My thoughts:
Positive:
- Positive, uplifting tone and a clear desire to heal and unite (this is a very big plus in my book)
- 'Presidential' and (almost) no sidetracks or pointless self-aggrandizing lies
- Hard to disagree with his stated goals on important topics like health care, infrastructure, even foreign policy
Negative:
- At a rough estimate, easily half of the facts or specifics quoted range somewhere between 'misleading' and 'utter and complete fiction'
- On a number of his stated goals, there is zero bipartisan agreement (or even intra-Republican agreement) on how to get there, or in some cases even the remotest idea how they could be realized. And somehow I don't think Trump is the one who will be telling us how.
- Much of what he said are in direct contradiction to things he has said and/or done in the past - if he has truly changed, great, but somehow I doubt it
- If he's going to save all those trillions of dollars spent on military adventures abroad, and respect the sovereign rights of all nations, remind me again why he needs the huge military buildup? Or is that just intended as pure corporate welfare for the military-industrial complex, buying planes and ships he has no intention of using?
- If he's going to 'create the conditions where displaced people can safely return home', maybe drastically cutting foreign aid isn't the way to go. Just saying.
All in all, I will say the speech was certainly exceeding my expectations for Trump, though on the other hand that's not too hard. If we can take this as an indication of his new direction from now on, it means he'll have improved from being a national embarrassment to being a potentially tolerable president who has promised the world and so far delivered nothing except a decent SCOTUS pick - but with plenty of time to prove himself. And while his complete lack of personal policy views on most topics is disconcerting, it can also be an asset in the sense that he can be extremely flexible and seize any opportunity that comes up without getting hung up on ideology.