A year ago Trump was promising to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants with a deportation force. This is not a conservative or a GOP position-- as Kasich and Bush both strongly refuted the position. Yes, he's toned it down since then. http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/11/politics/donald-trump-deportation-force-debate-immigration/

Trump has advocated for "a total and complete shutdown" of Muslim travel to the US, and even briefly defended the idea of creating a Muslim database. Yes, he's toned it down since then. http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/07/politics/donald-trump-muslim-ban-immigration/

The danger here is in normalizing his positions within the framework of the GOP or saying that an attack on Trump is an attack on his supporters. I don't believe either to be true.