Trump To Give RNC Acceptance Speech In Charlotte After All

TOPLINE

The plan to have President Donald Trump give his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination in Charlotte, North Carolina is back on, according to a report, the latest move in a saga that’s had the main event of the Republican National Convention given to Charlotte, taken away and now given back again.

KEY FACTS

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW

Where in Charlotte Trump will actually give his speech. According to WCNC-TV, the Arena Licensing Agreement the city had with the RNC was terminated on July 15th. And even with Trump giving his speech there now, the city hasn’t shown any interest in changing from the amended plan of a toned-down convention.

CRITICAL QUOTE

“We have an agreement in place with the Republican National Committee to host a substantially scaled down business meeting and that is what we are planning to do,” the city said in a statement last week.

KEY BACKGROUND

Trump had said he wanted to see “thousands of enthusiastic Republicans” gather for the convention, and was frustrated when Cooper couldn’t promise that in early June, leading to Trump and the RNC pulling the convention from the city. But Trump has since backed off on those ambitions, saying after the Jacksonville cancelation last week, “I’ll still do a convention speech in a different form, but we won’t do a big, crowded convention.”

TANGENT

The Democratic National Convention is officially planned for Milwaukee from Aug. 17-20, but will actually be almost entirely virtual. According to the Daily Beast, presumptive nominee Joe Biden may be the only major Democrat to give a speech in Milwaukee. 

FURTHER READING

Pence: Trump to give RNC acceptance speech in Charlotte (WCNC-TV)

Republicans To Move Marquee Event Of Convention To Jacksonville (Forbes)

Trump Cancels Jacksonville Portion Of Republican Convention (Forbes)

Leaked Documents Show the DNC’s Plans for a ‘Reimagined’ Convention (Daily Beast)

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