The GOP convention starring Donald Trump will not be boring
According to Donald Trump, the Republican National Convention that kicks off on Monday in Cleveland is going to be “monumentally magnificent,” “brilliantly staged” and, most of all, anything but boring.
On that last promise, there’s little doubt the presumptive Republican nominee and his party will deliver.
Some excitement could come from the unusual choices for speakers — necessitated by the reluctance of many Republicans to be tarnished by association with the Trump brand. The list of no-shows is extensive, including the last two living Republican presidents and all but one of the five living Republican presidential nominees.
Filling that gap will be an assortment of Trump family members; Sen. Ted Cruz (the man daily referred to by Trump as “Lying Ted” during the primary); House Speaker Paul Ryan (who called Trump’s attack on a judge’s Mexican heritage a “textbook definition of racist”); and a few celebrities and sports figures.
Debate also could be intense over some parts of the Republican Party’s national platform.
It includes support for Trump’s much-ballyhooed physical wall along the Mexican border, a call to condemn the U.S. Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage and opposition to gun reform laws that would restrict access to assault-style rifles. The anti-immigrant, pro-gun platform was written with the help of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
But the excitement also could spill onto the streets of Cleveland. Protests are a given, yet no one knows whether they will become riots in the largely Democratic city. Will the fact that guns are allowed on many streets — though not in the convention center itself — end in tragedy?
Much like Trump’s campaign, this convention will be anything but predictable, as conventions usually are. Trump ran one of the most unconventional primary campaigns the nation has ever seen, and to everyone’s surprise, it worked. His convention could surprise as well.
But it’s hard to miss a certain lack of enthusiasm among Republican officeholders (especially those up for re-election in November), rank-and-file members, and even longtime strategists and consultants.
Many Republican senators — especially those in contested elections — have suddenly decided they have other plans for next week. They reportedly include Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt and Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, both of whom are running for re-election. Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, who was re-elected in 2014, is expected to be in Cleveland.
You have to go back to Barry Goldwater’s 1964 campaign to find a candidate so alienated from the party he’s been chosen to represent.
Ordinarily, conventions are a time to rally around the nominee, put aside bitter disagreements from the primary and gear up a united party for the general election fight, up and down the ballot. They make for dreadfully dull television.
However, it’s likely Donald Trump’s unconventional convention won’t follow that script. No one knows what’s going to happen, and that could make the broadcast even more compelling than one of Trump’s reality shows.
Tune in next week.
This story was originally published July 15, 2016 at 6:36 PM with the headline "The GOP convention starring Donald Trump will not be boring."