What to watch at the Republican National Convention this week
Originally Published: 15 JUL 24 04:00 ET
Updated: 15 JUL 24 06:55 ET
By Gregory Krieg and Eric Bradner, CNN
(CNN) — After surviving an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump will be at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week to accept his third consecutive GOP presidential nomination.
A gathering already marked by one kind of uncertainty, with Trump’s vice presidential pick still a mystery, will now take place under the shadow of one of the most shocking acts of political violence in modern American history.
It’s unclear what effect the bloodshed will have on what had been expected to be a week of pomp and prime-time speeches designed to make the GOP’s best case for Trump and a Republican majority on Capitol Hill. Trump, though, has already promised the show will go on – at the Fiserv Forum and Wisconsin Center District, Milwaukee’s convention center campus – and that he is “look(ing) forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin.”
Here are six things to watch:
What will change because of Saturday’s shooting?
Many of the questions that predated Saturday evening’s assassination attempt have largely faded into the background as Trump, President Joe Biden and their respective allies rush to adapt their campaigns to the new landscape.
It’s not yet clear how this contest has been altered, but what begins on Monday with the delegate roll call and concludes Thursday night with the former president’s nomination acceptance speech, clearly marks the start of something new and fraught.
“Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now,” Trump told the Washington Examiner of his convention speech following the assassination attempt.
“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together. The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago,” he said.
Trump’s return to the stage, which could come earlier in the week, and his rhetoric at the podium will set the tone both for the final months of the presidential campaign and the near-term future of American politics. The former president has, so far, been restrained in his response to the attempt on his life. Other members of his party have not, with some immediately suggesting – without evidence – that the alleged gunman was driven to act by heated campaign rhetoric.
Trump’s campaign leadership has also said, in a Sunday memo, that it will not tolerate violent rhetoric.
How the presumptive GOP nominee decides to translate his feelings could spark an already crackling tinderbox – or, if he seeks to turn down the temperature, further add to the conundrum for his rivals, who are unsure of how – and when – to resume their campaign against Trump.
For now, though, the ball is very much in the former president’s court.
What the hosts are saying
Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming told reporters on Sunday that, as of now, there are no major changes on tap for the convention or its schedule.
“If they were to make any changes, there would be a reason for it, but we don’t see any reason for it right now,” Schimming said.
Trump’s vice presidential pick is still slated to speak on Wednesday, followed by Trump on Thursday. The slate of speakers is unchanged.
Schimming said he spoke to RNC Chairman Michael Whatley earlier in the day and “everything for the convention is going on as planned.”
“We have dozens and dozens of speakers that will be speaking not only to the folks here, but to people across the nation and across the world about what Donald Trump’s gonna bring to this country,” Schimming continued. “We want to make America great again, and the way to do it is to have a unified convention here in Milwaukee.”
VP: Who’s it gonna be?
The decision has been made, Trump recently said, “in my mind.” But for just about everyone else, it remains a mystery.
CNN previously reported that the Trump campaign viewed Monday, July 15, as its deadline for naming a running mate. That is, of course, the first day of the convention. The potential for a made-for-TV unveiling is there – and it’s likely down to three people: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance.
The timeline, though, could be thrown off by the shocking attempt on Trump’s life this weekend in Pennsylvania. The former president, before the Butler County rally, was using the announcement as a tool for drawing out small-dollar donors and media attention. Both are now keenly attuned, no matter whom Trump picks for the ticket, possibly changing his calculus.
The Trump campaign previously said its “top criteria in selecting a vice president is a strong leader who will make a great president for eight years after his next four-year term concludes.” Does that rule out Burgum, the only senior citizen in the trio of favorites? Rubio and Vance are younger, but the job description might be different today than it was yesterday.
One piece of evidence the pick was, at the very least, nearing? According to copies of the invitations, the Trump team has scheduled two large donor events during RNC week in Milwaukee featuring his as-yet-unknown running mate.
Will MAGA make a case to the moderates?
The better question here might be: Do Trump and his MAGA crew want to win over fence-sitting Republicans who, as an example, voted for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the GOP primaries?
They want the votes, of course, but what’s less clear is whether the former president and current GOP leadership are willing tone down their message in an effort to bring in moderate, suburban voters. To that end, Haley has indeed been invited to speak.
How the party, more broadly, addresses hot-button issues like abortion is more of a question mark. Former Vice President Mike Pence, a social conservative, has already expressed concern over too soft a stance. Democrats will, for all the other issues at play, be hoping for some fire and brimstone from conservatives like North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson.
A handful of 2024 rivals-turned-supporters are scheduled to speak. Among them: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose campaign fizzled after a second-place showing in Iowa.
Other 2024 contenders, including South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Burgum, who have aligned themselves closely with Trump and are on the list of potential vice presidential picks, are also likely to be on hand.
Presidential conventions are generally geared toward reaching – via television – the broadest possible spectrum of potential voters. Trump, though, is more inclined to tweak his political rivals than offer them an olive branch.
For almost 10 years now, since he entered the presidential arena in 2015, political strategists and pundits have been asking if Trump – first as a candidate, then as president, and now, again, as a candidate – might saw off the roughest edges of his persona in a bid to attract swing voters.
He’s done so, on occasion, for brief periods of time. That’s been his tone since the assassination attempt. Which path he’ll choose for this convention – and whether he and his allies can maintain it for a full week – is harder to predict.
Family reunion
The family is very much back in focus.
Back in 2016, Trump’s children all spoke to the convention and were, in large part, viewed as bright-eyed validators for his candidacy. Four years later, they mostly took a more aggressive tone.
This time around is more difficult to peg. Their words will take on greater meaning, too, as Republicans look to Trump’s innermost circle for guidance about how to react to the shooting in Pennsylvania.
The public view of Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Boulos (née Trump) has changed over the past eight years. Trump’s eldest sons have emerged as vocal supporters of his right-wing politics. His daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, is now the co-chair of the Republican National Committee. Though Ivanka, who worked in Trump’s White House, and Tiffany have been quieter, both are expected to be in Milwaukee.
As will former first lady Melania Trump, though it is unclear whether she will speak. She released a lengthy statement following the Pennsylvania rally asking Americans to “ascend above the hate, the vitriol, and the simple-minded ideas that ignite violence.”
The former first lady has maintained a low profile throughout her husband’s latest campaign, having attended just two public appearances since Trump launched his third presidential bid — the kickoff of his campaign in November 2022 at their Mar-a-Lago home and a brief appearance in March when she accompanied Trump to vote in the Florida presidential primary.
More recently, she announced that their son, 18-year-old Barron Trump, will not be a delegate to the convention despite his being voted into the role in Florida.
The ‘Project 2025’ tap dance
Trump has publicly distanced himself from Project 2025, a far-reaching, 900-page conservative blueprint for the next Republican president to purge and remake the federal government and implement new restrictions.
However, that blueprint has become the focal point of Democratic attacks on what a second Trump term could look like — and for good reason: CNN’s Steve Contorno found that at least 140 people who worked in the Trump administration had a hand in Project 2025, including more than half of the people listed as authors, editors and contributors to “Mandate for Leadership,” the project’s extensive manifesto for overhauling the executive branch.
Whether Trump and his allies address Project 2025 or its most politically incendiary proposals, which are certain to feature in Democratic advertisements this fall, could offer a preview of much of the rest of the campaign.
Trump has attracted a devoted following from his party’s most conservative members — and handed them a victory they’d sought for decades when the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, with three Trump-appointed justices, overturned Roe v. Wade’s national abortion protections.
But he has sought to distance himself from those figures and put their policy beliefs at arm’s length as he approaches a general election in which he’ll need to win over moderate suburban voters with little appetite for conservative culture wars.
Another example: The panel charged with crafting and producing a platform for the Republican National Committee adopted a scaled-back document that softened language on abortion and same-sex marriage. That document will be taken up at this week’s convention.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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