President Trump Cancels Jacksonville Component Of Republican National Convention

The Jacksonville, Fla., component of the Republican National Convention has been canceled, President Trump announced on Thursday, as cases of the coronavirus continue to spike across that state.

"I looked at my team and I said the timing for this event is not right. It's just not right with what's been happening," Trump said at the daily coronavirus briefing.

"They said 'Sir, we can make this work very easily.' ... I said there's nothing more important in our country than keeping our people safe, whether it's from the China virus or the radical left mob."

Trump's last-minute decision to cancel the event follows a mad scramble by the Republican Party over the last few months to try and hold a conventional party gathering in spite of the ongoing pandemic that has already killed more than 140,000 Americans.

Delegates to the convention will still meet in Charlotte, N.C., to hold small, formal business meetings as planned, but Trump's keynote Jacksonville speech will no longer take place.