Trump has made this pivot to discipline before

Trump's team promised the new president would deliver a visionary and optimistic inaugural address laying out a unified path forward for a divided nation.

Trump did manage to hew to a disciplined script for his 16-minute address, and he followed that up with a gracious declaration of respect for campaign rival Hillary Clinton during a post-inaugural luncheon.

Trump's election-night victory speech was a call to "bind the wounds of division" and "come together as one united people" after a rancorous campaign in which he urged on supporters as they chanted "lock her up" about Clinton, whom he labeled a "nasty woman."

Trump's presidential transition period featured very public spats with U.S. intelligence agencies, Clinton, Meryl Streep and civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.

In ensuing weeks, he lobbed sustained criticism at a Pakistani-American family whose son was killed while fighting for the U.S. in Iraq and warned that the November election results could be rigged.

Trump used a primary-night victory speech in June to reassure Republicans that he could rein in his caustic and divisive attacks after he had worried party leaders by repeatedly questioning whether a federal judge of Mexican heritage could fairly preside over a case involving a Trump business.