Oh sweet! A couple hundred people for one day is way better than tens of thousands for four days!
More like grabbing the black velvet painting of Elvis.
Do you suppose this might help push North Carolina in the blue direction? I’m hoping it helps a little 
Meanwhile— since, a month ago, a couple posters recommended the Dems should cancel their live-bodies-in-one-place convention, in part to set a better example than the Republicans, something arguably close to this has taken place:
They are going to be in NC after all, move to FL is cancelled.
Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there! What a shitshow this POTUS is!
They were going to have at least some actions in NC all along anyway, with just the major theatrics in FL.
How much money has been wasted, planning the NC event, then cancelling much of it, and now having to un-cancel and reorganize (some or all?) of it, and planning then canceling the FL events?
No wonder Trump bankrupts every business venture he touches. (“Everything Trump Touches Dies.”) May the Republican Party be next!
Damn.
I was hoping about 100K true believers would descend on a giant room, masklessly shout themselves hoarse shoulder to shoulder for a few days, then provide the nation with a gigantic and unignorable (I almost wrote unimpeachable) example of how COVID spread works in that real world they so steadfastly refuse to acknowledge actually exists.
Oh well.
Don’t count them out yet, LSLGuy! I think they could still mostly pull that off!
It’s like the MASH episode where they are about to say the rumors are wrong, they are not moving the hospital and then at the last minute they are ordered to move.
What I’d read about this recently was that the Duval County sheriff said he was not able to provide security for this event. There were not enough officers available from other localities who were willing to come to work it, and not enough time to get contracts in place. Plus other high-profile Republicans had already been bailing, most of them being in high risk groups anyway. So not a hoax now I guess! Too bad the horse left the barn weeks ago and is now halfway across the country.
I work with event planners, and this disaster fascinates me. They signed contracts for Charlotte, and that money is gone, so they had to line up a new set of donors for Jacksonville. They had a hard time getting the money, for obvious reasons. I think I heard that donors who pledged but didn’t pay yet are backing out.
The Times says they cancelled now because they’d have to sign the contracts and book the rooms by Monday, and if they did that they’d be out the money if no one showed or they had to cancel.
This will be the textbook case of what not to do, and be used for years and years.
So if they signed contracts, and if they book rooms, does the campaign have to pay for everything up front? If they sign contracts and book rooms but don’t pay until later, will the campaign and/or the RNC just refuse to pay the bills or just ignore the bills?
They seem to have developed a nationwide reputation for not paying their bills for Trump’s rallies. Are contractors getting wise and demanding full payment up front?
In my other life I used to do “event” planning from the government emergency management side. And even worked closely with the Duval County Sheriff’s office for years. At least back then they were a highly competent organization.
Yes, this is a textbook case of what not to do. Ultimately, every human activity has a minimum “turn radius” defined by how complicated it is versus the natural reaction time of the involved entities’ speed limits.
Making changes inside the turn radius always produces an insoluble problem. Making major changes well inside the turn radius always produces a crash. It can’t not.
All across the world, COVID is throwing up these problems and will continue to do so until we get the infectiousness and or the morbidity/mortality under control. Which might be “never”.
For sure Trump, RNC, et al have done a textbook case here of letting wishful thinking piss away all their turn radius and then some. Followed by “About face! Charge!” Idjits.
But they will hardly be alone in fouling up big projects of all sorts that are continually wrong-footed by an raging out of control pandemic. e.g. how many office buildings or shopping centers are half-designed or half-built right now that will never be needed?
Hint there Mr POTUS: get serious about fixing the “raging out of control” part and your job gets easier, not harder. Not that the evil ignorant bastard would listen to anyone, much less little 'ol me.
It is wishful thinking but one informed by the notion that everyone should be in the business of building up a “success narrative” to raise morale. The goal is not really “by August we will be winning” it’s “by August the people will feel we are on the path to winning”.
Two elements at play in the way they fail to properly adapt, guided by that vision:
One: seeing caution and prudence and minding advice as sings of cowardice and weakness. “No ivory-tower bookworm is the boss of me, we are DOERS. I will NOT live in fear.” It is an adversarial world, and the person advising you against what you want is being negative and you following their advice without a fight is surrendering. YOU are the judge of when advice is good.
Two: A culture in that particular sphere by which the leaders/bosses say “I want X” and there will always be someone who will make something happen that they can spin as a win, nobody allowed to answer “nope, can’t do that”. Bend or break rules, think outside the box, redefine the “win”, whatever, but deliver a success narrative and that’s what counts.
Agreed.
I fully understand the (dis-)organizational dynamics at play in those circles that led to their (in-)decision process being what it was.
I was talking planning industry physics / engineering to @Voyager. With a late political dig thrown in for fun.
As you say about politics, the same applies in real-world physics & engineering of all stripes: the salesbeasts & C-level bizidjits can promise and cajole and berate all they want, but real world physics will beat them to a pulp every time. After great torture is inflicted on the physicists & engineers expected to deliver whatever impossible miracle was promised.
The disaster is not them changing course due to the pandemic. That was a given - which the Democrats figured out early. The contracts we have all say that if you are not allowed to have the conference due to government action, you get out free and clear with no penalties. However if you pull out before this, you may be in for penalties. They might have gotten out of their Charlotte commitment if Trump didn’t start to blab. We got told to shut the hell up about our plans until after the negotiations with the venue about getting out were completed.
Every conference I know of has gone virtual, and event planners are sure earning their pay these days.
I just read Trump is not even going to the NC convention. I guess he gets nominated by email.
OMG i read on the internet that email voting is like 137% fraud!