See also: Trump and the GOP establishment (2)

Donald Trump is to attend a meeting Monday with an unidentified group of about two-dozen Republican insiders, including office holders in the House and Senate, as well as consultants and power brokers. Robert Costa and Paul Kane report in the Washington Post:

The meeting is Trump's first major meeting with lawmakers and key Republican figures since last fall, when he met with a smaller group at the Capitol after his speech at a protest against the Iranian nuclear agreement. (snip)

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the populist-right favorite who endorsed Trump last month, and Trump campaign counsel Donald F. McGahn organized the meeting along with Trump's advisers. The venue will be McGahn's law firm, Jones Day, which is a short walk from the Capitol.

The meeting is promised to be off-the-record -- just like Trump’s meeting with the New York Times editorial board, so we can expect either informed leaks or lies and misrepresentations to come out of the meeting.

Shortly after the meeting, Trump will address AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Council, as speech for which he is reportedly actually preparing remarks in advance.  His previous comment that he would be “neutral” between Israel and the Palestinians in attempting to lead negotiations has raised a lot of worry among Israel supporters, while his level of sophistication (or lack thereof) on foreign affairs has been one of the strongest concerns about his qualifications for the presidency. So the speech will be an opportunity to address both issues and possibly reconcile many doubters to his candidacy.

If it ever were necessary to remind ourselves that the Republican establishment is an amorphous group, Monday’s meeting is evidence that while some establishment opponents continue to conspire to deny Trump the nod, others are looking for reconciliation.