Perhaps we should just call our new president-elect 'the ever-evolving Trump.'
Ever-evolving because since the end of August he's been waffling a little here and dodging a little there on his pronouncements of the past year and a half - his hard-core, hard-line, hard-to-swallow policies that whipped up the GOP base. You may remember some of the rhetoric, like "build a wall," deport millions of immigrants, ban Muslims, tear up the Paris climate accord, repeal Obamacare and "lock her (Hillary Clinton) up."
Not anymore. Despite the foundations of his administration looking quite Alt-rightish, Trump's rhetoric on those key campaign policies seems to be softening. Let's review:
* On immigration, Donald Trump at the end of August pretty much stopped calling for a deportation force to expel all illegal immigrants and said he would focus on criminals for deportation. Yep, you're right, that did sound a lot like President Barack Obama, whom Trump has long sought to cast as too lax on illegal immigration.
But facts are stubborn things. Obama for years has focused on deporting felons, gang members, suspected terrorists and recent illegal border-crossers, while working to defer deportations of millions of illegal immigrants with children born in the U.S.
Overall Obama's administration has deported a record number of illegal immigrants when those apprehended at or near the border are included in the tally.
"We prioritize criminals," Obama said in June after the Supreme Court blocked his plan to shield parents from deportation and give them work permits. "What we don't do is to prioritize people who've been here a long time, who are otherwise law-abiding, who have roots and connections in their communities."
Obama had a plan to reform immigration - one that sounded very much like what's now been unveiled by Trump. Obama issued executive orders to carry out that plan, but Congress and the Supreme Court have stymied most of it. Now Trump can recycle it.
* Then there's the "big, beautiful wall" along the 2,000-mile Mexico-U.S. border. After the election Trump said he thought it would be a fence along some parts. Funny thing is, border fencing already stands along 650 miles of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. Just think: On Inauguration Day Trump can claim credit for being a third of the way toward his pledge.
* Trump's chant to "lock her up" on Tuesday became more like "moving on" toward healing.
Now the president-elect "doesn't wish to pursue" more investigations into Clinton's email practices, Kellyanne Conway said on an MSNBC morning show. "I think Hillary Clinton still has to face the fact that a majority of Americans don't find her to be honest or trustworthy, but if Donald Trump can help her heal, then perhaps that's a good thing."
Later the same day in a meeting with the New York Times, Trump himself answered a question about prosecuting Clinton: "It's just not something that I feel very strongly about," he said, adding that many could argue the Clinton Foundation has done "good work."
* Will he stick by Obamacare repeal, you think?
In name perhaps, but not so much in detail. In a short video Trump released last week, he listed his Day 1 priorities. They didn't include even a mention of Obamacare.
That's probably because insurance companies would rather have something than nothing. After all, they've been pretty successful at just raising their rates. Besides, the GOP wants to be the rescue party, not the Grinch that stole health care. That means they'll have to come up with fixes and tweaks.
* Jobs and infrastructure? This was the one thing on which Obama and Trump often sounded most alike - except Congress never let Obama spend much money beyond the initial Stimulus Package during his first term. And, sure, spending is likely to be a major rub for Trump's infrastructure/jobs plan, too.
Add to that, Trump's continuing insistence that he will dump the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Many say this will open the way for China to assume the United States' leadership mantle on trade and diplomacy in Asia. This one will truly be interesting to watch.
* Then there's the planet to save. And that's another thing we gained a little hope on last week.
In Tuesday's New York Times meeting, Trump, who previously said global warming is a "hoax" perpetrated by the Chinese, backed off of his climate change skepticism.
He said he believed there is a connection to human activity and warming - but he is still undecided about how much of one. But here's the big part. He said he has an open mind to keeping in place the international climate agreement President Obama took a lead in negotiating. We like open minds.
* That leaves the Iran nuclear deal - the big kahuna. The one that our own Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said last week Trump should do more to enforce and police rather than rip up, something Trump vowed on the campaign trail to do.
This is a bit of a reversal for Corker, too - in part because billions in frozen Iranian dollars have already been returned to that country, and in part because some progress has been made to de-escalate Iran's bomb-making.
Now the clock ticks toward Jan. 20 - Inauguration Day.