How Hillary Clinton Unified the GOP Convention Tuesday

If you only read one thing: The GOP convention’s full-on assault on Hillary Clinton kicked into high gear Tuesday night, as the convention hall erupted into chants of “Lock Her Up” and “Guilty” as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s barnburner of a speech tapped into the one thing that unifies the still-fractured GOP: its hatred for the Democratic nominee. Ben Carson went so far as to associate her with Lucifer. But the collection of GOP lawmakers who spoke did their best not to mention Trump’s name too often, and only then in the most simplistic and noncontroversial ways. Meanwhile, two of Trump’s children delivered powerful testimonials about their father, offering the first glimpses of the private life of the GOP nominee.

Ted Cruz is set to take the stage Wednesday evening, as part of a compromise reached with the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign to prevent his name from being offered into nomination when the presidential roll call was conducted yesterday. But Cruz, whose bitter race with Trump left no shortage of bad blood, has yet to endorse Trump, and it’s unclear whether he will do so on stage. Cruz is spending his time in Cleveland thanking his primary supporters as his political allies seek to lay the groundwork for a repeat bid in 2020.

Lobbyists love Clinton and dump Trump. The November implications of the Trump-Kasich feud. And make your own plagiarized convention speech.

Here are your must-reads for now. We’ll be back with more from Cleveland this evening:

Must Reads

Hillary Clinton Brings Unity to the Republican Convention
A downbeat convention gets an electrifying target [TIME]

Three Views of the Economy: Convention Speakers, Delegates and Economists
TIME’s Haley Sweetland Edwards on the disparate convention stories

Chris Christie Fills New Convention Role: Donald Trump’s Attack Dog
TIME’s Sam Frizell on his convention speech

How Melania Trump’s Speech Veered Off Course and Caused an Uproar
Aides bash the candidates’ wife in plagiarism scandal [New York Times]

Lobbyists have raised $7 million for Hillary Clinton. For Trump? Zero
A budgetary vulnerability and a political talking point [Washington Post]

Sound Off

“Every Republican who is not working for Trump is working for Clinton.” — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to Morning Joe appealing for party unity

“He’ll give a sign of where he is on Donald Trump that will be pleasing to both the Trump campaign and Republicans.” — Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on Ted Cruz’s speech to the GOP convention and whether the former Trump rival would endorse

Bits and Bites

Make Your Own Plagiarized Convention Speech [TIME]

Donald Trump’s Pollster Argues He’d Do More for Women [TIME]

New Pro-Donald Trump Super PAC Take Aim at Hillary Clinton [Center for Public Integrity]

Federal Investigators: Cabinet Secretary and Potential Clinton Running Mate Julian Castro Violated Hatch Act [Washington Post]

Manafort: Media Should ‘Move On’ From Melania’s Speech [CNN]

Ben Carson Defends Linking Clinton to Lucifer [CNN]

Portman Treads Lightly Around Cleveland [Wall Street Journal]

Trump-Kasich Feud Could Have Disastrous Consequences in November [Washington Examiner]