President Trump said in a series of tweets Monday morning that unless North Carolina can immediately "guarantee" that the Republican Party can hold its convention in Charlotte in late August with "full attendance" in a "fully occupied" Spectrum Center arena, the GOP "will be reluctantly forced to find" another Republican National Convention site. Where would the party find another large venue willing to host thousands of people during a pandemic, as well housing for the delegates, catering, sound, and other ancillary services?
If you guessed the Trump property where the president already pushed to host this summer's G-7 summit, Trump denied it. "I have zero interest in moving the Republican National Convention to Doral in Miami," he tweeted. "Ballroom is not nearly big enough." Incidentally, The New York Times does not appear to have reported any such rumor about Trump and Doral.
Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni did report last week that as Republicans look "at possible contingency plans, including limiting the number of people who descend on Charlotte to only delegates," Trump has "shown a new openness to participating in a scaled-down event" and "has mused aloud to several aides about why the convention can't simply be held in a hotel ballroom in Florida, given all of the health concerns and the fact that Florida is further along in reopening portions of the state."
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North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D)'s three Memorial Day tweets included two remembering U.S. service members who gave their life for their country and a brief statement responding to Trump.
GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and other Republicans involved in planning the convention "have said that they have hired a medical expert and that they are consulting with the governor of North Carolina and the mayor of Charlotte," the Times reported last week. "Local politicians in North Carolina, including Republicans, have expressed skepticism that the convention will be able to go forward as planned."
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