--- title: Republican Convention: The Most Unexpected Moments description: Political conventions are tightly scripted affairs, so the most interesting moments are often the unexpected ones. canonical: https://time.com/4417438/republican-convention-unscripted-moments/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-22T12:14:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-06T09:43:07.749Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Most Unexpected Moments of the Republican Convention og:description: From an awkward air kiss to accusations of plagiarism. og:url: https://time.com/4417438/republican-convention-unscripted-moments/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c3c7c2edc61dda2/69889ec2196cf4e26103c873/donald-trump-rnc-republican-national-convention-christopher-morris-lightbox-0003.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Republican National Convention, Cleveland, Ohio. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Most Unexpected Moments of the Republican Convention twitter:description: From an awkward air kiss to accusations of plagiarism. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c3c7c2edc61dda2/69889ec2196cf4e26103c873/donald-trump-rnc-republican-national-convention-christopher-morris-lightbox-0003.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Most Unexpected Moments of the Republican Convention > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ecd6db96-ca49-4827-8e83-014fa9c3835a&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: RNC Most Unexpected Moments [Watch (HLS stream): RNC Most Unexpected Moments](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mbsWvzBB.m3u8) (1:43)  _Published 2016-07-22. Political conventions are tightly scripted affairs, so the most interesting moments are often the unexpected ones. This year’s Republican convention, which ended Thursday night, provided plenty._ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jul 22, 2016 12:14 PM UTC Political conventions are tightly scripted affairs, so the most interesting moments are often the unexpected ones. This year’s Republican convention, which ended Thursday night, provided plenty. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jul 22, 2016 12:14 PM UTC Political conventions are tightly scripted affairs, so the most interesting moments are often the unexpected ones. This year’s Republican convention, which ended Thursday night, provided plenty. Here’s a look at some of the most unexpected moments. **Inappropriate Twitter accounts** A digital banner inside the Quicken Loans Arena was supposed to show positive tweets from supporters. But it showcased a tweet from a [tweet from a white nationalist website](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/19/rnc-2016-shows-off-white-nationalist-tweet.html) and another from an obvious [white supremacist](http://time.com/4418591/republican-convention-white-supremacist-tweet/). > [](https://twitter.com/EsotericCD/status/755572756033306624) **An awkward air kiss** On Wednesday night, Trump’s vice presidential pick, Gov. Mike Pence, took the stage. [Trump was right there with him](http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/21/politics/donald-trump-mike-pence-air-kiss/), but things got awkward when he went in for a kiss.  **Boos for Trump’s plane** Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was holding an outdoor event at the convention. Right on cue, [Trump’s plane flew by in the background, and it got a lot of boos from Cruz supporters](http://www.npr.org/2016/07/20/486782643/watch-trumps-plane-interrupts-ted-cruz-rally-crowd-boos). **Cruz gets booed, too** Cruz later gave a speech on the convention stage, but he refrained from endorsing Trump and [told delegates and voters to vote their conscience](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ted-cruz-booed-failing-endorse-donald-trump-vote/story?id=40755265) in November. Supporters inside the arena booed and yelled “Go home!” **Melania Trump borrows some words** Trump’s wife, Melania, spoke Monday, but accusations that a portion of her speech was plagiarized overshadowed the substance of her speech, especially when the [campaign bungled its response](http://time.com/4415511/melania-trump-plagiarized-speech-responses/). A staffer eventually took responsibility for the plagiarism. **Alaska’s emotional appeal** The Alaska delegation got into a back-and-forth with the chair over how its votes were counted during the otherwise routine roll call of the states. Their [emotional appeal was turned down](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/rnc-2016-inside-alaskas-decision-appeal-vote/story?id=40718033) but not before causing some discomfort on national television. **Ben Carson goes off script** Retired neurosurgeon and former presidential candidate Ben Carson went off his script and [linked presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to Lucifer](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/07/19/donald-trump-ben-carson-republican-convention/87322298/), because of the dedication on a book she wrote her college thesis about. ## Transcript [00:00] [ APPLAUSE ] [00:03] [ MUSIC ] [00:06] [ UNKNOWN ] [00:09] That [00:12] was [00:15] pretty [00:18] well orchestrated [ MUSIC ] Jeff, did you email [00:22] them to fly the plane right [00:26] when I said that? To the [00:30] constitution. [ CROSSTALK ] You work hard for [00:35] what you want in life, that your word [00:39] is your bond. Bond, that you do what you say you're [00:41] gonna do. My parents impressed on me the values that [00:45] you work hard for what [00:50] you want in life, that your word is your bond, and you [00:52] do what you say and keep your promise. For what [00:55] purpose does the gentleman seek recognition? To [00:57] contest the vote that Alaska cast as [01:01] it was recorded by the secretary. It was misrecorded [01:05] by the secretary. << Since there was only one [01:07] candidate that was left running, the bound vote gets [01:10] shifted under the state party rule, and that's why the [01:13] secretary read it that way. << One of the things that I [01:18] have learned about Hillary Clinton is that [01:23] one of her heroes, one of her mentors, was Saul [01:25] Alinsky. He wrote a book called [01:29] Rules for Radicals. On the dedication page, it [01:33] acknowledges Lucifer. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4417438/republican-convention-unscripted-moments/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4417438/republican-convention-unscripted-moments/"},"headline":"The Most Unexpected Moments of the Republican Convention","datePublished":"2016-07-22T12:14:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-06T09:43:07.749Z","description":"Political conventions are tightly scripted affairs, so the most interesting moments are often the unexpected ones.","url":"https://time.com/4417438/republican-convention-unscripted-moments/","keywords":["Republican National Convention","2016 Election","ted cruz","Donald Trump","Mike Pence","Melania Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c3c7c2edc61dda2/69889ec2196cf4e26103c873/donald-trump-rnc-republican-national-convention-christopher-morris-lightbox-0003.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4c3c7c2edc61dda2/69889ec2196cf4e26103c873/donald-trump-rnc-republican-national-convention-christopher-morris-lightbox-0003.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican National Convention, Cleveland, Ohio.","caption":"Republican National Convention, Cleveland, Ohio.","creditText":"Christopher Morris—VII for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/republican-national-convention/","name":"Republican National Convention"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4417438/republican-convention-unscripted-moments/","name":"The Most Unexpected Moments of the Republican Convention"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"RNC Most Unexpected Moments","description":"Political conventions are tightly scripted affairs, so the most interesting moments are often the unexpected ones. 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