Voters have to decide who is the real Trump

So who’s the real Donald Trump?

I ask because there are plenty of people — not least Trump himself — who’ve suggested the brash, sometimes boorish public persona isn’t at all the real Trump. But since Trump is the Republican front-runner, it’s a question that has plenty of import for Democrats and Republicans.

For example, Dr. Ben Carson said in endorsing Trump on Friday that “There are two different Donald Trumps,” the one you see on stage, and “the one who’s very cerebral, sits there and considers things very carefully.”

Hey, when are we going to meet that guy?

Tellingly, Trump initially seemed to buy into Carson’s premise, before quickly putting it to rest: “I don’t think there are two Donald Trumps.”

But his campaign does: After the anti-Trump Our Principles PAC slammed the business mogul with an ad collecting his greatest sexist sayings hits, Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson told Fox News that, “I really don’t think this is going to be a problem. A lot of those statements [are] what Mr. Trump made as a television character. So I don’t think that some of that is going to stick.”

For the record, only one of the remarks in the ad was uttered by Trump the TV character, as opposed to Trump the Boorish Stage Guy or the Very Cerebral Trump Who Sits There and Considers Things Very Carefully.

The Two Trump theory has plenty of support, however, from the ever-pursed lips of Trump himself. After winning the Michigan primary last week, Trump declared his ability to rise above campaign-trail sniping.

“I can be more presidential than anybody, if I want to be, I can be more presidential than anybody,” he said. “When I have 16 people coming at me from 16 different angles, you don’t want to be so presidential. You have to win, you have to beat them back. But I would say more presidential, and I’ve said this a couple of times, more presidential than anybody other than the great Abe Lincoln. He was very presidential.”

Indeed, he was.

Trump has also indicated — to the dismay of many conservatives — that he will be flexible when it comes to making deals, even on one of his signature issues, illegal immigration.

“In terms of immigration — and almost anything else — there always has to be some, you know, tug and pull and deal,” Trump said, according to the AP. “You have to be able to have some flexibility, some negotiation.”

And even when it comes to his famous disdain for political correctness, Trump has said he’s, well, flexible.

“When I’m president, I’m a different person. I can do anything. I can be the most politically correct person you have ever seen,” Trump said at a rally in Pella, Iowa, in January. Again, Trump cited the rigors of the campaign for his blunt edge. “Right now, they come at you from 15 different angles. You have to be sharp, you have to be quick, and you have to be somewhat vicious. When you are running the country, it is a different dialogue that goes, and we can do that easily.”

For Trump’s adversaries, these are dangerous signs he’ll become the very politician that he now disdains on the campaign trail. (And for voters who are turning to Trump because they feel betrayed by the GOP, that has to be especially worrying.)

For Trump’s supporters, these comments are subtle winks that Trump knows he’s playing a role, an extension of his TV persona in the greatest reality show role of them all.

And for the rest of us, they’re tantalizing clues that there really may be two Donald Trumps.

But that raises an even more pressing question: Which one will we get if we elect him president?

Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist and co-host of the show “PoliticsNOW” airing at 5:30 p.m. Sundays on 8NewsNow. Read his blog at SlashPolitics.com, follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 702-387-5276 or SSebelius@reviewjournal.com.