Donald Trump is going presidential. A triumphant would be Republican presidential nominee arrived in the capital on his spiffy blue, red and white "Trump Force One" to make friends with sulking party bosses under full media glare.
There was no band or guard of honour, but TV cameras followed his cavalcade of SUVs all the way to the party headquarters for his pow wow with "not there yet" House Speaker Paul Ryan with party boss Reince Priebus playing the broker.
With the brash billionaire unleashing the charm offensive, Ryan found him "warm and genuine" though he still would not endorse him despite growing pressure from rank and file Republican lawmakers.
"While we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground," they said in a joint statement vowing to keep up the dialogue going to "unify our party and win this fall."
Priebus, who was quick to declare Trump the presumptive nominee after the Manhattan mogul vanquished establishment's last man standing Ted Cruz in Indiana on May 3, called it "great," and "a good first step toward unifying our party."
The reality TV star then headed to the Capitol Hill to meet the senate leaders who "actually kind of liked him," as one of them put it.
Others were impressed at how "genial" and "affable" he was in person with Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn saying he understood that Trump is more of a "showman" in public.
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After making friends and influencing lawmakers on the Hill, Trump dressed in a dark blue suit and a blazing red Republican tie headed for the Ronald Reagan National Airport with his trademark wave turning into a thumbs up.
As the billionaire's Boeing 757 emblazoned with "TRUMP" taxied on the runway before taking off for New York, Trump tweeted: "Great day in D.C. with @SpeakerRyan and Republican leadership. Things working out really well!"
But those hoping that Trump would change his ways are in for a disappointment. As Comparing his candidacy to hit Broadway shows and championship baseball teams, he told the New York Times, that success begot success and that he would be foolish to change his behavior now.
"You win the pennant and now you're in the World Series - you gonna change?" Trump said. "People like the way I'm doing."
Meanwhile, support was building up for Trump from coast to coast with former Vice President Dan Quayle breaking ranks with his former boss George H.W. Bush and his son George Bush, calling Trump a "winner" and asking the Republican Party to rally around him.
Ryan's predecessor and Trump's "texting buddy" John Boehner too signalled his support for the mogul though not his controversial policies saying, "Donald Trump is the nominee, whether people like it or not."
"Anybody who doesn't think Donald Trump can win, just watch," he said at a conference in Las Vegas.
Louisiana's former Indian-American governor Bobby Jindal who had once called Trump a "shallow, unserious, substance-free, narcissistic egomaniac" and "a madman who must be stopped" too has come round to supporting the mogul.
"I'm voting Trump, warts and all," he declared calling Trump better than his likely Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Glad tidings for the mogul also came from the other side of the planet with Hindu Sena performing a yajna or "fire ritual" in New Delhi and praying for Trump to win election and "save humanity", as the Washington Post reported complete with a 1.21 minute video.
Now with the Hindu gods having his back, there may be no stopping The Donald.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
--IANS
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