On the campaign trail, Donald Trump has been a polarizing figure. His coarse language, angry tirades, racial and cultural animus, blatant disregard for the truth and outright misogyny drew both rabid followers and harsh repudiation. But as the dust settles from Nov. 5 and the scale of his triumph becomes clear — including capturing the popular vote, something a GOP presidential candidate has not done in two decades — he now finds himself at a critical moment. Does Trump want his second term to reflect his flame-throwing candidacy with its outrageous agenda items (and more about them in a moment) or does the 78-year-old have higher, perhaps more pragmatic aspirations to lead a more unified country and create a lasting legacy?

It’s far too early to know for sure but so far, there are some signs that he might have his eye on the latter.

First, there is the matter of choosing Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff. Wiles, 67, whose political career started with the pragmatic U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp of New York, is a GOP political veteran and campaign insider not generally associated with extremist views. And then there is Trump’s overall respectful demeanor since Vice President Kamala Harris conceded the race, acknowledging that outreach — and politely accepting an invitation to discuss the transition with President Joe Biden.

Gracious may be too strong a word to describe these traditional post-election responses but they do contrast sharply with calling one’s opponents “sleepy” or “stupid.”

If Trump is smart, he must be prepared to go much further than that. Ronald Reagan, so often summoned as the Republican presidential ideal, became popular not simply for pushing tax cuts and reducing the growth of government but for looking beyond partisan politics. His 1984 reelection theme of “Morning in America” wasn’t about Republicans alone, it was a calm, reassuring message about putting Americans back to work and lifting the economy. Economic uncertainty is what won the day for Trump and the GOP this past week, not name-calling or hate speech. It would be wise to focus on creating jobs and raising wages.

In that spirit, we would humbly recommend that in the weeks ahead Trump should back away from, if not outright disown, some of the more outrageous (and even nonsensical) proposals he has, at least at some point, claimed to back. That can start with the “revenge tour” and hiring an attorney general specifically to indict Biden. Issuing blanket pardons to the Jan. 6 rioters would be similarly problematic. Why force his new administration to be chained to the past? Dialing down the anti-immigrant rhetoric would be productive, too, if only because a mass deportation campaign and detention camps, perhaps involving the military, would be costly, cruel and economically ruinous. A return to Trump’s first-term border policies will be bad enough.

And speaking of costly, Trump would be wise to back off the tariff plans as they, too, would raise the cost to consumers. It’s fine to use them selectively, it’s another thing to ignore the price that would be paid domestically. Similarly, the president-elect would be smart to signal that he does not intend to withdraw the United States from the NATO alliance. And if he really cares about the economy, it would also be smart to abandon Project 2025 plans to gut the federal bureaucracy (and the expertise that comes with merit-based workers and not political hacks). Backing off the anti-transgender, anti-vaccine, anti-women’s reproductive rights dogma would be sensible as well. His culture warrior wing isn’t going anywhere.

Does Trump even need the Democrats? Whatever the final count in those outstanding U.S. House of Representatives races, the answer is yes, if he wants to accomplish anything meaningful in the federal policy arena. The GOP won’t have a filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate and Republicans aren’t always 100% united (as demonstrated in the current Congress). Does the 47th president wish to be remembered as a novelty act (winning two non-consecutive terms like Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century) or as a true history maker who could get important things done? Now is the time for him to choose.