Richard Grenell to speak at ‘Trump Pride’ campaign event in Tampa

Donald Trump picks loyalist Richard Grenell to lead national intelligence.

Former national intelligence director Richard Grenell is set to speak at a “Trump Pride” campaign event in Tampa on Saturday in an effort to target the LGBTQ+ community. 

The event will be held at the Westshore Grand Hotel starting at 3:30 p.m. President Donald Trump appointed Grenell, who is openly gay, as the national intelligence director from February through May of this year; he has since been replaced.

Despite his appointment, Trump’s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community has been contentious, following his appointments of numerous federal judges who opposed LGBTQ rights and rolled back federal protections for transgender people, according to the Associated Press. Also, the GOP has embraced its 2016 party platform anew for this year’s campaign, a document that “condemns the Supreme Court’s lawless ruling” that legalized same-sex marriage.

Republican Grenell is recognized as an American diplomat, political advisor and media consultant, and serves at the Special Presidential Envoy for Serbia and Kosovo Peace Negotiations.

Grenell spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention, where he spoke in support of Trump’s reelection.

As far a Trump’s performance in Florida, the latest poll from St. Pete Polls shows Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden holding a 2-point lead over the the Republican nominee.

The spread, Biden with 49% and Trump with 47%, is within the poll’s margin of error. Yet it continues the strong consensus of polls over recent weeks that have mostly shown Biden leading in the Sunshine State by narrow margins. The previous St. Pete Polls survey, taken in September, had Biden up 50%-47%

This poll, commissioned by and paid for AARP Florida, was conducted through automated phone calls to 2,215 likely Florida voters Sunday and Monday, with a margin of error of just over 2 points.

While the overall result supports the continued observation that Biden is winning in Florida, breakdowns reveal some trends that may run counter to assumptions made and data cited by both campaigns.

Trump’s lead in the St. Pete Polls survey was 59% to 38% among voters 70 or older. Biden, on the other hand, is dominating the next-oldest age bracket broken out in the survey, with a 54%-43% advantage among voters ages 50-69. Biden also holds leads among young and middle-age voters.

The St. Pete Polls survey has Trump commanding the preference of White voters by a 57%-40% spread, a slight decline for Biden since the previous survey. Nor is Biden dominating Hispanic voters as his campaign had hoped. They’re breaking for Biden, but by a 54%-43% margin, providing much less than the 58%-60% that some have suggested he needs.