Donald Trump wants a nice, respectful debate between himself and Hillary Clinton.

Yes. That would be the same Trump running as the GOP nominee, who got where he is by being a rude, arrogant, abrasive toad to Republican opponents for the nomination.

“We’ll see what’s going on with her,” he added. “Because there’s something going on that a lot of people are trying to figure out.”

Trump said he would be “very respectful” of his Democratic rival for the presidency.

“I think she deserves that. I’m going to be nice. If she’s respectful of me, that’ll be nice,” the GOP’s nominee added. “We’ll have something I think people will respect as a debate.

Why, if I didn’t know who this person was, I’d be absolutely moved by this show of civility and “niceness” to an opponent in the most important political race in the nation, right now.

Trump has gone on to say that he doesn’t want to get personal, bring up Clinton’s marriage, her health, or anything other than issues.

A more cynical person might say that the reason for Trump’s civility with Clinton, that he had no taste for when dealing with Republicans, is that he’s not a Republican himself, anyway. They’d say he has more in common with his very liberal Democrat friend, Hillary, than any of those he previously faced while trying to gain the nomination.

That’s what a cynical person would say.

They might also suggest that because of the long and close relationship between Trump and the Clintons (their daughters are best pals), that Trump knows Hillary is probably privy to some very uncomfortable facts about his life that he doesn’t want brought out on live TV.

There are a lot of theories for why Trump would want to treat Clinton with kid gloves during the first debate, but the notion that he’s suddenly become a kinder, gentler Trump doesn’t pass the smell test.