Trump reshaped the election Monday, but will he step on it?

Trump proposed "extreme vetting" of Muslims, including questions testing their commitment to womens' rights, gay rights and religious pluralism

Milo thinks that Trump has outflanked Hillary on gay rights, Donald Trump Just Overtook The Democrats On Gay Rights

Trump likened this approach to the one taken by Reagan during the Cold War, where Russian tourists were heavily scrutinized. So this policy has eclipsed Trump's past proposal on a Muslim ban that has caused controversy, and given him an umbrella under which he can repackage that proposal into a much more palatable and reasonable policy. His suggestion that we ban Muslims has transitioned to a Cold War Reagan type policy on Russian tourists of extreme vetting on the basis of American liberal values. That's a position Republicans, and even NeverTrumpers, can get behind. Further, this speech reiterated his approach on ISIS, that being one that prizes unpredictability, another Reagan hallmark. Dare I say it? Trump is making sense in that he is featuring consistency in his foreign policy, something Hillary rarely does, and something that will win over NeverTrumpers.

Not only does this policy approach leave behind any notion of banning Muslims while adhering to the logical principals behind the ban, it also advances the Republican position on gay rights in a way that all Republicans will unite behind. The most conservative to the most socially liberal Republicans will agree on this approach; conservatives because it offers a way to ferret out dangerous radical extremists and liberals because it protects homosexuals, and that will help Trump enormously over the critical next few weeks. So the speech brought forth a coherent policy that Hillary will almost certainly adopt portions of, probably the questions relating to womens' rights and gay rights, which will highlight those areas where Clinton has copied Trump, reversing some of the damage Trump has done to himself in the last few weeks.

Trump simply needs to talk about these uniting themes every day and abandon the old bluster to turn this election around. The policy is sound and he has had an uncanny ability to make the right calls on foreign policy on the Iraq war and post-war where Hillary has not. When Hillary adopts his approach, that will remind people of this uncanny ability he has demonstrated.

If he just sticks to this script every day without making statements that can be taken out of context and abused, he should bring this race back to parity by the debates. If he can get to even or close to it by the debates, he will almost certainly emerge ahead of Hillary after the debates. The expectations for Trump are so low, it's hard to imagine how he can't exceed them. After the debates, does anyone not expect the rest of the emails to emerge? That's the winning formula for Trump, and it started today. But will he step on it? We'll see.

Trump needs to stick to specific policy proposals that unite Republicans while happily engaging the media that is attempting to destroy him. No more complaining about the media, because everyone knows he's getting a raw deal, so just roll with it. That's how Reagan did it, and Trump has the personality and skill to do the same.