WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s decisions to first move the main events in person to the Republican National Convention and then cancel them are costing Republican donors millions of dollars, according to several Republicans familiar with finances.
Of the $ 38 million raised by the host committee for the convention’s original location, Charlotte, North Carolina, most was spent, Republican officials said. The host committee in Jacksonville, Florida, where Trump had moved the convention, raised an additional $ 6 million, but Republican officials said much of that money remains.
Now, the president’s team is looking not only for a new stage from which he can deliver a speech accepting his party’s nomination for a second term, but also a way to appease Republicans who have nothing to show for their donations.
Republican officials are unsure how much of the money will be refunded to donors, if any. One plan under consideration is to ask donors to allow their contributions to be reallocated to other events, they said.
“Costs have been incurred,” Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said Friday on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press Daily” program, adding that taxpayers’ money had not been spent on the convention and that “the host committee and donors understand “about any money lost. .
Many of Trump’s allies were surprised by his abrupt announcement Thursday that he was going to cancel the convention in Jacksonville, where organizers were preparing for a three-day event with several thousand people with an opening speech by the president.
Convention organizers continued to pressure donors to make additional contributions until the announcement was made. Trump said it was not safe to celebrate the event with increasing cases of coronavirus in Florida.
Republicans have publicly expressed their support for Trump’s decision, but some Republican donors are upset that he chose not to go ahead with a convention in person.
“This is the culture of rampant cancellation,” said a leading Republican donor.
“I am furious and deeply disappointed at the cancellation of the convention,” said the donor. “It should be further reduced.”
The Republican National Committee announced two years ago that it would host the 2020 convention in Charlotte. Trump disconnected much of that last month because the North Carolina governor wanted organizers to implement safety precautions like social distancing on the convention floor, and chose Jacksonville as the replacement location.
The convention’s host committees are separate entities from the RNC. When asked for comment, the RNC noted a Thursday tweet from Republican Party President Ronna McDaniel, saying that the “number one priority of the president in this decision was the safety of the people of Jacksonville, those attending the convention and all the American people. “
The president’s team is struggling to reimagine their convention, which is scheduled for late August, as a virtual one. One of the chasing challenges for Republican planners is how they can deliver the same pomp and pageantry from the 2016 convention, which the President enjoys.
Trump’s decision to cancel Jacksonville came after discussions with his political advisers, who argued that proceeding with the convention would be politically damaging as the event would be overshadowed by the increasingly grim developments of the pandemic in Florida, a state of battle that must win for the president.
“He has decided that he is losing and wants to win,” said one of the president’s political advisers. “No more complicated than that.”
Officials also glimpsed in pre-cancellation discussions fresh memories of the Trump campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which was overshadowed by disappointing crowds and multiple Secret Service employees and agents who tested positive for the coronavirus.
Trump’s repeal at the convention is part of a broader attempt over the past week to revive his political position with Americans who have shown in polls that they have little confidence in his handling of the pandemic.
The president’s allies are unsure whether his new approach will last, given that, as one of them said, the changes in Trump’s tone are “always only temporary.”
In Charlotte, a dramatically reduced number of Republican delegates will attend a meeting to nominate Trump. But otherwise, authorities said, the events will not take place there. Some delegates who have already made travel arrangements are also likely to lose money.
Kelly O’Donnell contributed
