There is reason to think that Mr. Krikorian and other like-minded conservatives are right to be concerned that their preferred version of Mr. Trump will not show up on Tuesday night. State of the Union speeches are always a tug of war among White House factions. And White House officials have strongly signaled that this will not be the kind of immigration stemwinder that Mr. Miller is famous for.

Instead, they say, it will be “optimistic,” though officials caution that the ultimate delivery of the speech — and whether it follows the script that will scroll through the teleprompter — is up to Mr. Trump.

Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker who has advised Mr. Trump, said the president was shifting gears, eager to promote the booming economy and the enactment of his tax plan without combative language that could muddy his message.

“They’re moving a little bit from ‘Trump the fighter’ to ‘Trump the winner,’” Mr. Gingrich said Monday. “There’s more of a sense of, ‘Look, I’m the president of the United States. I don’t need to pick a fight.’”