Photo: AP

After promising that the 2016 Republican National Convention wouldn’t be “boring,” Donald Trump has begun lowering expectations for the event, even declining an invitation (from whom is unclear) to speak at all three nights of the convention. “I don’t want people to think I’m grandstanding—which I’m not,” he told the New York Times. “But it would get high ratings,” he added.

Many establishment Republicans have made it clear that they will not be attending Trump’s convention, leaving the presumptive nominee free to fill the agenda with non-traditional choices. He is reportedly thinking about asking Serena Williams to speak, for example. Could be fun! Also: Jeff Sessions and Sarah Palin.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Trump has been a bit of a diva about the event’s arrangements. The Times reports:

When he saw the drawings for the stage he would speak on, Mr. Trump sent them back. “I didn’t like the shape,” he said. “Too straight. Too nothing. Didn’t have the drama.”

As he kicked around proposals for how to make his grand entrance, he nixed the idea of riding into Cleveland on a train. “It’s been done,” he said.

And he has also ruled out speaking on the final night of the convention from an open-air stadium instead of from inside Quicken Loans Arena — too expensive, he worried — even though he was intrigued by the idea of flying in and landing on the stage in a helicopter. “Pretty cool,” he conceded.

The campaign also had discussed the idea of having fireworks inside the arena, but that proved unworkable.

Well that’s disappointing.