NEW YORK - A traditional chance to showcase party unity turned out extraordinarily divisive, exposing the deep wounds the bombastic presidential candidate Donald Trump has cut through the U.S. Republican Party after a bruising primary season.
Though choosing Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate scored points for the Republican presidential candidate, it won't be enough for Trump to turn the tide against Hillary Clinton in the race for White House, experts said.
SIGNIFICANT & DEEP RIFT
The deep rift running at this week's Republican National Convention nominating Trump for president, "is extraordinarily unusual," Robert Shapiro, a professor and former chair of the Department of Political Science at Columbia University, told Xinhua.
"Having major party leaders not attending the convention, especially the home state governor John Kasich, and one major party leader giving a speech that withholds any endorsement, let alone one that is not enthusiastic, is unheard of," he said.
It was a reference to the Texas senator Ted Cruz. Trump's closest primary rival shocked the Republican convention by refusing to endorse the nominee.
Prominent Republicans, including 18 out of the 54 Republican senators, did not show up at the convention held in Cleveland, the state of Ohio. (Xinhua)