After he wins, he can be his normal self and beat up the pansies and snowflakes as they deserve. He has to win first!
I get what you are saying. Trump needs to make the MSM
work harder for the bullshit they spread.
He does learn from experience, and there are some small changes in his rallies. For example, he's not using "Who's going to build the wall?" to get the audience to reply "MEXICO!," and when protesters appear, he doesn't use "Get 'em out," instead he remarks they are vestiges of the Bernie support system.
I don't think the care in reply or tone of reply makes any difference. Pence was praised for how he handled the woman who asked about Trump's attitude toward the Khan incident. If Pence was at the top of the ticket, he would not have been praised, he would have been criticized as unresponsive to the question.
Trump would be taking on a fool's errand if he tried to avoid making controversial remarks. That is literally impossible.