In this scenario, the story about the Republican convention wouldn’t have been about the party’s apocalyptic visions or disunity — it would have been about the inspiring personal story of Rubio’s immigrant parents, his student loans, and his belief that wage subsidies and child tax credits can help families like his parents’. Meanwhile, without a dumpster fire on the other side to contrast with, the main story about the Democratic convention would have been Bernie Sanders’ holdouts and how far Hillary Clinton had to veer to the left to satisfy his supporters (who still aren’t satisfied).

The RNC, raising more money than any campaign committee any cycle, would be relentlessly hitting Hillary over her countless scandals and flip-flops and successfully defining her as a grifter — payback for what the Obama campaign did to Mitt Romney in the summer of 2012.

And with the wave of terrorist attacks in Europe, the Republican nominee could have talked up his calls from the Senate to strengthen border security and to pay more attention to the rise of ISIS when it could have been stopped — instead of, say, making people wonder if he wouldn’t nuke a place just because he feels like it.

Clinton’s necessary strategy of mobilizing minorities to vote against the Republican standard-bearer, already tricky given his personality, would have been blunted with a Latino speaking about inclusivity at the top of the ticket.