Axios: GOP plans “nightly surprise” for revamped convention

GOP plans “nightly surprise” for revamped convention
The re-worked Republican National Committee is re-working its next GOP Convention.  Axios reports:

“The reworked Republican National Convention will be a four-night spectacle including still-under-wraps venues, a 10 p.m. “nightly surprise” and guests and themes playing to “the forgotten men and women of America,” two senior Trump campaign officials involved tell Axios.

Driving the news: The messaging will focus heavily on “very granular details” of what a second term for President Trump would look like — answering a question Trump left hanging in a Fox News event earlier this summer — and attack cancel culture, “radical elements” of society and threats to public safety.

Details: Trump is to be formally renominated by delegates in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday, Aug. 24.

* But the aspects that most Americans associate with a convention — big speakers and special events — will be held from 8:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. in and around a “central hub” in another metro area that officials so far have declined to make public. 

* The programming will be a hybrid that mixes in-person and virtual speakers, live and taped appearances. Trump will deliver his acceptance speech live on the fourth and final night of the convention.

What they’re saying: “Let the Democrats have their Hollywood A-listers and their political elite class and social elite class,” said one of the officials, while the GOP contrasts itself as “the party of real, hardworking Americans.”

* Monday night will focus on America as “a land of heroes.”

* Tuesday: “Land of promise.”

* Wednesday: “Land of opportunity.”

* Thursday: “Land of greatness” and Trump’s plan to lead voters to “the great American comeback.” 

The highest-profile guests will appear between 10-11 p.m. each night during a time slot organizers have set aside for a “nightly surprise factor,” when they expect television networks to carry the convention live.

Behind the scenes: Organizers studied the 2012 and 2016 conventions to analyze which speakers made the biggest splashes and how — hoping to create new influencers who can generate breakout coverage through Labor Day and beyond.”

National political conventions of both parties have long ago abandoned the notion that their job was simply to nominate a president. In today’s world, of necessity, they have to be produced like the televised spectacular they have become.