Donald Trump’s Cleveland convention is turning into bumpy and unconventional ride

CLEVELAND: The Republican National Convention is shaping up to be a bumpy ride, with party division and outside events including protests and fallout from Sunday’s killing of three police officers in Louisiana threatening to steal some of Donald Trump’s limelight.

Delegates opposed to the presumptive nominee are still plotting ways to disrupt the nationally televised sessions shortly after the convention formally starts at 1 p.m. Monday.

At a minimum, the four-day political extravaganza promises to be unconventional, at least when compared to the heavily scripted quadrennial coronations of recent presidential election cycles.

The convention’s home state Republican governor, John Kasich, is expected to attend events outside the Quicken Loans arena, but not inside.

Many of the party’s top elected officials and donors will also be missing, as will the last two Republican presidents and last two Republican presidential nominees.

The specter of unrest and potential violence hangs over the convention as well, with the volatile mix of daily demonstrations planned by groups both for and against Trump. The protests will take place with a nation on edge following the assassination of five police officers in Dallas on July 7 and the killing of three more Sunday in Baton Rouge.

“For the things that we’re able to control, we feel real good,” said Matt Borges, Republican Party chairman in the host state of Ohio. At least Trump won’t have to deal with a tropical storm, like the one that delayed the start of the last Republican convention by a day four years ago in Tampa.

A political provocateur who loves to brag about his ratings, Trump seems eager to put on a good show, but the roughly 20,000 people inside the arena are just his secondary audience.

His primary one will be the millions watching on television in battleground states. Trump and his campaign team have predicted record television ratings.