Republican National Convention: A Crowning Achievement for Donald Trump

Cleveland, OH — Donald Trump's formal nomination as the GOP's presidential candidate — once dismissed as improbable and mocked as inexplicable — now seems all but inevitable as the Republican National Convention begins in Cleveland.

Over four days, a festival of Republican revelry will unfold in this blue-collar, Rust Belt, historically Democratic city on the shores of Lake Erie. From July 18 to 21, more than 50,000 people will descend on Cleveland to anoint their standard bearer, convening at Quicken Loans Arena — affectionately dubbed "The Q" by Greater Clevelanders and now known as home of the NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers.

Unlike other Trump buildings, The Q has not been stamped with a huge T-R-U-M-P sign. (But with 4,000 law enforcement officers in town, The Q is the most secure building in all The Land.)

A Manhattan real estate developer, brand magnate and reality TV show celebrity making his first run for public office, we've come to know Trump as the man who vows to "make America great again."

How Trump proposes to do so has inspired a fervor in fans and foes alike.

Trump wants a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico and mass deportations of undocumented immigrants; he wants to block Muslims from entering the country and compel Muslims in the United States to register in a national database and carry ID cards; he wants to "cut the best trade deals," too, boasting that any recalcitrant lawmakers who balk at his ideas will be "very sorry"; and Trump promises to be a "law and order" president with no patience for Black Lives Matter demonstrators or anyone else who raises their voice in protest against him.

The party of Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, and Ronald Reagan, the Great Communicator, looks very different as Republicans arrive in Cleveland, and the campaign waged by Trump, who might be called the Tweet Denigrator, looks like nothing we've ever seen.

Throughout Trump's unlikely journey to Cleveland, during which he dispatched 16 other contenders for the GOP nomination, his rallies were marked by flying fists, screaming matches, scuffles, arrests and a bellicose Trump who at times spoke favorably of "roughing up" protesters who disrupted his speeches. His supporters, many of whom are disaffected and disappointed in politics as usual, liked his disdain for "political correctness" and thoroughly enjoyed the jabs and insults he aimed at his rivals.

Now, on the cusp of formal nomination, various groups opposed to his proposals and the GOP platform will surround the arena and raise their voices in protest.

On Monday, a collection of immigration, Muslim rights, anti-police brutality advocates and various other activists will come together for a march and demonstration as the "Coalition to Stop Trump."

A group calling itself Bikers for Trump promises to be in Cleveland "in force" to protect the Republican delegates. Bikers for Trump members have appeared at a number of Trump rallies.

This political carnival will be monitored and protected by 4,000 law enforcement personnel — city police, Secret Service and FBI. The city secured a $50 million federal grant for convention security. The job is made more complicated by an Ohio law that allows the open carry of firearms. Organizers have created a gun-free zone around the convention center. Earlier this year, gun-rights activists gathered 45,000 signatures on a petition demanding that convention-goers be allowed to carry firearms. In March, the Secret Service said no.

Now, concrete barricades and 8-foot-high chain-link fences surround the convention area. And officers from California, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other states were sworn in Saturday as "special police officers" to bolster forces.

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Whatever happens, America will be watching.

Only Luddites living in remote woodlands or mountaintops may be fortunate enough to avoid the 24/7 media coverage emanating from Cleveland this week. Satellite radio and cable television have dedicated entire channels to streaming speeches and gavel-to-gavel proceedings. Hot tweets will be trending, and Facebook will be staffing a "Facebook Filing Center" in the arena — offering a place for journalists to charge their smartphones and fill up on coffee.

With 15,000 credentialed members of the press swarming all over this convention, the media coverage will be inescapable.

Nevertheless, this quadrennial jamboree, the grandest of grand parties for the faithful members of the Grand Old Party, will be missing many noteworthy and important figures — Republican governors, senators and power brokers who are avoiding Donald Trump the same way one might sidestep a pile of wet turds at a garden party.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich will be in Cleveland but says he will avoid the convention. New Jersey's Tom Kean will stay away. So will Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner. Mark Kirk, the U.S. senator from Illinois, will stay home. He withdrew his support for Trump, saying he's unfit to be commander-in-chief. John McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee for president who's running for re-election to the Senate from Arizona, will stay home, too. He's been very critical of Trump's remarks on foreign policy. Trump poked at the former prisoner of war, saying he "likes people who weren't captured." Mitt Romney, the 2012 nominee who feverishly tried to rally a Dump Trump movement among Republicans as the final primaries approached, won't attend.

The GOP's ex-presidents aren't coming, either.

President George H.W. Bush says he's "retired from politics."

George W. Bush won't endorse him either.

And Jeb Bush — considered the frontrunner and most likely opponent to Democrat Hillary Clinton before Republicans actually began to caucus and cast primary ballots — is staying away, too.

While Republicans haven't been able to dump Trump as their candidate, big business has had no problem washing its hands of him. Apple, HP, Ford, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, UPS, FedEx, Motorola Solutions, Pepsi and Coke, which have financially supported past conventions, have balked at contributing money or products for the GOP's big Cleveland show.

"Just as candidates don't get votes from people they insult," Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist, told the Associated Press, "corporations don't get business from people they insult."

Convention organizers have come up short on cash to pay for the big shindig. How short? $8.1 million shy of the $64 million needed.

“Over the past couple months, negative publicity around our potential nominee resulted in a considerable number of pledges backing out from their commitments,” reads a letter by the Cleveland 2016 Host Committee obtained by Politico.

Even billionaire David Koch, the arch-conservative known for wielding incredible influence on politicians and issues, has reneged on sending $1 million to help pay for the Cleveland convention.

Politico reports that organizers are "begging" Trump ally and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson to cover the shortfall, an embarrassing request as all eyes turn to Cleveland.

The last time Cleveland hosted a national convention was 1936. Cleveland was selected as the host city on July 8, 2014, and has been looking forward to this week ever since as another opportunity show off Cleveland's comeback as one of America's great cities.

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