Launching political grenades — and real fireworks — President Donald Trump’s Republican party will use next week’s convention to ignite its base ahead of the most divisive US election in decades.

As the Democrats demonstrated in their on-screen-only convention to nominate Joe Biden this week, the 2020 presidential election is already deep in untested territory.

The Republican version, which starts Monday and climaxes Thursday with Trump accepting his nomination for a second term, will turn things further on their head.