Pivoting from substance to style

In April, the Daily Beast reported that Donald Trump periodically makes an observation about the press: when, from time to time, he softens his tone and conduct, the media will notice and praise him for it. “It’s so easy, can you believe it?” Trump said at a dinner in 2017, after seeing a positive turn in coverage. “All I had to do was be a little nice.” On the occasions Trump acts relatively less obscene, reporters and pundits tend to credit him with a “pivot”; they’ll also make a point of...