MIAMI — President Donald Trump redirected the Republican National Convention to Florida after North Carolina’s Democratic governor couldn’t “guarantee” a full venue in August because of the coronavirus pandemic.
But with coronavirus cases skyrocketing in Florida as Trump’s poll numbers drop in his must-win battleground state, it looks like the president won’t get his full-blown festivities there, either.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a close Trump ally, refused to say on Tuesday whether he would lift a rule mandating that indoor gatherings stay under 50 percent capacity — which would hold the Jacksonville convention to 7,500 people. Two octogenarian GOP senators, Lamar Alexander and Chuck Grassley, announced they wouldn’t attend the convention amid the pandemic, which has hit the elderly the hardest. Continue reading. Continue reading.