Just a few days after President Trump berated many of the nation’s governors as “weak” potential “jerks”, he’s now going to have to ask around about where to hold the GOP convention for 2020.
That’s because North Carolina wouldn’t capitulate to Trump’s demands of a mask-free, packed house event on account of COVID-19.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Republicans will seek another state instead of North Carolina to hold its August convention after a prolonged standoff with the state’s Democratic governor.
“Would have showcased beautiful North Carolina to the World, and brought in hundreds of millions of dollars, and jobs, for the State,” Trump tweeted. “Because of” Gov. Roy Cooper, he added, “we are now forced to seek another State to host the 2020 Republican National Convention.”
The move came after Cooper rejected the President’s wishes in a letter.
“The people of North Carolina do not know what the status of COVID-19 will be in August, so planning for a scaled-down convention with fewer people, social distancing and face coverings is a necessity,” Cooper wrote in a letter to the RNC.
The letter was a rebuke of the fully attended convention that the RNC and the president had been pushing for despite concerns about spread of the coronavirus. In previous meetings with the Democratic-led state administration, GOP officials made clear the president’s desire for a 50,000-person convention without social distancing or mask-wearing measures and full-capacity hotels, restaurants and bars.
While there is no clear 2nd choice, Republicans had already been aware that this situation might arise after Governor Cooper and the President had previously spoken on the subject.
