--- 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: 2026-05-11T04:59:43.170Z 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Most Unexpected Moments of the Republican Convention by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jul 22, 2016 12:14 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump congratulates Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence after he delivered a speech on the third day of the Republican National Convention on July 20, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump congratulates Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence after he delivered a speech on the third day of the Republican National Convention on July 20, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.Christopher Morris—VII for TIME 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. ```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":"2026-05-11T04:59:43.170Z","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 topic","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":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/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"}}]}] ```