Adopting a softer tone of voice, name-checking people and issues that evoke an emotional response, dropping a few buzzwords that appease one’s critics, even wearing a better-fitting suit…none of this matters.
What matters is details. Plans and timelines. Dates, names and places. Specifics that can be debated, agreed or disagreed with, and voted on.
Absent those, it’s just empty promises and rhetoric.
No matter what the pundits say, don’t confuse acting presidential with being presidential.
cooler heads prevail 
Well, acting presidential is good optics. At least give him that.
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Good optics don’t matter, and in fact will be detrimental in this case, if there’s no substance behind them.
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Uhm, yes dude, optics matter. What makes you think Trump doesn’t have substance behind his views and policies? As a Trump supporter I certainly think that he does.
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I don’t doubt that he has goals he wants to accomplish. But “We will build a wall/replace Obamacare/toughen up on illegal immigration” are campaign promises, not concrete action plans. It’s time for him to present specific details of how he will deliver on those promises, for example: what government agencies will be involved in each? How will they be paid for? What will the burden be on American taxpayers? What specific roles have specific allies committed to in the fight against ISIS? Which provisions of the immigration laws or the Affordable Care Act might be retained, and which will be changed or removed? Simply saying “I have directed congress to come up with a plan” isn’t a plan. It appears “presidential”, but at this stage it’s only optics. And if the facts don’t follow soon, he’ll lose the credibility those optics are giving him at the moment.
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