How the Republican National Convention came undone

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

How the Republican National Convention came undone

By Michael Scherer, Josh Dawsey and Annie Linskey
7/24/2020, 7:43:00 p.m.

For months, President Trump insisted on packed crowds at his nominating convention.

“Since the day I came down the escalator, I’ve never had an empty seat and I find the biggest stadiums,” he told North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) in a phone call on May 29, according to two people familiar with the call who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share its contents. “We can’t do social distancing.”

But behind the scenes, advisers were scrambling to plan a massive muti-day event amid a pandemic. They asked the federal government to provide protective equipment, lined up labs to test thousands of attendees each day, and shifted from an indoor arena in Charlotte to one in Jacksonville, Fla., and then again to a covered practice field used by an NFL franchise nearby.

But ultimately, the rising coronavirus caseload — and the political cost of forcing risky behavior on thousands just months before the election — proved too great. Advisers convinced Trump that canceling the convention could help him politically to as he tries to pay closer attention to the coronavirus, show that he cares about the health of Americans and improve his sagging poll numbers.

The chaotic unraveling bears many of the hallmarks of the tumultuous Trump presidency: the public dismissal of scientific expertise, Trumpian allegations of political conspiracy and advisers run ragged to carry out a task that was next to impossible from the start.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-the-republican-national-convention-came-undone/2020/07/24/705c0afa-cdd8-11ea-bc6a-6841b28d9093_story.html

[underpants]

1. It's amazing how so much of their focus is avoid tantrums from the child

[flibbitygiblets]

2. Am I the only one a little bit sad that we don't get to watch him play to an empty house?

Because the humiliation of the Tulsa rally-fail really felt kinda sweet.

Oh, and fuck you, Trumpy, you corpulent fraud.

[Lochloosa]

3. I'm not. I live in Jacksonville

[flibbitygiblets]

4. Of course. What welcome news for the good people of your city.

I can't imagine what it must be like to have to worry about having the place you call home invaded by Trump and his followers.

Here in Portland, we are only subjected to his hired goons. But he and his deplorables don't exactly sit well with the locals.

[keithbvadu2]

5. Have the convention in a safe location.