There will be more Trumps than nights, but not a Bush in sight at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
Cleveland is locked down, though the GOP doesn’t have things buttoned up. Minor celebrities and slick video productions will lend some glitz, yet the no-shows will have some glamour of their own.
And while Donald Trump has a running mate, there will be only one real theme of the Republican National Convention: Donald J. Trump.
As convention-goers, reporters, protesters and law-enforcement officers descend on Cleveland for Monday’s launch of the Republican National Convention, here are five storylines to watch in what promises to be a wild week:
DOLLARS AND PENCE
Donald Trump has his teammate, and he’s nothing like Donald Trump. The union of Trump and Mike Pence would be strange enough without Trump’s second-guessing his own choice, followed by a delayed and never-ending rollout speech Saturday. The chemistry between the two men who comprise the Republican ticket will be on display in the most public of forums, as they seek to square differing ideologies and temperaments. Pence has already sanded away his main policy differences with the man he didn’t endorse during the primaries, and the GOP will descend on Cleveland arguably more united than it’s been all year because of the choice. Democrats, meanwhile, are using Pence’s record to cast the ticket as a union of far-right extremists. The challenge for Republicans will be to remain united against that assault -- not to mention amid tensions within.
REAL WORLD
Outside events have a habit of spilling into convention arenas. A nation and a world on edge -- in the wake of a horrendous terrorist attack in France, amid racial tensions after killings by and of police officers, plus an attempted coup in Turkey -- might leave this year’s convention struggling for relevance, and maybe even television airtime. Trump has already signaled that he will use the threat environment to play into his campaign themes, depicting an Obama-Clinton foreign policy he will argue has contributed to the current worldwide instability. “Make America Safe Again” is his opening-night theme. But stability is something Trump himself will have to project, with questions about his own readiness to be commander-in-chief central to concerns about his candidacy.
LAW AND DISORDER
They are the “law and order candidates,” Trump volunteered in introducing Pence. That has a particular Nixon-era resonance for a man who has talked of appealing to the “silent majority.” It could have additional relevance in the quasi-militarized zone that is downtown Cleveland. Protests at conventions are nothing new, but between recent anti-police violence and the expected Trump effect, federal and local law enforcement agencies are preparing for violent clashes. Ohio’s open-carry laws will make things harder to sort out in designated protest zones and beyond. Of course, the words amplified inside the Quicken Loans Arena will carry far outside, particularly after Baton Rouge, Dallas and Minneapolis. Threats and violence in and around Trump events are nothing new, but this will be by far the biggest stage yet.
DUMP TRUMP
Forget the clashes outside for a moment. An unprecedented number of actual convention delegates -- dozens, if not hundreds -- are coming to Cleveland still intent on blocking the candidacy of the presumptive nominee. (Yes, still.) Their best avenue was thwarted late last week by shrewd procedural maneuverings, when pro-Trump forces joined with allies of RNC Chairman Reince Priebus to beat back efforts to allow delegates to vote for whomever they like as the nominee. But Tuesday’s roll-call vote making Trump’s nomination formal still figures to be loud and messy. That’s not even counting the no-shows, including former presidents (two Bushes), former nominees (Mitt Romney, John McCain) and former rivals (another Bush, plus John Kasich -- who also happens to be Ohio’s governor). Even some convention speakers -- House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. Ted Cruz, most prominently -- will have their own agendas in mind, at least in part.
HITTING HILLARY
History will record this as the Trump convention. But in this year in which both presidential candidates are broadly unpopular, a major theme will be the case against Hillary Clinton. The Trump campaign has packed the speaking lineup with prominent and not-so-prominent voices who are prepared to make the case against both Clintons and what they’ve come to represent. That means everything -- Benghazi, the Clinton Foundation, paid speeches, even Bill Clinton’s dalliances -- will be on the table. Clinton herself has already scheduled a few campaign events for the GOP’s convention week, and she’ll be closing in on a vice-presidential candidate even as Republicans join ranks in Cleveland.