Trump’s Plans For A ‘Coronation-Style Convention’ Ripped To Shreds As NC Governor Lays Down the Rules

The best laid plans of Donald Trump have gone astray. The only reason the city council of Charlotte, NC voted to accept the Republican National Convention this summer in the first place was because it couldn’t afford to turn down $200 million in revenue — and even then, it was accepted by a one vote margin. With coronavirus changing the benefit/burden analysis, Charlotte is no longer the site of the coronation of Donald Trump the convention and the RNC is desperately scrambling for cover.

Governor Roy Cooper (D) turned out to be a real buzz kill, demanding that masks and social distancing be employed at the convention or no dice. What do you do with a guy like that, who doesn’t realize that Trump’s need for adulation from a packed, screaming mob is the only consideration, huh? I mean, really? New York Times:

 The news of the almost certain change in venue was delivered in calls to delegates last weekend, after Mr. Trump and Mr. Cooper reached a stalemate about what kind of social distancing regulations and safety protocols should be put in place inside the Spectrum Center to protect attendees from Covid-19. Mr. Cooper wanted to require social distancing and face masks, both of which are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mr. Trump, bristling that the terms of his own event were being dictated to him, wanted a full stadium with a pre-coronavirus look and feel, or nothing at all.

Dum de dum dum dum. Cue the dramatic music. It’s finally sinking in with Trump that the Governor of North Carolina will not be complicit in staging a public health debacle that could kill thousands.

The high-stakes public fracas also underscores one of the biggest dynamics of Mr. Trump’s political identity — the disconnect between his role as an incumbent president and his role as a candidate. Mr. Trump is insisting on abandoning Charlotte because the governor wants attendees to follow guidelines set by the C.D.C. — which reports to Mr. Trump.

Trump is right about one thing. Cooper is taking this stance because he’s a Democrat. If he was a Republican, he could probably be talked into putting delegates’ lives at risk, because of the greater need to appease the Marmalade Master above all else. A mere Democrat will of course be concerned with paltry issues like the life and death of constituents. You just can’t talk to these people, as Trump has been saying all along.

But the Republican Party risks losing something by shifting plans at the last minute, Mr. [Kevin] Madden [former Romney aide] said. “It could rob the party and the convention-goers of a well-organized, seamless experience that also serves as a clarion call for the party faithful heading into the crucial final stages of the general election,” he said.

Adding to the uncertainty surrounding the convention is the trepidation delegates are feeling about attending a crowded gathering. Already, states like Indiana are having difficulty filling both their delegate and alternate spots. Many convention delegates are over 60 and therefore more vulnerable to the virus.

Now read this carefully, this is hilarious.

Indiana, Vice President Mike Pence’s home state, has struggled to fill its slots with the party donors and activists who typically compete for the highly coveted positions to represent the state on the convention floor. Instead, people involved in the process said there have been submissions from unknown Republicans, and have expressed concerns that they don’t even know whether or not those people are pro-Trump. That risks upending years of careful planning on the part of the Trump campaign to ensure a smooth coronation-style convention for the president, with no dissent on the floor the way there was four years ago.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!! Yeah, if a bunch of Never Trumpers got up there and did a Ted Cruz number on the convention floor, that would be quite a scene! And if they were Hoosiers, to boot, oh those would be some stellar optics, right there on live television! Poor Mike Pence, that would drag him down as well, oh mercy me, we wouldn’t want that!

This is really shaping up to be the Shit Show from Hell. And that is saying something, considering what the 2016 convention was like. Do you recall the delegates from Iowa and Colorado walking out? The image of frustrated delegates tearing off their credentials and throwing them on the floor? The spectacle of Ted Cruz refusing to endorse Trump? And all that was going to go away, yes, sir, in 2020. The 2020 Republican convention was going to be a flawless production number, “an unmitigated celebration that stood in contrast to the discord of four years ago.” Yes, a glorious televised fete, with smoke machines and balloons, where Donald Trump’s complete takeover of the Republican party would be reveled in as the glorious thing that it is, with the shades of Hitler and Mussolini looking on from the next dimension and nodding approval, and Vladimir Putin staying up all night to toast Trump with vodka.

The guardian of this vision, at present, is Ron DeSantis. He’s looking to move the convention last minute to Orlando or possibly Jacksonville. DeSantis is a true Trumpite, he doesn’t care about public health or safety as long as the economics of any given situation tilt the right way. So look for the Trump Convention to be held in his new home state. And maybe, while Trump’s at it, he can troll a few trailer parks, looking for the perfect site for his presidential library. I would sigh in empathy for the people of Florida, but this is what you get for voting Republican.