone and making them clutch their pearls, so maybe he is just like everyone else, I’ll just not vote again.’

I don't think that's likely. I think the people who have been so enthusiastic about the guy aren't going to not vote just because they see him toning it down a bit for the general election.

Do you think the average voter cares enough about that crudeness stuff as much as they did in 1980?Maybe, especially the women thing. But the ones that never got involved before, and are only in now to vote Trump? I don’t know.

I know a lot of "mainstream" Republican voters who are really turned off by that stuff, and may well sit out. Male and female.

My view is a bit different. I really don't mind occasional crudeness. I spent a bunch of years in the Marines and have heard -- and said -- all of it before. What really bothers me with him are two things. The first is his open condemnation of the GOP, which I think really helps the Democrats down-ticket. And the second is what I see as the deliberate, extreme dumbing down of the campaign. Conservative values (limited government, self-reliance, etc.) really only have a chance of catching on if people actually think about them. On a purely emotional level, the "soak the rich" and class warfare, "us against them" attitudes will win every time. And I see Trump as stoking some of those fires that may burn things he and his supporters did not expect.

So personally, I really need to see him put a sock in it for a bit, or I won't vote for him.