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What To Expect During The Last Day Of The RNC

This article originally appeared in Forbes.

Today is the last day of the four-day Republican National Convention. This is usually the most exciting day of conventions because it is the evening that the presidential nominee accepts the nomination and delivers remarks. For those attending, this is the night when all of the balloons fall from the ceiling. The theme of Thursday is “Make America One Again.” After the drama of Senator Ted Cruz speaking on Wednesday, a unity message seems appropriate.

Before Donald Trump takes the stage, the delegates will hear from elected officials and business leaders, among others. The Primetime Program begins at 7:30 pm. Here’s the line-up from the RNC website:

  • Brock Mealer, Motivational Speaker
  • U.S Representative Marsha Blackburn (TN-7)
  • Governor Mary Fallin, Governor of Oklahoma
  • Dr. Lisa Shin, National Diversity Coalition for Trump
  • Reince Priebus, RNC Chairman
  • Jerry Falwell, Jr., President of Liberty University and evangelical leader
  • Peter Thiel, Venture Capitalist
  • Tom Barrack, CEO of Colony Capital
  • Ivanka Trump, Daughter of Donald Trump and EVP at the Trump Organization
  • Donald J. Trump, Republican presumptive candidate for President of the United States

I’ll be listening for three things tonight:

  • I expect to hear Trump’s female surrogates make the case for Trump specifically to young women
  • Trump keeps saying that his tone will change after he becomes the Party’s nominee. We will have the answer to the question of whether that is happening tonight. For example, how scripted is his speech? How presidential does it sound? Is the tone divisive or unifying?
  • I expect Trump is getting lots of advice on how to drive the media narrative. Rather than focusing on the future, I anticipate he will at least in passing mention some of the stories from the week (even if coached against this). This will help us understand if he is listening to the advice of advisers. I imagine it will be hard for him not to address the Ted Cruz non-endorsement.

After today, Republicans are normally out of the spotlight and the media will turn to the Democratic Convention. With Trump as the Republican nominee, we will see if that will be different this year.

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