Inside the White House, the focus was on President Donald Trump's positive reviews. | Getty Trump shows happiness by going quiet After chaotic 40 days, president basks in a rare glow after his address to Congress.

For a White House that often packs six days of headlines into six hours, Wednesday was eerily quiet. President Donald Trump, who often tweets before dawn and after dusk, while cramming in TV appearances and multiple meetings, seemed fine with it.

A signing ceremony for the president's revamped travel ban, once planned for Wednesday, was scuttled late Tuesday night. Vice President Mike Pence made the rounds on cable, and repeated the exact same description of the president to five networks, seemingly no matter the question.


"THANK YOU," Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning. He was not heard from again.

Like the speech Trump gave Tuesday night, Wednesday seemed relatively normal for a White House often enmeshed in controversy. And because the speech was generating such positive press, the White House made a deliberate shift in strategy to keep a low profile — an attempt, after weeks of attacks and heated rhetoric, to avoid even a minor controversy.

The president, according to several people who spoke to him, was quite pleased after weeks of displeasure over his news coverage and unexpected frustrations as he settles into the White House. A president who obsesses over his news clippings, he liked the television coverage and didn't grow angry at the post-speech articles — a rare occurrence since he moved to Washington. He called friends and associates to ask what they'd heard, while recounting praise others had given him about the speech.

Staff told Trump people were saying good things. And the famously fidgety president, never shy about touting public measures of his success, opted not to tweet about positive overnight reviews from pollsters, focus groups and the mainstream media he so often maligns. He still wanted to talk about his performance, but was content to enjoy the praise privately.

That's not to say the day was flawless for the administration. Early in the morning, an old scandal involving Kellyanne Conway bubbled to the forefront, when a letter emerged that the White House wouldn't punish her for promoting Ivanka Trump's clothing line on TV. Late in the day, the White House Counsel's Office said it had instructed officials to save all their emails that may be related to Russia, an unwelcome reminder that problems still swirl around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

And late Wednesday, The New York Times reported the Obama administration had taken extraordinary steps to save material related to Russia's involvement in the election, for fear the Trump administration would delete it. The news opened another front in one of the most damaging and sensitive subjects for the young administration.

But inside the White House, the focus was on the president's positive reviews.

"He told me that many people were saying it was the best speech he'd ever given," said NewsMax CEO Chris Ruddy, a longtime friend who visited with Trump for 30 minutes. "I told him, yes, it was a home run. He seemed to be in a really, really happy mood."

Ruddy said Trump had a long conversation on curing cancer with a friend of his and wanted a photo with Ruddy behind the desk. At a Wednesday lunch with lawmakers, Trump was upbeat and jovial, several of them said. "He was just basking in it," said one person who talked to him.

One senior Democratic aide asked, genuinely, in midafternoon: "Did they take his phone from him?" One administration official said he was leaving before 7 p.m. "because I think I can today."

Inside the West Wing, two people familiar with the dynamics said the situation seemed less tense for much of the day. "It seemed like they were taking a breath," one person said. "They seemed like they were doing OK. They were smiling."

The White House, one administration official said, wanted to avoid anything that might have derailed what was a positive day for Trump. Press secretary Sean Spicer skipped the on-camera news briefing, which can prove combative and create unwanted news. "There was no reason to be out there," this official said. "We wanted the president out there."

Trump, who loves the morning television shows, had to like what he saw. Pence repeatedly used the phrase "broad shoulders, big heart." He called it a "great night for the American people" on at least four different networks. He lavishly praised the president. The questions were hardly tense.

At the Justice Department, Jody Hunt, Attorney General Jeff Session' chief of staff, notified staffers Tuesday night that he'd just received word from the White House that a tentatively scheduled but still unannounced public signing of the president's revamped travel ban was being delayed. Even though the president himself had complained weeks ago that the court's halting of his original travel ban placed the country in danger of an imminent terror attack, senior White House advisers agreed that signing the replacement could be put off for a few days.

"They made a conscious decision to do absolutely nothing today to step on the positive coverage the speech is generating," said a Republican who visited the White House on Wednesday. "They feel like they need a bump more than the country needs the new executive order, and in reality, that's probably true."

In remarks to GOP aides Tuesday afternoon, Spicer said: "We want to be strategic."

Austin Barbour, a veteran GOP consultant based in Mississippi, said the administration is smart to shift strategies given its early struggles and the success of the joint address Tuesday night.

"They've had a positive news cycle here and there, like when they made their Supreme Court announcement and some other Cabinet announcements, but they've definitely been feeling their way through the process thus far and that's been obvious," Barbour said. "When you have a good message and deliver a speech that even your critics are praising to some degree, you want to let that soak in and enjoy that as long as you can."

Officials are hoping for a positive stretch that lingers through the rest of the week. Trump goes Thursday to Virginia, where he is likely to be greeted by a large crowd and military officers, both of which make him happy, aides say. This weekend, he will be in Florida, where aides say he often seems more serene.