5 things to watch for at the Republican National Convention

Can Trump expand on his agenda? Trump has become notoriously comfortable with ranting and reading from a teleprompter, but the RNC platform offers him the ability to lay out an actual agenda and to explain with specificity what he would do to improve their lives. Is this the time Melania Trump breaks through? Wives can often times be the best validators for a candidate. They help with humanizing a politician and in this case could help her cause, as well as her husband's. It helped Romney and Obama in 2012, why not now? Unity within the GOP: Polls show that Trump is getting the support of only about three-quarters of Republicans, a very low number. As it stands, Trump is sitting a few percentage points behind Hillary Clinton, with the RNC being a critical point in his campaign to see whether or not he gets a boost. How will Republicans address the recent police shootings? Donald J. Trump has used the recent shootings and deadly terrorist attacks to cast himself as the “law and order” candidate, and it is safe to expect most Republican speakers to share that framing. As we've seen in past years, a party convention gives leading Republicans and/or Democrats the chance to shine. Who knows if there will be another 2004 Obama in this edition?