OFF TO THE RACES: The Trump Show comes to Cleveland
NBC’s Benjy Sarlin on the Trump Show to come this week: "The Republican National Convention's prime-time schedule reflects Trump in all his glory. The speaking slots are thick with loyalists like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, and Dr. Ben Carson along with several of Trump's own family members. Several speakers have starred in reality shows, including golfer Natalie Gulbis, actor Antonio Sabato Jr., and Duck Dynasty star Willie Robertson. Some of the themes go places only Trump would go: One segment is expected to detail Bill Clinton's sexual misconduct."
On the eve of the convention, he shifted on one of his signature policy proposals: a ban on Muslim immigration.
And he gave Mike Pence a pass on his Iraq War vote even as he hammered Hillary Clinton for it.
A big part of the Pence pick, by the way? Big donors.
From POLITICO: "The last-minute plea for $6 million from Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson to rescue the Republican convention has erupted in controversy, as four of the five signatories to the letter from party organizers never saw it before it was sent and major donors flagged serious errors that forced the convention hosts to apologize to one of the GOP’s most influential financiers."
NBC’s Jacob Rascon looks at the intense security in Cleveland.
From NBC’s Dante Chinni: "Donald Trump's unlikely rise from reality star/businessman to presumptive Republican nominee may seem like a bolt from the blue, but it is directly tied to a long-term demographic trend: The rise of disenchanted blue-collar voters as a force in the party."
The New York Times outlines the grim mood prompted by a series of police killings in the lead-up to the convention.
Law and order will be a major theme at the convention, the Wall Street Journal notes.
Trump told the Washington Post he doesn’t need to read extensively because he makes decisions "with very little knowledge other than the knowledge I [already] had, plus the words ‘common sense,’ because I have a lot of common sense and I have a lot of business ability.”
Ted Cruz tells POLITICO he’s not quite ready to endorse Trump.
From over the weekend: Just 14 percent of Latinos say they’ll back Trump over Clinton, according to a new NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll.
From one of us(!) on the poll: "On the eve of the GOP convention, Hillary Clinton maintains a five-point national lead over Donald Trump even after a period of negative news for the presumptive Democratic nominee, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Clinton leads the presumptive GOP nominee 46 percent to 41 percent in a poll that finds both candidates facing sizable disadvantages and challenges ahead of the party conventions which kick off Monday for the GOP in Cleveland and a week later for Democrats in Philadelphia.”
As the GOP convention opens, Hillary Clinton will address the NAACP.
The Washington Post looks at Clinton’s drive to register minorities — with a focus on Asian Americans.