For once, the ultimate showman gave Republicans exactly what they bargained for.
President Donald Trump, turning the ornate East Room of the White House into the centerpiece of a well-orchestrated television production, made good on his promise and handed his party a solid conservative nominee for the Supreme Court.
"I am a man of my word, I will do as I say," Trump said Tuesday night, savoring the drama of the moment as he unveiled Judge Neil Gorsuch as his pick to succeed the late conservative icon Antonin Scalia on the nation's highest court.
Trump materialized at 8:02 pm ET in the cross hall of the White House and took a stately stroll to his podium along a red carpet under a glistening chandelier before summoning the full theatrical power of his office for the first time.
In the same room where so many of his predecessors delivered historic pronouncements to the American people, Trump introduced the nation to the man who, at 49, could spend decades on the court, and help shape his own presidential legacy.
Trump's biggest moment yet
It amounted to Trump's biggest moment yet in his 11 days in office. Blanketed by television networks, it was also a do-over, as Trump cut a somber and statesmanlike figure after a chaotic, acrimonious start to his administration.
It was a sweet moment of vindication for the Republican Party -- especially its social conservative and evangelical wings who had defied expectations that they would desert Trump over his three marriages and often vulgar tone.
Whatever he said, and whatever he did, conservatives clung on to the tiger's tail, convinced Trump would deliver them a Supreme Court pick they could get behind. Looking on were Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, savoring their reward.
"Christmas just came early for conservatives," said Sarah Isgur Flores, spokeswoman for Attorney General designate Jeff Sessions, encapsulating the universally positive response to Gorsuch from conservatives.
Amid growing rumblings about Trump's behavior and demeanor and the competence of his administration from inside the GOP, the announcement was an expertly choreographed moment that could help knit the party together.
Even his critics grudgingly admitted Trump's skills as a political impresario took some beating.
"Whatever u think of him as President (what I think is no secret) Trump's darn good at TV show production. President Trump, the Reality Show," CNN contributor Ana Navarro tweeted.
Summoned to Washington
One person close to the decision said both Gorsuch and the other finalist, Thomas Hardiman, had been summoned to Washington.
In the end, Hardiman only drove a few hours east of Pittsburgh.
"The reality is that to the best of my knowledge he never left the state of Pennsylvania," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Tuesday night after the announcement. "He never was in DC, nor did he ever leave the commonwealth."
The administration was taking extraordinary measures to build suspense and keep the final selection under wraps for as close to the announcement as possible.
White House sources acknowledged Tuesday night they left the impression with reporters that he was coming to Washington and did not seek to dispute suggestions. Hardiman appeared to play along. One source said Hardiman was given the impression that there could be a spot for him should another vacancy open up.
Sources inside the White House and close to Hardiman said earlier Tuesday that Hardiman was asked to come to Washington. Other news outlets reported before the announcement that Hardiman was going to be at the White House event, though CNN was never told that was the intent.
After he was seen leaving his Pittsburgh home, a CNN producer last saw Hardiman again at a highway gas station more than 100 miles east of Pittsburgh in the direction of Washington.
Meanwhile, sources familiar with what transpired said that Gorsuch had given the press waiting outside his house in Boulder, Colorado, the slip on Monday by sneaking out on a dirt road and heading to the airport. Spicer said Gorsuch was flown to Washington on a military aircraft and taken to a hotel, before being spirited unseen into the White House Tuesday night.
His debut could hardly have gone better for the President and its flawless execution set up a political climb for Democrats who vowed to oppose whoever he picked.
He lauded Gorsuch's credentials as beyond dispute, boasting about a resume bloated by studies at Columbia, Harvard and Oxford.
"The qualifications of Judge Gorsuch are beyond dispute. I only hope Democrats and Republicans can come together for once, for the good of the country," Trump said.
The President said he had spent considerable time pouring over the writings and decisions of Gorsuch, a man of the outdoors who fishes, hunts and skis and currently sits on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Tensions erupt in Senate after chaotic day on Trump nominees
But the President is also known to place great value in someone's appearance and might have concluded that Gorsuch, tall, fit with a square jaw and immaculately cropped gray hair looks the part of a Supreme Court Justice.
Few Presidents get to name a justice within a few days of their inauguration, and Trump can thank McConnell for his decision to block Obama's nominee to replace Scalia, Judge Merrick Garland, for the best part of a year.
Gorsuch's nomination, assuming he is confirmed, will cement the prevailing ideological balance of the court before Scalia's death, with four conservatives, four liberals and Justice Anthony Kennedy as the swing vote.
Known for a florid pen, a sense of humor and unimpeachable conservative positions on religious liberty, guns, business regulation and administrative power, Gorsuch may be the perfect candidate to emulate the operatic flamboyance and preference for legal textualism and originalism of Scalia, who died nearly a year ago.
"He is Scalia, in many respects," said Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator who is now a CNN contributor.
With the late justice's widow, Maureen, in the audience, Gorsuch called Scalia "a lion of the law."
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