Trump is the real teleprompter president: Mastio & Lawrence

David: Wow. President Trump starts with a surprise. Human and humane words on civil rights and the danger of hate lurking in the bomb threats at Jewish community centers: “While we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms.”

And he keeps going with the surprises. “America is once again ready to lead,” almost sounds like a repudiation of everything he has said on foreign policy in the last year.

Thanks goodness the real Donald Trump wrested control of the speech back from that inspiring impostor when he launched into his deeply misinformed attack on foreign aid. Cut it from the budget if you want. There are few bigger sources of boondoggles than foreign aid. But please don’t pretend it has anything to do with American greatness.

Jill: I always have trouble recognizing the America and the Washington of Trump’s imagination. What is this “new national pride,” this “new surge of optimism,” of which he speaks? Where is that drain in the D.C. swamp? He and his family and half his Cabinet ARE the swamp. The water level is rising, not falling.

As for that kumbaya, soft-focus Trump who started the speech with calm words of reassurance and inclusion, unrecognizable. Also not credible.

You can say all the pretty words in the world, and say them in as grand a setting as the U.S. Capitol, but they can’t erase what’s come before: the months of divisive, inciteful, careless, misogynist tweets and words. They can’t erase the last few weeks of chaos and conflicts of interest.

When a cartoon is not just a cartoon: Mastio & Lawrence

New normal or not normal?: Mastio & Lawrence

POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media

David: We can't have it both ways. People have been demanding Trump speak out and lead on bringing Americans together and stopping the hateful actions that seem to be on the rise since he was elected. When he does, there is a chorus of claims that his words are too late or not enough. He surprised me tonight. It is a sign that he is learning on the job and that makes me more hopeful than anything I have seen from him in a while.

The next lesson he needs to learn is to stop with the delusional overpromises such as his claim that with his renewed focus on putting America first, "Our terrible drug epidemic will slow down and ultimately, stop." It won't stop. A real conservative president would understand that human nature means the drug epidemic will never stop. What the president needs to do is start climbing down from "Drug War" rhetoric, but every sign from the president and his new attorney general is that they have learned nothing from decades of failed drug policies.

Jill: If Trump is learning on the job, that would be real news. Yes, he sounded like a president. But the hours leading up to the speech suggested that unless he’s reading from a Teleprompter, he still doesn’t get what it means to be one.

Just to recap quickly, Trump blamed Barack Obama for protests against his administration and leaks coming from inside it. He hinted that maybe Jews were responsible for a wave of anti-Semitic attacks to make him look bad. And most egregiously, this commander in chief seemed to blame the military for losing  Ryan Owens, a Navy SEAL, in a Yemen raid that went bad.

Trump cleaned that up extensively in his address, heaping praise and appreciation on the fallen warrior whose legacy battling terrorism is “etched into eternity.” And of course that was the right thing to do. But Trump’s instinct when first asked about it was far different. Being presidential so far is the aberration, not the default setting.

David: How the tug of war between the old petulant Trump and an emerging presidential Trump plays will be the big story for the rest of his presidency. I fear that even if the presidential Trump takes over that the petulant populist Trump will emerge often enough to undermine much of what the president is trying to do. That's just what happened this afternoon.

But in this struggle between the Trumps there may emerge opportunities to advance good policies that really will benefit America. Tonight, the populist Trump launched a new office in the Department of Homeland Security called VOICE or "Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement." The very idea of giving voice to the pain and suffering of Americans victimized by illegal immigrants, particularly those who are arrested or convicted of one crime and then released rather than deported, will be attacked by liberals as some kind of un-American horror. But to most Americans, it is just a recognition of reality and it isn't too hard to find egregious examples such as a recent murder in Denver.

In the same speech, presidential Trump signaled a willingness to talk about reform of our legal immigration system, a bipartisan goal shared by presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Maybe Trump can find a powerful synthesis of his two impulses and get some important things done.

Jill: When you use phrases like “an emerging presidential Trump,” I think of the scores of moments we all expected Trump to “pivot” from entitled reality TV celebrity to presidential timber. Never happened. Are the odds better now the he is installed in the Oval Office? We’ve seen little evidence so far except when someone else has written his words.

And the talk of unity is at odds with policies that seem designed to divide and demonize. The new office you cite is a case in point. It will make people think ill of all immigrants, not just the tiny fraction of illegal immigrants who hurt Americans.

To be honest, even if Trump were to stay off Twitter, stick to real facts, curb his pass-the-buck instincts, show spontaneous empathy and generosity of spirit, stop saying things like “nobody knew that health care could be so complicated” and start listening to some of his wiser appointees, he would still be in trouble. The Russia mystery persists and he continues to profit from his businesses.

At the very least, let’s hope he meant it when he said that “the time for trivial fights is behind us.” Because so far he seems to like them very much.

David Mastio, a libertarian conservative, is the deputy editor of USA TODAY's Editorial Page. Jill Lawrence, a center-left liberal, is the commentary editor of USA TODAY. Follow them on Twitter @DavidMastio and @JillDLawrence.

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @USATOpinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To submit a letter, comment or column, check our submission guidelines .