The Trump convention, once a laughable thought, is very real and happening

Now we see what happens when a reality TV star throws a four-day reality TV special in his own honor.

If the Republican National Convention is a hit or a bust, any credit or blame would seem to rest with one Donald J. Trump.

The game takes place in the heart of his comfort zone, a made-for-TV event centered around the businessman accustomed to shows that focus on him. No apprenticeship needed.

Reality TV is usually bad TV. But this has the potential for something else, and the world will clearly be tuning in.

Stephen Colbert, for years a faux Bill O’Reilly and now a faux Johnny Carson, used his mockery of the convention and his play on a running “Hunger Games” gag to promote his coverage of the bash in Cleveland.

CNN released its own trailer to suggest viewers would see the raw and entertaining candidate at his most volatile in a trailer that promised “Trump Rocks Cleveland.”

The old guard, country club establishment Republican Party is the exception to the enthusiasm. Much of the elected class of the party — Missouri’s Sen. Roy Blunt and Ohio’s Gov. John Kasich, to name just two —is sitting out the convention.

Politico on Monday morning declared “GOP insiders dreading Trump’s convention.” National Review, the conservative organ and home of the devout #NeverTrump camp, kicked off the convention with a column called “How Trump Folk Talk” attempting to analyze the logic of those lining up behind the nominee. It was not a valentine.

Outside the convention hall, Cleveland and the country hold their collective breath. Trump’s campaign has drawn impassioned protests for months. Sometimes, that’s led to violent clashes. And the GOP convention follows two ugly weeks that put cops and civilians alike on edge.

Trump’s reaction to the latest slaughter, a Kansas City man traveling to Baton Rouge to shoot police, found a national schism at work.

Cops called for a moratorium on Ohio’s open carry gun law, which means anyone can carry a rifle through downtown Cleveland even if they can’t carry a drink in a glass. A pro-gun rally on Sunday turned out to be a dud.

Trump and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, the guy chosen late last week as his running mate, appeared like a recent Match.com pairing on “60 Minutes” on Sunday, mostly fielding questions about how they’ve seemed to disagree on trade, a Muslim immigration ban, a border wall and the Iraq war.

And the two acknowledged differing styles. The self-described “evangelical Catholic” Pence has marked his career with an essay about the destructiveness of negative campaigning. Trump has made his fast-rise career out of attacking the opposition.

“He won’t” refer to Clinton as “Crooked Hillary,” Trump said told Leslie Stahl, nodding to Pence. “He won’t. I didn’t ask him to do it, but I don’t think he should do it, because it’s different for him.”

This story was originally published July 18, 2016 at 7:18 AM with the headline "The Trump convention, once a laughable thought, is very real and happening."