The Republican convention is becoming unlikely. Who’s going to tell the president?
The Republican National Convention will be hosting a tele-town hall this month for media who would like a peek at logistics for RNC 2020 in Charlotte. The online event replaces a scheduled spring media walkthrough, which would have come as North Carolina is fighting the peak of its COVID-19 outbreak. The pivot to a virtual walkthrough is the right call, but it’s also a sign of decisions to come. Even now, four months from the August convention, a question hangs over RNC 2020 like the frown of an uncertain bride.
Is the convention going to happen in Charlotte? It’s becoming increasingly doubtful. Summertime events are already falling victim to the coronavirus, including the DNC 2020 in Milwaukee, which was moved Thursday from July 13-16 to mid-August. COVID-19 also has claimed the Olympics and Wimbledon in July, and it’s about to turn the calendar page to August.
Most everyone knows this. Most everyone understands our public health reality. Except, perhaps, the man who matters most.
Just a week ago, Donald Trump told FOX TV host Sean Hannity there is “no way” he would cancel RNC 2020 in Charlotte, scheduled for Aug. 24-27. “We’re going to have the convention, it’s going to be incredible,” Trump said. The president, however, is not the only one who gets to make that call. North Carolina officials also have a say about whether it’s wise for tens of thousands of people from around the world to gather in uptown Charlotte.
It’s too early at the moment to make that declaration, but it’s not premature to offer some clarity and candor to those who have a financial stake in RNC 2020. Which N.C. official would be the one to do so? Gov. Roy Cooper is the obvious choice; he certainly has the authority to declare that large gatherings continue to be off limits. Cooper, however, is surely reluctant to draw the ire of the president. The governor need only look to fellow governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, who got on Trump’s bad Twitter side last week by criticizing the federal response to COVID-19 while pleading for coronavirus supplies.
This is about more than mean tweets, however. Whitmer suggested that the rift with the White House was affecting shipments of supplies to Michigan. Trump didn’t exactly dispel that notion when he told reporters that he instructed Vice President Mike Pence “don’t call the woman in Michigan.” Americans should be alarmed to hear their president say governors might be treated differently if they criticize him.
That fight has thankfully cooled on both sides, but the reality remains that this is a president who turns public issues into personal sleights, one who said of governors last week: “All I want them to do, very simple, I want them to be appreciative.”
By declaring that RNC 2020 is a go, Trump sent a message to those who might say otherwise. And that’s unfortunate. No one, including Charlotte or Mecklenburg officials, wants to invite a Trump political storm. Instead of being able to speak with the public thoughtfully and candidly right now about RNC 2020, NC officials have to be mindful that anything they say might set the president off.
We don’t doubt that the governor or local officials ultimately will make their RNC decisions based on health and safety, not politics. We hope that instead of making premature declarations about the convention, the president will instead assure North Carolinians that he, too, wants to do what’s best for Charlotte and convention-goers, and that he will follow the recommendations of federal and state public health officials. Yes, RNC 2020 - like its Democratic counterpart - is a purely political event. But the discussion about whether either happens should have little to do with November’s election. The public’s health should never be a political call.
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 2:05 PM.