Republican Convention starts this Monday; check out the highlights

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 meeting already marked by a kind of uncertainty, with Trump’s choice for vice president 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 is unclear what effect the bloodshed will have on what was expected to be a week of pageantry and prime-time speeches aimed at convincing the American public that the Republican Party should win the House and the presidency under Trump. But the former president has promised that the spectacle will go on — at the Fiserv Forum and the Wisconsin Center District, Milwaukee’s convention center campus — and that he is “looking forward to addressing our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin.”

Here are six things to watch out for:

What will change because of Saturday’s shooting?

Many of the questions that preceded Saturday night’s assassination attempt have largely faded as Trump, President Joe Biden and their respective allies rush to adapt their campaigns to the new landscape.

It is not yet clear how this dispute has been changed, but the event that begins this Monday (15) with the call of the delegates and ends on Thursday night with the acceptance speech of the former president’s nomination clearly marks the beginning of something new and tense.

Trump’s return to the stage, which could come as early as this week, and his rhetoric from the podium will set the tone for both 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. Others in his party have not, with some immediately suggesting — without evidence — that the alleged shooter was spurred into action by heated campaign rhetoric.

Trump campaign leadership also said in a memo Sunday (14) that it will not tolerate violent rhetoric.

How the presumptive Republican nominee chooses to translate his feelings could set off an already simmering tinderbox — or, if he tries to lower the temperature, further compound the conundrum for his rivals, who are unsure how — and when — to resume their campaign against Trump.

For now, however, the ball is in the former president’s court.

What the hosts are saying

Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming told reporters Sunday that there are currently no major changes planned for the convention or its schedule.

“If they were to make any changes, there would be a reason for that, but we don’t see any reason for that at the moment,” Schimming said.

Trump’s vice presidential pick will have a panel scheduled for Wednesday, followed by Trump on Thursday. The list of speakers remains unchanged.

Schimming said he spoke with RNC Chairman Michael Whatley earlier in the day and “everything for the convention is going as planned.”

“We have dozens and dozens of speakers who will speak not just to folks here, but to folks all across the country and all around the world about what Donald Trump is going to bring to this country,” Schimming continued. “We want to make America great again, and the way to do that is to have a unified convention here in Milwaukee.”

VP: Who will it be?

The decision was made, Trump said recently, “in my mind.” But for almost everyone else, it remains a mystery.

A CNN Trump previously reported that the Trump campaign has set Monday (15) as the deadline to name a running mate. That is, of course, the first day of the convention. The potential for a made-for-TV reveal is there — and the choice is likely between three people: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Sen. J.D.

But the timing 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 to attract donors and media attention. Both are now deeply in tune, regardless of who Trump picks for his running mate, potentially changing his calculus.

The Trump campaign has previously said that its “primary criterion in selecting a vice president is a strong leader who will be a great president for eight years after the conclusion of his or her next four-year term.” Does that rule out Burgum, the only senior in the trio of front-runners? Rubio and Vance are younger, but the job description may be different today than it was yesterday.

One piece of evidence that the choice was at least close? According to copies of the invitations, Trump’s team scheduled two major donor events during RNC week in Milwaukee featuring his still-unknown running mate.

Will Trump make a nod to moderates?

The better question here might be: Do Trump and his Make America Great Again, MAGA, crew want to win over Republicans who, for example, voted for former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in the GOP primaries?

They want the votes, of course, but what is less clear is whether the former president and the current GOP leadership are willing to soften their message in an effort to appeal to moderate suburban voters. To that end, Haley has been invited to speak.

How the party more broadly approaches hot-button issues like abortion is another question mark. Former Vice President Mike Pence, a social conservative, has expressed concern about a too-soft stance. Democrats, on all other issues at stake, are hoping for some friendly fire from conservatives like North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson.

A handful of rivals-turned-supporters in 2024 are scheduled to speak. Among them: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose campaign fizzled after a second-place showing in Iowa.

Other 2024 candidates, 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 in attendance.

Presidential conventions are usually geared toward reaching the broadest possible spectrum of potential voters on television. But Trump is more likely to poke fun at his political rivals than to give them a helping hand.

For nearly 10 years, since he entered the presidential arena in 2015, political strategists and pundits have been asking whether Trump — first as a candidate, then as president, and now, again, as a candidate — could shave away the rough edges of his personality in an attempt to appeal to swing voters.

He has done so, occasionally, for brief periods of time. That has been his tone since the assassination attempt. What path he will take for this convention — and whether he and his allies can hold it for a full week — is harder to predict.

Family meeting

The family is back in focus.

In 2016, all of Trump’s children spoke at the convention and were largely seen as passionate supporters of his candidacy. Four years later, they have taken a more aggressive tone.

This time it’s harder to pinpoint. His words will also take on greater significance as Republicans look to Trump’s inner circle for guidance on how to respond to the Pennsylvania shooting.

The public’s view of Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Boulos has changed over the past eight years. Trump’s eldest children have emerged as vocal supporters of his right-wing politics. His daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, is now co-chair of the Republican National Committee. While Ivanka, who worked in Trump’s White House, and Tiffany have been more muted, both are expected to be in Milwaukee.

Former first lady Melania Trump will also be in attendance, though it is unclear whether she will speak. She released a lengthy statement after the Pennsylvania rally, urging Americans to “rise above the hatred and simplistic ideas that lead to violence.”

The former first lady has kept a low profile during her husband’s latest campaign, making just two public appearances since Trump launched his third presidential bid — his campaign kickoff in November 2022 at his Mar-a-Lago home and a brief appearance in March when she accompanied Trump to vote in the Florida presidential primary.

Most recently, she announced that her 18-year-old son, Barron Trump, will not be a delegate to the convention, despite being voted into office in Florida.

Comings and goings with ‘Project 2025’

Trump has publicly distanced himself from Project 2025, a far-reaching, 900-page conservative plan for the next Republican president to purge and remake the federal government and implement new restrictions.

Yet that model has become the focal point of Democratic attacks on what a second Trump term would look like—and for good reason: Steve Contour of CNN found that at least 140 people who worked in the Trump administration participated in Project 2025, including more than half of the people listed as authors, editors and contributors to “Mandate for Leadership,” the project’s sprawling manifesto for reforming the executive branch.

Whether Trump and his allies pursue Project 2025 or his politically incendiary proposals, which are sure to loom large over Democratic campaigns, could offer a preview of much of the rest of the campaign.

Trump attracted a devoted following from the most conservative members of his party — and handed them a victory they had sought for decades when the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, with three Trump-appointed justices, struck down Roe v. Wade’s nationwide abortion protections.

But he has sought to distance himself from those numbers and put his political beliefs at bay as he approaches a general election in which he will have to win over moderate suburban voters with little appetite for conservative culture wars.

Another example: The panel tasked with drafting and producing a platform for the Republican National Committee adopted a pared-down document that softened language on abortion and same-sex marriage. That document will be discussed at this week’s convention.