There were some effective lines in Trump’s acceptance speech, starting with his closing play on Clinton’s ill-considered “I’m with her” slogan. His response: I’m with you.
The speech was thoroughly in keeping with Trump’s primary campaign. He continued to emphasize crime, immigration, terrorism, and trade. He continued to announce broad goals and offer no explanation of how they would be met. He didn’t say how he would fix the TSA, or restore law and order, and nobody who has been following the campaign should expect details to appear on the campaign’s website any time soon. We’re to assume that everything will work out well because he is just so terrific.
Continuing everything he has been doing makes a lot of sense politically if you assume that he is structurally ahead or tied in the race. It was not the speech of someone who thinks, and whose campaign thinks, that he is an underdog who needs to shake up the race.