The 2016 U.S. presidential campaign is unprecedented, particularly on the Republican side. It has held surprise after surprise, following a narrative no one came close to predicting.
There is every reason to believe the Republican National Convention, to begin in 17 days as I type, will follow suit.
It turns out that all of the things most of us think are supposed to happen at such an event are pretty squishy. That the conventions of recent memories have mostly been coronations doesn’t mean they have to go that way. There are many avenues for chaos.
A lot of attention is falling on Enid Mickelsen, a “little-known, Sunday School-teaching grandmother from Draper, Utah.” She is the convention’s Rules chair, and no one quite trusts her. She’s like that tequila that Don Eladio and Gus Fring both warily eye in one of the most memorable episodes of Breaking Bad. Is she in the tank for Trump? For #NeverTrump? Is she actually going to do what she says and try her best to be true to the process?
For that matter, what is the process?
I will be watching this year’s convention closely. Because somehow, I think Donald Trump sliding without fuss into the nomination is one of the less likely scenarios.
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