Party officials are hoping to use the four-day convention, which began on Monday, to smooth out some of his rough edges and present him as a job creator and a strong hand to combat security threats at home and overseas.
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The roll call vote on the nomination is expected Tuesday, with Trump scheduled to close the convention with an acceptance speech Thursday night.
Most of the other speeches focused on hammering President Obama and Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee hoping to succeed him.
Trump’s campaign responded in a statement that said her “immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech”.
The final night of the convention, starting at 7:30 p.m. ET, is Trump’s night.
Trump family members (from left) Donald Jr, Ivanka, Eric and Tifffany Trump stand with the NY delegation at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland July 19, 2016. Outside the convention hall, vendors are selling lewd T-shirts and buttons mocking her. The crowd at Quicken Loans Arena routinely answered, “Guilty!” and broke into chants of, “Lock her up!”
By the time this convention concludes, there won’t be too many Trumps you haven’t heard from. Manafort on Wednesday called it merely an “undertone” of the event and stood by the assertion that Clinton should be in jail.
Our political system is not working. Why does he care this much?
The night’s most prominent speech will come from Indiana Gov. Mike Pence – who, as the GOP vice presidential candidate, will be the prime-time headliner.
In a Twitter post yesterday, Donald Trump himself made no mention of the accusations about plagiarism, saying simply: “It was truly an honour to introduce my wife, Melania Trump last night”. Ted Cruz, a defeated presidential hopeful.
Texas fundraiser Mica Mosbacher said Wednesday that Cruz has taken a “quantum leap” with his convention speech after a rough primary, but based on conversations with his advisers the senator and his team are not ready to fully back Trump.
Two of Trump’s children testified to his character. Melania Trump had recited near-verbatim snippets of an old speech from incumbent first lady Michelle Obama, causing a bout of fingerpointing at the Republican convention. But the rocky start raised questions about his oversight of his campaign, which gives voters a window into how a candidate might handle the pressures of the presidency. Even New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the elected official perhaps closest to Trump, who has known him personally for years and was a finalist for his vice presidential pick, spent the vast majority of his speech attacking Clinton and laying out a prosecutorial case against her instead of touting Trump’s record or credentials.
And there’s new language condemning same-sex parenting: “Children raised in a traditional two-parent household tend to be physically and emotionally healthier, less likely to use drugs and alcohol, engage in crime or become pregnant outside of marriage”.
“There’s been a lot of effort to make sure we have a smooth convention, that Donald Trump is the nominee and that we unite”, said Phil Wright, chairman of the Utah delegation.
Delegates have had mixed reactions to the offerings.
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“I think they’re about 80 per cent there”, said Mosbacher, who expects Cruz to make overtures toward unity in his remarks.
