Donald Trump has canceled the portion of the Republican National Convention that was taking place in Jacksonville, Florida, his biggest public recall until the ferocity of the coronavirus pandemic.
The insistence of the US president in a crowded crowd forced the Republican National Committee to announce in June that it would move most of its agenda, including Trump’s acceptance speech as a candidate, to Jacksonville from Charlotte, North Carolina, where the health guidelines are stricter.
But since then, virus infections have skyrocketed in Florida, including a record 173 deaths on Thursday, forcing Trump to reluctantly go offline.
“I told my team that it is time to cancel the Jacksonville, Florida component of the convention,” he said at a White House press conference. “I will still do a convention speech in a different way, but we will not do a big and crowded convention per se. It just isn’t the right time for that. “
The move is the latest and most telling example of Trump bowing to the scientific reality of the pandemic, which has now infected 4 million Americans and killed more than 144,000. A campaign campaign in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last month saw little participation, presumably in part because of fears the virus would spread in the covered field. Another recent plan for an outdoor rally in New Hampshire was canceled, apparently because of the weather.
After months of refusing to wear a face mask in public, Trump finally did so and urged people to do the same. He still hoped to go ahead with a striking acceptance speech before a rowdy crowd in Jacksonville; The candidates’ convention comments are generally made for television that help define presidential election campaigns.
But the difficulties became clear when Jacksonville recently imposed the requirement that people must wear masks indoors. Florida, ruled by Ron DeSantis, a strong ally of Trump, has become one of the hardest hit states: He reported 10,249 new cases on Thursday. The President finally threw in the towel.
When asked by reporters about the decision, he explained, “I just felt it was wrong for people to go to what turned out to be an access point. When we chose it, it wasn’t very hot. It was free and suddenly it happened quickly. It happens fast. It goes and goes quickly. The key is that we want it to disappear without much death, without much trouble. “
Some events will continue as planned in Charlotte, Trump confirmed, including his nomination as the party’s standard-bearer. “We are going to have a reasonably quick meeting in North Carolina. The nomination will be produced and then we will announce what we are doing, how we are doing it, if it is something that is done online.
There can be nothing like our last convention, unfortunately. It was a great convention in a great place, as you know, we had a great time, we had a great time in Cleveland. But it is a different world and it will be for a time. We want the world to be what it was. “
When asked what factor changed his mind, the president denied that Florida officials had asked him to cancel. “I would just say security. I could see the media saying, ‘Oh, this is very insecure.’ I don’t want to be in that position. It is security, not by the media, but that is what they would say, and we will have something very good. We will resolve it.”
Florida is Trump’s adopted home state and a permanent electoral battleground. But even before Thursday’s announcement, Republican senators, including Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski and Chuck Grassley, had said they would not attend.
Democrats have taken a more reserved approach to their own convention in August. Some events will take place virtually and others will follow in person in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The party will anoint Joe Biden, the former vice president, as its nominee.
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