Comey, Scaramucci join next month’s anti-Trump convention in Charlotte
Former FBI director Jim Comey. Former CIA Director Michael Hayden. Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.
They’re among the speakers lined up for a sort of counter-convention to the Republican National Convention. Like the GOP gathering, it’s scheduled for Charlotte in late August.
Called the Convention on Founding Principles, it’s being organized by Republicans and conservatives disaffected with President Donald Trump.
A shortened GOP convention will be held in Charlotte Aug. 23-24, with only about 336 delegates expected. The full convention had been scheduled for Charlotte, then a scaled back version was going to be in Jacksonville until Trump abruptly canceled it last week. On Monday Trump told a reporter he would still accept the nomination in North Carolina, though no details are available.
The alternative convention is being organized by Evan McMullin, a former CIA officer who ran an independent campaign for president in 2016, his group Stand Up Republic, and like-minded allies.
“It really is pulling together various Republicans and former Republicans and conservative thought leaders,” Republican Bob Orr, a former N.C. Supreme Court justice, told the Observer.
Orr said the event will be anchored in Charlotte, though COVID-19 restrictions may make it mostly virtual, like the Democratic and Republican conventions.
“I think realistically most of the speakers will be remote,” Orr said. “But we’ve also had people saying, ‘Hey I’d really like to come to Charlotte’.”
Orr and McMullin are scheduled speakers. Among the others:
▪ Two former GOP governors: Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey and Mark Sanford of South Carolina. Sanford, a member of Congress, briefly ran for president this year himself.
▪ Carlos Gutierrez, a former Commerce Secretary under George W. Bush.
▪ Three former GOP members of Congress.
▪ Mona Charen, a conservative columnist.
The group’s website also lists its 13 principles. They include a free press, a judiciary free from political influence, an end to trade wars and a commitment to diversity.
“We reject the false notion that America is defined by the races and birthplaces of its citizens,” it says. “And we condemn the cruel and inhumane treatment of those who turn to our country for help.”
Orr has called their convention “an effort to give a dramatically different perspective on what the Republican Party has been historically and what it should be in the future.”
Last last month a group called “Republican Voters Against Trump” announced it was spending $1 million on cable and digital ads in North Carolina. The group is an offshoot of Defending Democracy Together, an advocacy group formed by conservative Bill Kristol, founder of the now-defunct Weekly Standard.
It’s one of several Republican groups trying to defeat Trump in North Carolina and a handful of presidential swing states.
Trump had the support of 87% of Republicans, according to a recent Harvard CAPPS/Harris Poll. A survey by the conservative Rasmussen Reports this month found his approval among Republicans at 80%, down four points from June.
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 6:20 AM.
