While Donald Trump was relatively quiet in the days after his debate with Joe Biden—preferring to let the president’s troubles fill the headlines—he still posted steadily on Truth Social. Amid notes criticising the media and sharing favourable polling, Mr Trump made some noticeable attempts to soften his message for a general-election audience. He distanced himself from a controversial group of former staffers preparing an agenda for his second term and emphasised the official 2024 Republican platform.

“Ours is a forward-looking Agenda with strong promises that we will accomplish very quickly,” Mr Trump wrote on July 8th, after the Republican National Committee’s rules body approved the party platform with an 84-18 vote. “We are, quite simply, the Party of Common Sense!”