The RNC Convention, which Politico names more accurately as “Trump’s convention”, is looking bleak for the RNC as a Party.
Almost nobody who’s anybody, is willing to speak. Or even attend.
With the convention less than a month away, POLITICO contacted more than 50 prominent governors, senators and House members to gauge their interest in speaking. Only a few said they were open to it, and everyone else said they weren’t planning on it, didn’t want to, or weren’t going to Cleveland at all — or simply didn’t respond.
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“Everyone has to make their own choice, but at this point, 70 percent of the American public doesn’t like Donald Trump. That’s as toxic as we’ve seen in American politics,” said Stuart Stevens, a longtime Republican strategist who helped to craft the party’s 2012 convention. “Normally, people want to speak at national conventions. It launched Barack Obama’s political career.”
Former President George W. Bush… nope.
Former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney… nope.
House Speaker and supposed GOP Saviour Paul Ryan…. well, he has to, it’s his job to “umpire” it. So, ok, that’s one.
Sen. Mitch McConnell… he’s actually gone on public record advising his fellow Senators to not go.
Sen. Ted “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz… nope. In fact just about all of the GOP candidates defeated by Trump are not attending. Cruz, Rubio, Jeb, etc. Huckabee might.
Sen. John McCain… nope.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte…. nope.
Sen. Lindsey Graham… nope. No big surprise there.
Sen. John Cornyn… nope.
Gov. Nikki Haley… nope.
The list could go on and on and on and on and on. Granted there will be some who do attend (one article mentions Boehner will probably be there), but this is really quite something.
Fortunately Trump has people and they have some ideas! One is that Trump himself can just speak a lot. Like, maybe he’ll speak again and again, every night. Another (from the Politico piece linked above) is that if prime speaking spots are vacant, Trump’s children can take them. No, really, they are seriously considering this.
Sounds like the greatest bestest hugest success of a convention ever.
In addition, the list of corporate sponsors who have refused to participate or have pulled out recently, is growing:
Among those to signal in recent days that they won't sponsor the convention this year are Wells Fargo & Co., United Parcel Service Inc., Motorola Solutions Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Ford Motor Co., and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. All of those companies sponsored the previous Republican conclave, in Tampa, Florida, in 2012.
The contrast between the RNC’s convention and the DNC’s convention ought to be something to see. Any high ranking Democrat whom you’d want to speak in support of Hillary, will be there and will speak*. Of course #1 on that list is President Obama, and right beside him, former President Bill Clinton. Alongside them the list will be long and robust. The mood will be wildly enthusiastic, passionate about what’s at stake, and confident — stoked for a strong victory in November.
([EDITED]*I’ll exempt Bernie here — he remains influential but his relationship to our nominee is still unclear. I still hope he’d speak in a prime spot, but first he’d need to concede in normal fashion like a statesman and express his unreserved support. His choice; his loss.) [Edited to tone down my initial language re: feelings of disappointment in him at this time.]
All in all… Cleveland and Philly are shaping up to be quite a study in contrasts. And the contrasts are looking great for Hillary Clinton and pathetic for Donald Trump.