Interesting. I haven’t seen the CT speech yet. I was thinking more of his Detroit economic speech, as well as his talks before the Homebuilders Association and the Pews and Pastors group. Even though I didn’t care for his endorsement of Paul Ryan I thought his Green Bay speech about unity was also pretty presidential. His VFW speech during the Dem convention contained a lot of detailed policy.
I’ve missed some of his recent rallies, but of the ones I’ve seen, I thought they were more focused, less rambling, more substantive, and he made sure to hit Hillary hard at least a little in each of them. For example, he focused a lot on jobs and trade in the early parts of his Erie, PA speech, even though he was still entertaining and fun (and very much Trump). He focused in on coal in his Abingdon speech, and his Fort Lauderdale rally had some good hits on Hillary and Obama and strong points on foreign policy.
In general, he seems to be honing in on Hillary better than before and not going off on tangents nearly as much as before. He’s also reading more from notes during his rallies, which allows him to add more details and keep better organized. His new charts serve a similar purpose. Of course, each of Trump’s rallies are (fortunately) different, but I do think these are the general trends.
CT may have been a special case, because he felt he was talking to people he really knows and understands. And you’re right, his major speeches have been more focused and substantial, for sure.
But really, two free form speeches a day over the next three months will give him plenty of free press coverage. The question is whether he can keep to the fine line of stirring things up just enough, but not too much.