Ho. Hum.

The best and brightest stars of the political news world are gathered this entire week in Cleveland for the Republican National Convention — and yet with a myriad of potential story ideas and plot lines, they all seem fixated on the same one: The similarity of Melania Trump’s speech to that of First Lady Michelle Obama, given eight years ago at the Democratic National Convention.

The big question appeared to be whether the wife of presidential nominee Donald Trump plagiarized portions of her speech. Now, with a speechwriter’s confession from the Trump camp, the question becomes why.

Funny. A week ago, most of those pre-eminent journalists anticipated covering news about bloodshed and anarchy as protest groups clashed outside the Quicken Loans Arena, under protection of Ohio’s open-carry gun laws.

It’s a journalist’s impulse to anticipate the worst — something akin to the anti-Vietnam War riots that took place during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, only with guns.

But that isn’t what has materialized. Far from it.

Reports indicate there are far fewer protesters in Cleveland than there have been at recent presidential conventions. There has been no violence to speak of, and only a handful of activism-related arrests for disorderly conduct or criminal mischief.

Observers note that the small groups of demonstrators typically have been outnumbered by police and news reporters.

Could it be that progressives don’t despise Trump as much as they say they do on social media? That seems unlikely. The verbal attacks online have not let up; they’ve only increased since Monday night, when the plagiarism allegations against Mrs. Trump surfaced.

The more likely explanation is that the prospect of violence compelled many would-be protesters to stay away.

Larry Bresler, the executive director of Organize Ohio, which hosted one of two major protest marches in Cleveland on Monday, told U.S. News and World Report that he’s disappointed by the turnout — fewer than 2,500 marchers.

“People contacted me saying, ‘boy I would like to attend but I’ve been hearing about all this violence and people bringing guns ... and the huge number of police.’ People just did not feeling comfortable coming,” Bresler said.

Imagine for a moment that huge throngs of demonstrators had descended on this week’s Republican convention, and that the individuals openly exercising their Second Amendment rights had been less restrained — that high level violence had erupted in downtown Cleveland.

If violence had erupted, then 50 years from now history would look back at the 2016 Republican convention the way we look back at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. We would remember bloody anarchy.

But barring any incidents, we’ll continue debating Melania Trump’s alleged theft of some cliches and platitudes that ultimately won’t change history one iota. All those reporters need a story to tell us.

Ho. Hum.