The first day of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland was dubbed "Make America Safe Again," a variation of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump's campaign slogan.
Former New York Gov. Rudy Guiliani, actor Scott Baio and others honed in on selling Trump on his toughness.
Melania Trump Speech At RNC Criticized
Trump's third wife, Slovenian former model Melania Trump, took to the stage. Many praised her speech as the only speech of the day to invoke a sense of hope.
However, others have pointed out similarities to Michelle Obama's speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Phrases like "...you work hard for what you want in life. That your word is your bond…" mirror Obama's 2008 speech.
Indiana University Political Science Associate Professor Matthew Hayes says that the speech is "another red flag about Trump's ability to run a modern campaign."
"There were already concerns before the plagiarism case about how well-staffed the campaign was, how good of a response team they have and the way this is playing out in the speed in which responded suggest that these views are sort of well founded," he says.
GOP chairman Reince Priebus continues to support his party's presumptive nominee, stating that he would "probably" fire Melania's speechwriter, but it was not her fault because many of these speeches contain "pretty common types of themes."
During a Bloomberg Politics breakfast on Tuesday morning in Cleveland, Priebus also said that the speech is just a distraction from the rest of the convention.
Gov. Pence Takes The Stage For RNC Speech Wednesday
"Pence was very clearly a pick aimed at increasing party unity," Hayes says.
Gov. Pence has experience working in Washington, and his conservative social beliefs will surely attract voters who are turned off by Trump's social views. As recently as 2011, Trump has publicly supported a woman's right to an abortion, but has since retracted and declared himself to be pro-life.
I don't expect [Pence] to talk much about foreign policy. That's an area where he and Trump disagreed many times.
According to Hayes, Pence's speech on Wednesday at the RNC will likely focus on "socially conservative issues."
"I don't expect him to talk much about foreign policy," he says. "That's an area where he and Trump disagreed many times from the Iraq War to NAFTA. But I expect him to probably focus on social issues and maybe immigration."
Despite Trump's apparent lack of enthusiasm for Pence, the Governor's understated personality attempts to balance out Trump.
"[Pence's] main task is not to draw attention to himself, but to reassure conservative Republicans that Trump has the conservative bonafides to warrant voting for in November," Hayes says.
