After weeks of warnings from health officials, President Donald Trump abruptly decided Thursday to be a public health hero and cancel the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville, Florida, announcing plans in place for “some things with teletrallies,” just a few days after your private company. in silence he tried to mark the idea.
Trump made the announcement a few minutes after the White House daily coronavirus briefing, declaring that “the time is not right” in light of the state’s massive coronavirus outbreak.
Trump said RNC delegates would still meet in Charlotte, North Carolina, and that he would still deliver a speech at the convention, albeit “in a different way.”
“We are going to do other things, like ‘tele-rallies’ and other smaller events,” he said.
While Trump attributed his decision to the desire to “protect the American people” and “set an example” in the midst of the pandemic, which has now killed 144,000 Americans, many were quick to note that the shift to telemobiles produced a week later The Washington Post reported that a subsidiary of the Trump Organization filed a request to mark the term “telerally” to “organize events in the field of politics and political campaigns.”
The abrupt reversal also came after months of insistence by the president that a spiraling pandemic somehow would not prevent a massive gathering dedicated to his re-coronation. It was also a likely source of relief for Florida officials, grassroots Republicans, and public health experts around the world wondering how it could work.
The status of the planned RNC event in Jacksonville was increasingly in doubt in recent days as Florida’s growing coronavirus crisis broke records almost daily, and local officials voiced concern that the Republican National Committee had not explained sufficiently how the event would be carried out safely.
“Until I feel that health, safety and well-being are solidly protected, I cannot endorse this bill or any bill that may implode with the virus and our safety and the well-being of our community and those who come here Jacksonville said. City Council President Tommy Hazouri earlier this week noted that most city residents had opposed holding the event. Hazouri was referring to local funding legislation to facilitate the event.
As the virus continued to plague Florida, companies cautiously anticipated more news on whether they would be accepted by the Republican Party’s main committee to work for the conspiracy. Several Jacksonville-based businesses that spoke to The Daily Beast said they were excited about the prospect of additional cash flow, rather than excited about appearing in a big role for Trump. Some local vendors said it would help improve their results, and that staying alert with safety precautions was the most important thing.
The decision to organize the RNC in Florida was sporadic and even painful for some Republicans involved in the planning. Just as the president was considering a variety of options for the host’s locations, Ed Rollins, who now chairs the GOP Great America PAC group, told The Daily Beast in early June that “logistically it’s a nightmare.”
Rollins also told The Beast that Trump should try to make the event as small as possible, given the ongoing public health concerns raised by the coronavirus.
In early July, The Daily Beast reported that local officials in Jacksonville were scared that the Florida episode could turn out to be something like their demonstration in Tulsa the previous month.
For his part, Trump denied Thursday that Florida officials had rejected the event in the future, citing only “security” as the reason.
“We have time, you know, we’re talking about the end of August,” he said, allowing that although the event was nothing like the RNC in the past, he was confident that it would be successful.
The president, contradicting his past insistence that responsibility for the government’s response to the pandemic often fell to state and local officials rather than to himself, said he felt it was incumbent on the Republican National Committee to emulate behavior that had recently started to encourage. Americans every day to practice. In recent days, Trump has given some rhetoric about wearing masks in particular, a practice he long rejected, and even attacked his Democratic rival Joe Biden for doing so.
“We have to be vigilant,” he said. “We have to be careful. We also have to give an example. I think that giving the example is very important: it is difficult for us to say that we are going to have a lot of people in a room, and then other people should not do it.”
Earlier this week, The Daily Beast obtained a copy of the current plans for the Democratic National Convention showing a widely scaled-down convention, with attendees seated at socially distant tables, and with a program to be conducted largely remotely at sites around the country.
After his initial announcement that the convention was canceled, Trump fell short on details of how the event would be held, only saying that the convention would feature “tele-rallies and online” events.
During a question-and-answer session with reporters, the president said that while he still believes the virus will eventually go away, “we wanted it to go away without much death.”
“We didn’t want to take any risks,” said Trump.
Still, he couldn’t help but try to put a positive spin on the U.S. outbreak, which has grown to more than 4 million cases. “The country is in very good condition, apart from if you look south and west. Some problems. Everything will be fine, ”Trump said, referring to the myriad of states where case counts and hospitalization rates have skyrocketed.
As for the Republican convention, now in its third iteration, it will be “really good,” the president promised. “I think we will do well.”
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