THE Quickens Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, is normally used for baseball games.

It is the home arena of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who, for the first time in their 46-year history, won the NBA championship in 2016.

It was a remarkable turnaround for a team that had the record for the longest losing streak in American professional sports in the 2010-11 season, after giving away 26 matches in a row.

The symbolism will not be lost on the 2,472 delegates and tens of thousands of supporters and journalists arriving at the stadium today for the start of the Republican National Convention.

They have lost the last two presidential elections, and lost them badly. This year they are doing something a bit different, with a candidate unlike any they have ever had before.

It is here where, in four days’ time, Donald Trump, billionaire, second-generation Scot, businessman, will be formally named as the Republicans’ candidate for the US presidential election.

When the convention last met in 2012, the mere suggestion that Trump might actually be the party’s candidate would have been met with derision by Republican grandees.

And yet, unless there is some sort of act of God, it is he who will be representing the Grand Old Party when US voters choose their next president on November 8.

Trump, who has some say on who speaks at the convention, has promised a spectacular. “It is very important to put some showbiz into a convention, otherwise people are going to fall asleep,” he told The Washington Post.

However, a lot of top Republicans are staying away.

When the Democrats meet next week to endorse Hillary Clinton, they will have the Obamas, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and, says Vox magazine, a galaxy of well-known political luminaries in attendance.

The only two living Republican presidents, George Bush and George W Bush, will not be in Cleveland. Neither will Mitt Romney.

What it will mean is more Trump, and more Trump family members, including, speaking publicly for one of the only times in this contest, his wife Melania.

US polling and data website Five Thirty Eight says Hilary Clinton is still more likely to win than Trump, but the billionaire is narrowing the gap. This week will give him one of his best opportunities to be seen by the US public, particularly with his keynote speech on Thursday.

But when they tune in to watch him, they will likely also see the thousands of protesters who have travelled to the Buckeye State to tell Trump exactly what they think.

Starting off the protests, the Coalition to Stop Trump and March on the RNC will see more than 40 different activist groups take part in a massive demonstration.

“We are taking a stand against the racist and anti-Muslim attacks on people from Trump and the Republican Party,” said organiser Tom Burke.

“We hope to impact how people vote and how people relate to others in this country.

“We have a different vision for the way forward. Our vision is one of peace, justice and equality, and we think the Republicans are heading in the wrong direction.

“If we can protest, and get our message out, we think we can stop Trump. That is what it comes down to. We want to stop Trump.”

Citizens for Trump are planning a counter rally. Tim Selaty, the group’s director, said it was an attempt to “unify the Republican Party, the Tea Party, and everybody together in a massive show of support and celebration”. They are only expecting a thousand or so.

America feels like a country on the edge just now – with civil liberties and violence and fights that people thought had gone away.

The shooting dead of three police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, will no doubt add to that tension.

That came 10 days after Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man from the town, was shot by police at point-blank range after they had tackled him to the ground.

Trump, and the Republicans, will no doubt have strong views.

Black Lives Matter founder Patrisse Cullors said ahead of the group’s protest: “This country has to reckon with the violence it has caused black people from the moment we were brought here. And in order for there to be a nation that actually values black lives, politicians and elected officials like Trump should not even be a candidate for president.”