Gov. DeSantis: ‘Shape of the epidemic’ to drive Republican National Convention plan

Image via AP.

Gov. Ron DeSantis won’t commit to the Republican National Convention being in packed stadiums.

If the convention should move to Florida as he and other Republicans fervently hope, the “shape of the epidemic” will drive the actual logistical planning, he said Thursday on Fox and Friends.

“This is almost three months away, two and a half months away,” cautioned the Governor.

“The shape of the epidemic is just going to be different. Hopefully, it’s a lot better,” DeSantis said. “But I think we’ll be able to make those decisions about what precautions need to be taken as you get closer.”

“But to just rule out a convention at this stage I think is a mistake,” the Governor continued. “We’ve said we want to get to yes on it. I think you’ll be able to do it.”

“I think if you look throughout the world you haven’t seen second waves in many of these places,” he added. “So you know we’re prepared for that obviously. But it very well may be that we get into August and the prevalence of this thing is much lower, in which case you’d have the ability to do some of these things.”

“Heck,” DeSantis continued, “you can test all the delegates.”

Whether it would be possible to test the sundry and various people servicing conventioneers in legal and extralegal trades was left unexplored.

“To just say no to everything isn’t going to work. We want to be able to do it and I think we can do it in a safe way.”

The Governor had issued similar remarks, aside from the “shape of the epidemic” phrasing, to reporters in Orlando Wednesday.

“If you get closer, if you need to call an audible, you can always call an audible,” he said, noting that Jacksonville had expressed interest in the event, and suggesting Miami-Dade and Orlando, with its “hotel capacity,” as other metros in the mix.

The President put the Tarheel State and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper on notice on Tuesday, shaming him for calling his own “audible.”

“Governor Cooper is still in Shelter-In-Place Mode, and not allowing us to occupy the arena as originally anticipated and promised. Would have showcased beautiful North Carolina to the World, and brought in hundreds of millions of dollars, and jobs, for the State. Because of [Gov. Cooper], we are now forced to seek another State to host the 2020 Republican National Convention,” Trump tweeted Tuesday.

Whether DeSantis imagines he would have more latitude than Cooper to make changes is still an open question.