Trump VP rollout: Conservative writer Reihan Salam had a brutal appraisal of Donald Trump's VP pick, Gov. Mike Pence. Plenty of snickering about the VP rollout. It's not going to win or lose an election. VP picks seldom matter. But the shoddy Pence rollout is important for what it likely indicates: a campaign in disarray. Speaking from experience, it's very difficult to know what's happening inside a campaign. Every election cycle I get the real truth of the chaos and dysfunction inside some campaign I was covering, but not until after Election Day. That's why we take events like this and try to infer what they might say about the health of a campaign. Of course, Trump, ever the showman, has a chance to pull off a Hollywood event like nothing ever seen during the next four days. Should be fun to watch.

Trump's motivation: Very funny piece by BuzzFeed's McKay Coppins, who spent a couple of days in TrumpWorld a few years ago and wrote a profile saying Trump's presidential ambitions were a sham and he would never run. Coppins' friends kid him by saying he's responsible for Trump, because, the theory goes, Trump only ran to spite Coppins. But Coppins has a pretty smart insight in this big new profile: Trump was motivated by all the people ridiculing him, not just in the past couple years, but his whole life.

Follow along: Be sure to read the Morning Hot Dish political newsletter this week and next as we cover the national political conventions. Hit me up: patrick.coolican@startribune.com and on Twitter: @jpcoolican. And, sign up for the newsletter at: https://users.startribune.com/member_center.

Minnesota part of failed push to alter RNC rules

National Republican leaders overcame a last-ditch effort Monday by delegates in Minnesota and other states to force a vote on the convention rules, effectively squelching the last gasp of anti-Trump dissent among GOP delegates gathered in Cleveland this week. After it became clear that some state delegations also wanted a recorded vote, confusion reigned as GOP leaders engaged in some last-minute arm-twisting to get delegates to withdraw their support. "I'm for transparency and openness and accountability," said Marty Seifert, a delegate and former Minnesota House legislator. "When I was minority leader, I probably asked for a thousand roll call votes because I believed in accountability, transparency." Minnesota's delegation eventually withdrew its support for the motion. The final adoption of the convention rules angered some GOP delegates. Seifert, a longtime GOP leader, said he understands the frustration of some grass-roots activists who distrust the political establishment. "It's probably not helpful for a lot of the people that come in with a little bit of distrust already," Seifert said.

RICARDO LOPEZ