As Jonah notes, I thought it was a fine speech, especially against the backdrop of the media expectations for it. Trump made the case that there is indeed a crisis at the border (which there is), talked about the broader portfolio of policies that he is seeking, and scored in his riff about why walls aren’t immoral (he said that wealthy politicians who live behind walls, fences, or gates “don’t build walls because they hate the people on the outside, but because they love the people on the inside”). I think he talks about illegal immigrant crime too much, but on the other hand, I believe these truly wrenching stories have more of an effect on the average listener than the elite that rolls their eyes over them — or that condemns them as racist — realizes. Encouragingly, he gave no sign of preparing to declare a national emergency to try to spend on the wall unilaterally. Maybe that will come later, but tonight he just talked of another meeting with congressional leaders. Did he transform his position? No. He still labors under having publicly taken ownership of the shutdown, and emphasizing that was where the very awkward Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi were at the strongest. But if this were how Trump talked about the shutdown fight all the time, he’d do himself a lot of good.