As the gavel drops to begin the Republican National Convention in Cleveland tomorrow, the party will be focused on two goals: reintroducing Donald Trump as someone the country could imagine in the Oval Office during dangerous times, and healing the leftover wounds of a brutal primary season.
"The convention's coming at a good time for us to turn the page," a hopeful Reince Priebus, the party's chairman, said after spending the pre-convention week snuffing out a 'Never Trump' revolt among a rebellious group of party rulemakers.
Modern conventions are political infomercials, and the four-day gathering in Cleveland will aim to present Trump as a more substantive and compassionate figure than the bombastic, impulsive showman who vanquished 16 rivals to claim the nomination. The incendiary rhetoric that his supporters see as truth-telling has alienated crucial swaths of the general electorate, especially women and minorities.
"He is a likable person," Priebus said.
Officially introducing an uncharacteristically conventional running mate, Trump appeared in New York with Indiana Governor Mike Pence for the first time as a ticket. Trump gave a rambling speech that was mostly about himself.
