Trump scraps Jacksonville portion of Republican National Convention, calls for vigilance in battling coronavirus outbreakPresident Donald Trump said Thursday that he was scrapping the Jacksonville, Fla.-component of the Republican National Convention that was scheduled for late next month, underscoring an apparent reversal of tone and approach to the viral pandemic that has crippled much of the country for months.
The president said he would still deliver a speech accepting his party’s nomination for re-election in a “different form.â€
“I looked at my team and I said the timing for this event is not right. It’s just not right,†Trump said at his third White House briefing this week to discuss developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic, after a months-long hiatus from those briefings. “To have a big convention, it’s not the right time,†the president said.
Trump’s announcement comes as Ronna Romney McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, informed members recently of a decision to scale back the event due to the rise in coronavirus infections in the region. Now it is being eliminated entirely and the president suggested that aspects of the event would be held via webcasts or online. ....
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-scraps-jacksonville-portion-of-republican-national-convention-calls-for-vigilance-in-battling-coronavirus-outbreak-2020-07-23?mod=home-page
