Republican Convention to head online as Donald Trump cancels event over virus fears

The US President has axed the planned event in Florida because of the state’s virus surge with the convention to move online.

Donald Trump plays ball while hosting youth baseball players at the White House for the opening day of Major League Baseball on Friday AEST. Picture: Reuters

Donald Trump has cancelled plans to hold the Republican Convention in Jacksonville, Florida next month because of the surge in the coronavirus.

The move is a blow to Mr Trump’s hopes of a gala celebration of his nomination for a second term in office, but he said the health concerns were paramount.

“The timing for this event is not right (given) the flare up in Florida,” Mr Trump said. “There is nothing more important in our country than keeping our people safe.

 

“I just felt it was wrong to have people going to what turned out to be a hotspot.”

Instead, Mr Trump will be nominated in a low key manner by Republican delegates in Charlotte, North Carolina in late August but Mr Trump will not attend or give a nomination speech in either Charlotte or Jacksonville.

The move will make the Republican Convention, scheduled for August 24 to 27, a largely virtual event in the same manner as the Democrat Convention will be in Milwaukee between 17 and 20 August.

Mr Trump said the convention will now be “online in some form” but he said plans were still being formulated.

Mr Trump moved the Republican Convention from Charlotte to Jacksonville after authorities in Charlotte refused to allow him to hold a large old-fashioned convention rally to celebrate his nomination.

Mr Trump last held a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma in June. Picture: AFP

Mr Trump planned to have the celebratory part of the convention to Jacksonville, but since then Florida has become the epicentre of the virus following a surge in cases and now deaths across the south and west of the country.

White House officials were concerned that a convention in Jacksonville during a surge in the virus would trigger controversy and leave the president vulnerable to claims that he was careless about the health of Americans.

Mr Trump is currently trailing his Democrat opponent in the must-win state of Florida

Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia