Donald Trump announced on Monday morning via a Twitter post that he’s considering moving the Republican National Convention out of North Carolina. While the Republican National Committee (RNC) has the final say on where the event is held, it’s thought the RNC would follow the lead of the president.
In a tweet thread, Trump explained the reason for moving the convention was that North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper won’t promise the state will allow full occupancy. North Carolina — like other states across the country — is still battling the coronavirus outbreak. Trump said the state is still in “shutdown mode” and can’t assure the convention center will be allowed to be fully occupied.
The president went on to say the RNC is planning to spend millions of dollars to build up the arena to certain specifications, without knowing if it was money well spent.
“Plans are being made by many thousands of enthusiastic Republicans, and others, to head to beautiful North Carolina in August. They must be immediately given an answer by the Governor as to whether or not the space will be allowed to be fully occupied.”
Trump added that if North Carolina cannot make the guarantee the president wants, he’ll be forced to start looking for another location. He also made a point to mention these types of conventions bring a great deal of money to the host state. That money comes from people paid to help set up, as well as local restaurants, shops, and hotels benefiting from the influx of visitors.
Not long after Trump took to social media to make the threat against North Carolina, Vice President Mike Pence reportedly did the same on Fox and Friends . CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller posted on Twitter that Pence issued a warning to the state.
Pence reportedly echoed the president’s comments, saying the RNC would look for a state “that is farther along on reopening and can say with confidence that, that we can gather there.”
As The Inquisitr previously reported, there have been some who have attempted to get both the Republicans and Democrats to cancel their national conventions this summer. In March, there was some consideration to the idea of scaling down the events at the very least, while Trump made it clear he had no intention of allowing a cancellation.
North Carolina has begun reopening the state and entered “Phase 2” on Friday, according to the New York Post . Cooper reportedly described the plan as a “modest” approach and “Phase 3” isn’t expected to begin until June 26.
