Donald Trump was nominated Tuesday night without the votes of 721 delegates, the most since 1976 when Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford were vying for the party's nomination, but Sam Clovis, one of Trump's key advisors, said that he doesn't think the vote was significant.
"I think what we really had, we had a very bruising, bare-knuckle primary," Clovis, who is Trump's campaign national co-chair and chief policy advisor, told Fox News'
"America's Newsroom" host Martha MacCallum.
"We had 17 people in it and it came down to just a couple in the end. This is what happens in conventions. I think people have very short memories. Because we really don't, you don't look back."
Clovis said he's old enough to remember past conventions, and that while the nomination process is going on, delegates have "a lot on their minds" and want to say their piece.
"If you want to protest, then go ahead and do it, but tonight and tomorrow night it will be quite different," said Clovis. "I think we'll see the party come together."
Meanwhile, the campaign is facing the challenge of attracting independents and Democrats to vote for Trump over Hillary Clinton, and nobody is really talking about the American people, said Clovis.
"Nobody is talking about what their lives are like and why Donald Trump, this whole phenomena, movement, even occurred in this country and nobody is talking about it," said Clovis. "That is the one of the most astounding stories getting away from everybody."
And once the convention wraps up, the focus will turn to winning states for Trump, and Clovis said states will come into play that have not for a long time.
"We'll make the Democrats spend money where they haven't had to spend money," he promised.
Clovis said that looking forward to Wednesday night's speakers, Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, will make a strong conservative case for the party.
"We will start this very methodical, deliberate, intentional comparison of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and the choice is going to be clear," said Clovis.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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