Donald Trump’s speech before the Republican Gala on Thursday went off in another direction. 

Trump spent most of his time talking about something his opponents cannot. How he solved big business problems by talking to the right guy and learning about the right technology, synopsizing his arguments before the powerful. And along the way adding jaw-dropping details about the reach of his vision. Who would have thought of buying the rights over the freight marshalling yards of a railroad or ripping a hotel down to its 1909 iron while preserving the historic ballroom in the center of it, or for that matter taking on massive building projects the government had fumbled and bringing them in on time and under budget?

No ad hominem attacks except for one unneeded cut at Jeb and he didn’t even mention Ted Cruz by name. Didn’t, we could say, deign to mention Cruz. 

The message was clear and stark. Here I am in my hometown in a huge hotel I built, relaxed, cheerful and charming -- telling you who I am. A big problem solver for America’s big problems. The Don of a new golden age. 

It was so smart.

No bets that he will but if he stays on that road he wins the nomination and cleans Hillary’s clock in November.

Or Bernie’s.

Richard F. Miniter is the author of The Things I Want Most, Random House, BDD See it Here. He lives and writes in the colonial era hamlet of Stone Ridge, New York, blogs here and can also be reached at miniterhome@gmail.com