Donald Trump has spent months promising that his Republican National Convention would be exciting, unlike Mitt Romney’s “boring” 2012 convention. But as the time draws near, to hear him tell it, Trump is taking a very modest approach:
“What they’ve asked me to do is to speak all three nights. I turned it down,” he said in an interview from his Fifth Avenue office one recent afternoon.
Not that people aren’t clamoring to see more of him, of course. “Everybody wants that,” he insisted. But he said he demurred at the risk of looking too self-absorbed. “I don’t want people to think I’m grandstanding — which I’m not,” he said, before adding, almost reflexively, “But it would get high ratings.”
Heaven forbid people should think Donald Trump is grandstanding. But that’s not all!
He shut down plans to have him arrive in Cleveland by train, arguing that it’s been done before, and he decided against delivering his convention-closing speech at a larger, outdoor stadium over concerns that it would cost too much. He did tell the Times that he was tempted by the outdoor stadium though, because it would have afforded him the chance to arrive via helicopter.
Also, Trump apparently had to be told that no, he couldn’t move the convention out of Cleveland.
It’s not clear what Trump has planned to make this convention so exciting. The recruiting of sports figures isn’t going so well. Trump had to deny reports that he was planning to have convicted rapist Mike Tyson speak at the convention, and then his invitation was in turn rejected by Mike Ditka. Not that Tyson or Ditka could have lived up to the blazing excitement of three nights of Donald Trump. It’s just … what’s left? The vast majority of Republican politicians are ruled out by both their unwillingness to associate themselves with Trump and their lack of sizzle. Is the final lineup going to make us wish Trump had spoken for all three nights?