President Trump took to Twitter to announce he would be seeking another state to host the Republican National Convention.
The RNC had been scheduled to take place in Charlotte, North Carolina from August 24-27, but COVID-19 has thrown a big monkey wrench into things as it has for all large scale public events.
Yet as recently as last Friday, Trump was insisting on a full scale convention with neither masks nor social distancing. North Carolina's Democratic Governor Roy Cooper refused to roll over and play dead. Cooper was prepared for a scaled down convention, but he must put public health first. As of this writing, there are nearly 30,000 COVID-19 cases in the Tar Heel state approaching 1,000 deaths with hospitalizations hitting a record high only yesterday.
But for Trump it is all about the optics. The last thing Trump wants to do is to remind people we've been through a pandemic. That is the reason why Trump wants no masks and no social distancing. Understandably, the last thing Governor Cooper wants to is to have a gathering of 20,000 people not taking any precautions. The risk of spreading COVID-19 in Charlotte not to mention the rest of the country when Republican delegates return home is astronomical and would be a contact tracer's worst nightmare.
In the grand scheme of things, Governor Cooper and North Carolina are better off President Trump and the RNC from both a public health perspective and for the good of public discourse. A global pandemic is toxic enough. The presence of a demagogue and those who support his demagoguery only elevates the toxicity.
Of course, the question is who is desperate enough to want to host the RNC? State officials in Florida, Georgia and Texas have expressed an interest. After all, Charlotte was the only city which put in a bid to host the convention. American cities wanted the Republican National Convention about as much as they wanted a nuclear waste facility. Did I mention that Trump was a toxic presence?
Now it's possible this is all a negotiating ploy by Trump. If it is I hope Governor Cooper doesn't wobble. The last thing North Carolina needs is a bunch of Republicans making everyone sick.
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