WASHINGTON, DC – With the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland starting one week from tomorrow, the latest edition of The Ripon Forum looks at the quadrennial GOP gathering and the presumptive nominee this year.  Authors and articles in this edition include:

• Forum Editor Lou Zickar, looking at “Why Trump Resonates” and a reason for the billionaire’s appeal — “Americans are ashamed of their government and ready to turn the tables on the governing class,” Zickar writes.  “Who better to shame Washington than someone who has no shame?”
• Scholar and author Joel K. Goldstein, examining the history of GOP running mates and who might get the VP nod this year.  “As the first presumptive presidential nominee since Wendell Willkie in 1940 without experience holding public office,” Goldstein writes, “Trump appears the consummate political outsider.  Past practice would suggest he would seek someone with experience in Congress and/or the executive branch and who would compensate for his lack of a national security credential.”
• Veteran GOP Convention officer and rules expert Billy Pitts, looking at “Why Rules Matter” when it comes to picking a VP.  “The rules governing political conventions have been used to obtain political ends in the past,” Pitts observes. “That is likely to continue in Cleveland.”
• GOP activist and constitutional litigator Trey Mayfield, arguing that with the 2016 nomination process coming to an end, it’s time to consider changing where the 2020 process begins.  “Given the fact that the winner of the Iowa Caucus is almost never the eventual GOP nominee,” Mayfield writes, “perhaps it is time to make a change.”
• Republican strategist Susan Del Percio looking at the fact that there are likely to be “Storm Clouds over Philadelphia” during the upcoming Democratic Convention because of the problems facing Hillary Clinton. “The controversy surrounding her private email servers while she was Secretary of State has taken a toll,” Del Percio writes.  “As we now know, she lied to the American public about sending and receiving classified emails, a practice which FBI Director James Comey scathingly characterized as, ‘extremely careless.’”
• A report by Forum editorial staff called, “From Reagan & Ford to Trump & the Reality Show,” which looks at the past 40 years of Republican Conventions and how the 2016 gathering may and may not compare to the ones that have come before.

The latest edition of the Forum also features a debate over the benefits and costs of global trade with U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (WA-8), the Chairman of the Ways & Means Subcommittee on Trade, and Rick Manning, the President of Americans for Limited Government.  In addition, with the NATO Summit just concluded in Warsaw, security expert Lamont Collucci writes about the future of the North Atlantic alliance.  And Elizabeth Slattery of the Heritage Foundation writes about the vacancy on the Supreme Court and why the election has added importance this year.

And in the latest Ripon Profile, U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks (IN-5) reveals the advice she would give the GOP nominee.  “Policies and ideas that isolate us or discriminate undermine our leadership in the world and divide our country,” the Indiana Republican states.  “As we look towards November, it’s important we focus on what we’re for, rather than what we stand against.”

The Ripon Forum is published six times a year by The Ripon Society, a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.