Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) said that he will not attend next month’s Republican National Convention due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic’s continued sweep across the United States, the Washington Post reports.
Said Grassley: “I’m not going to go. And I’m not going to go because of the virus situation.”
“The Republican Party of Texas will hold their state convention in-person with an expected attendance in the thousands, as the state is seeing record numbers of new daily coronavirus cases and increased hospitalizations,” CNN reports.
“The party’s executive committee on Thursday night passed a resolution, 40-20, in support of moving forward with its in-person convention in Houston.”
New York Times: “Yet as demoralizing as June was for many Republicans, what was less visible were the frenetic, and often fruitless, attempts by top Republicans to soothe the president and steer him away from self-sabotage, while also manipulating him to serve their own purposes.”
“One Republican official who is in frequent contact with the campaign expressed incredulity at how some aides willfully distort the electoral landscape to mollify Mr. Trump, recalling one conversation in which they assured him he was faring well in Maine, a state where private polling shows he’s losing.”
“Interviews with almost four dozen Republican lawmakers, strategists and administration officials about Mr. Trump’s re-election bid paint a picture of a White House and a re-election effort adrift, at once paralyzed by Mr. Trump’s erratic behavior yet also dependent on him to execute his own Houdini-like political escape.”
“You gotta play the hand you’re dealt. But yeah, we’ve been getting some bad cards lately.”
— Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-SD), quoted by Politico, on how the GOP cannot seem to catch a break.
Gabriel Sherman: “With Donald Trump’s approval sinking to Jimmy Carter levels and coronavirus cases spiking across the country, Trump is reluctantly waking up to the grim reality that, if the current situation holds, his reelection is gone. Republicans that have spoken with Trump in recent days describe him as depressed and ‘down in the dumps.'”
“This week, Jacksonville, Florida—where Trump moved the Republican National Convention so he could hold a 15,000-person rally next month—mandated that people wear masks indoors to slow the explosion of COVID-19 cases. According to a Republican working on the convention, the campaign is now preparing to cancel the event so that Trump doesn’t suffer another Tulsa–like humiliation.”
Said the source: “They probably won’t have it. It’s not going to be the soft landing Trump wanted.”
“For three years, President Trump has served as the Conspiracy-Theorist-in-Chief, elevating wild and outlandish ideas that once only existed in the dark provinces of the internet,” CNN reports.
“Under his leadership, the Republican Party is now openly embracing candidates of that same ilk — raising the possibility that those ideas will make their way to the halls of Congress.”
David Wasserman: “When President Trump took office in January 2017, there were 241 Republicans in the House. Since then, 115 (48%) have either retired, resigned, been defeated or are retiring in 2020.”
“The Montana Republican Party and two minor party qualification committees violated state campaign finance laws in a successful effort to qualify the Green Party of Montana for the primary ballot without the Green Party’s knowledge,” the AP reports.
“The Montana GOP has acknowledged paying Advanced Micro Targeting $100,000 to gather signatures to certify the Green Party for the ballot. The money was also listed as an in-kind contribution to a group called Montanans for Conservation, which didn’t register as a minor party qualifying committee until after the Green Party was certified for the ballot on March 6.”
Texas Tribune: “As the coronavirus pandemic engulfs Texas’ metropolitan areas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has left the door open for massive indoor gatherings. And organizers are moving forward with some big ones, including the Texas Republican party’s upcoming convention in Houston.”
“A small universe of Republican Party activists will drive through the parking lot of a central Virginia church on Saturday to decide the fate of Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA),” Politico reports.
“A one-term congressman with a libertarian streak, Riggleman has found himself locked in a fierce intraparty battle after he enraged local officials in his district by officiating a same-sex marriage last year. His reelection prospects are further hampered by Virginia’s insular election system, which allows a paltry number of GOP delegates to choose the nominee at a convention.”
“A vote by the Republican National Committee to leave the party’s 2016 party platform unchanged ahead of the November election has infuriated grass-roots activists — including moderates who wanted to streamline its message and social conservatives who sought added language on emerging hot-button topics,” Politico reports.
President Trump will accept the Republican presidential nomination on August 27 in Jacksonville, Florida, the 60th anniversary of “Ax Handle Saturday,” the Washington Post reports.
That’s when a mob of 200 white people in the city — organized by the Ku Klux Klan and joined by some of the city’s police officers — chased and beat peaceful civil rights protesters (with ax handles and baseball bats) who were trying to integrate downtown lunch counters.
A permit had already been approved for civil rights activists for the 60th anniversary commemoration of those events.
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“The Republican National Committee’s executive committee voted Wednesday night to scale back its 2020 convention proceedings in light of the coronavirus outbreak. Perhaps as interestingly, it also voted to make no changes to its 2016 party platform ahead of the 2020 election,” the Washington Post reports.
“The move is notable because it means the party won’t change its official positions on issues such as same-sex marriage and will allow them to stand through 2024.”
“But it’s also notable because some of the language in the platform decrying what the ‘current administration’ and ‘the president’ have done can just as easily be used against the current occupant of the White House.”
Washington Post: “Seeking a city willing to allow a large-scale event amid the coronavirus pandemic, Republicans have tentatively settled on Jacksonville, Fla., as the new destination for the premier festivities of the Republican National Convention in August.”
“The details of the arrangement are still in flux and RNC aides are scrambling to determine whether the northern Florida city has enough hotel rooms to accommodate the quadrennial event, which typically kicks off the final stretch of the presidential campaign. Republican officials were in Jacksonville on Monday looking at the city and the surrounding areas.”
Tim Alberta: “As with so many issues, the ground beneath the GOP has been gradually shifting on questions of racial justice. Perhaps it’s the demographic transition of the electorate, or the greater digital proximity voters have to events that long went unseen. Whatever the cause, this shift has threatened further electoral consequences for a party that is already out of step with the center on a number of cultural issues. That was before a white officer pinned George Floyd’s neck to the ground for nearly nine minutes. One thing is clear: There is nothing gradual about what’s happened since…”
Said Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC): “Without question, this is different. It feels different. It sounds different. The protesters are different… I look out my window in Washington and see 10 protesters. Seven of them are white, and three of them are black.”
CNN: “State lawmakers and officials looking to host the Republican National Convention are intensely courting President Trump directly, believing he will ultimately make the final decision on where the event will be held.”
“Georgia and Florida have emerged as the two states pursuing the convention the most aggressively. Savannah, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida, are both on the short list as options to replace Charlotte.”
Max Boot: “In 2014, Tom Cotton ran for the U.S. Senate proclaiming: “I believe in less government and more freedom.” Seven days ago, amid massive anti-racism protests accompanied by scattered looting, the Republican senator from Arkansas demanded the deployment of at least five Army divisions to the streets.”
“There was no conceivable justification for such a draconian move. But Cotton’s panicky, premature demand is symbolic of the Republican Party’s transition from tea party libertarianism to Trumpian authoritarianism.”
“When President Barack Obama was in office, Republicans fulminated against executive orders and government spending. Now, they’ve learned to stop worrying and embrace both at unprecedented levels. (The budget deficit is projected to be $3.8 trillion this year, more than six times higher than when Obama left office.) The rejection of libertarianism isn’t necessarily a bad thing. What’s worrying is that the Republican Party has become increasingly hostile toward liberal democracy.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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