Trump’s speech:  Effective enough.

1) Reagan’s famous circuit-tested “The Speech” was all facts like Trump’s opening. Can be very powerful.

2) Smart decision to implicitly praise Obama (for putatively regretting appointing Hillary!);

3) ‘Americanism not Globalism’ — This section kind of skimpy. Trump seems to have chosen the more conventional law-and-order template. Not so interesting, but he’s not trying for tenure.

4) “Things will never change” vs. “things have to change.” Auspicious anti-reification theme! ‘The Democrats have explained the economy in various ways. …’

5) Hillary’s ‘Terrible, terrible crimes’ — a bit overstated, no? Terrible judgment, yes.

6) Not sure I like the ‘I’m the strong man who can defend you powerless people’ posture.  In a democracy, people aren’t powerless. Why not say that?

7)  “Abandon policy of … regime change.” Can’t say it’s substanceless.

8) “Decades of record immigration have produced lower wages and higher unemployment for our citizens, especially for African-American and Latino workers.” OK, I’m happy. But Trump quickly goes back to talking about violence. Would prefer mockery of open-borders economic Polyannaism, like that of … Paul Ryan.

9) ‘Not alone any longer.’ OK, that resonates.

10) Any sellout on The Wall just got a bit harder;

11) Visa overstay issue is important to Latino voters — i.e. it’s not just the people (mainly Latinos) sneaking across the Mexican border who can bid down wages and take U.S. jobs.

12)  “Americans want relief from uncontrolled immigration. … Hillary Clinton is proposing mass amnesty, mass immigration, and mass lawlessness. Her plan will overwhelm your schools and hospitals.” Brexit-tested!

13) OK, the Steve Miller section’s over. Time to wrap it up. …

14) Promise to appoint “a person of similar views” to Scalia seems way more significant than Trump’s previously released list of judges (a list that he said could be added to later, meaning it didn’t restrict him much);  

15: “I will fight for you.” Bob Shrum wins again.**

[Posted yesterday at Breitbart.com, where the commenters don’t seem to like it much. They’re very strict! ]

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**–Though Trump adds, “and I will win for you,” which isn’t insignificant. The classic Shrum formulations — “I’m on your side,” “I will fight for you” — always seemed to implicitly acknowledge the futility of the Democratic effort to, for example, reverse growing income inequality or — more recently — wage stagnation.