Trump cancels GOP convention set for next month in Jacksonville, Fla.: ‘I have to protect the American people’

President Donald Trump on Thursday said that he would cancel the Republican National Convention set for late August in Jacksonville, Fla., as COVID-19 cases rise in the state. Trump said that the “timing for this event” was just not right, speaking during a coronavirus briefing at the White House on Thursday evening. The president said that he would still deliver a speech accepting his party’s nomination for re-election in some other way. Trump’s announcement comes as Ronna Romney McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, informed members recently of a decision to scale back the event due to the rise in infections in region. “I looked at my team and said, ‘The timing for this event is not right,’ ” Trump said during his briefing. “To have a big convention is not the right time; it’s really something that for me I have to protect the American people.” Florida and California reported single-day records in fatalities with 173 and 157 deaths, respectively, on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported. On Wednesday, Texas reported a record 197 deaths.