What to expect from the 2024 Republican National Convention, just days after the Trump rally shooting

The Republican party kicks off its convention to pick its presidential nominee in Milwaukee, Wis., on Monday, just two days after former U.S. president Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania. Here's CTVNews.ca's guide on what to expect.

The Republican National Convention (RNC) kicks off its summit to pick the party’s presidential nominee in Milwaukee, Wis., on Monday, just two days after former U.S. president Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.  

A typically heightened security environment around such a convention will be that much higher this week after shots were fired Saturday at the rally, killing one attendee and injuring two others; with one bullet grazing Trump’s right ear, according to his own account.

CTV News chief political correspondent Vassy Kapelos, who’s in Milwaukee to cover the convention, said the drama not just from the violence over the weekend but from political events over the past few weeks are sure to influence the mood and agenda at the gathering.

“I’m not sure a month ago when everyone was preparing for this, if they imagined what has happened, not only (on Saturday), but also over the last two weeks,” Kapelos told CTV News Channel on Sunday, referring to Biden’s performance during the presidential debate, which led to calls from some Democrats for the president to step aside as the Democratic candidate.  

“All of that has informed a very different convention than I think the one we anticipated even just a few weeks ago, and especially after (Saturday). So we’ll be looking to see how various delegates, various speeches, people who are attending, how what happened this weekend informs the kinds of things they talk about there, the way in which they appeal to their supporters, and maybe even more so, the way in which they appeal to people who have yet to make up their minds,” said Kapelos, referring to the half-a-million or so swing voters who will be key to determining who wins the general election in November.

Even before Saturday’s attempted assassination, there was no question of who is going to walk out of this week's RNC as the GOP's presidential nominee. Now, support for the former president is expected to be even stronger.

“Nothing unites Americans more than an attack on an Americans,” said Republican strategist Cory Crowley Sunday on CTV News Channel. "You saw in on Sept. 11, you saw it when there was an attempt on Ronald Reagan’s life that was the most recent (presidential assassination attempt), and you see it now with Donald Trump.”