Ground Game: Trump veepstakes, the RNC and election year-tensions

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Plus, the veepstakes nears its conclusion and Biden calibrates how to navigate a changed campaign{beacon}

By Meg Kinnard

July 15, 2024 08:22:16 AM

By Meg Kinnard

July 15, 2024 08:22:16 AM

  

Donald Trump and his allies will begin their four-day convention in Milwaukee ready to “fight,” as the bloodied former president cried out while Secret Service agents rushed him to safety on Saturday. The attempted assassination has shaken the country and filled this week's Republican National Convention with anger and anxiety.

Welcome to this week’s edition of AP Ground Game.

 

THE HEADLINES

Corey Lewandowski is seen on the screen of a cellphone during a walkthrough at the 2024 Republican National Convention, Sunday, July 14, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

The RNC goes on after the Trump rally shooting

Republican Party chairman Michael Whatley says the convention’s programming would not be changed in the wake of the Saturday shooting, which killed one rallygoer and seriously injured two more. The four-day agenda, he said, will feature more than 100 speakers overwhelmingly focused on kitchen-table issues and Trump’s plans to lift everyday working Americans.

There is normal convention business to complete. Beyond voting to formally give Trump the nomination, elected delegates from across the nation will also update the GOP’s official policy platform for the first time since 2016. The scaled-down platform proposal is just 16 pages.

The platform doesn't include an explicit call for a national abortion ban, two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended a