CHARLOTTE 2020 – AT 12:33 P.M. ET:  The Republicans have chosen Charlotte, North Carolina, as the site of their 2020 presidential nominating convention.  Charlotte is a southern city suffering under the influence of northern liberals, so the decision was not universally welcome.  From the Charlotte Observer: 

Charlotte won its second national convention in a decade Friday, kicking off two years of planning, fundraising and anticipation.

The city joined a small group of cities that will have held both major party gatherings after the Republican National Committee on Friday formally awarded the 2020 event.

The vote capped a dramatic week in which the Charlotte City Council agreed to host the convention Monday by a single vote. Four Democrats joined two Republicans in support. Five Democrats voted no.

“We could not be more excited,” North Carolina GOP Chair Robin Hayes said in a statement. “Today’s announcement is a testament to the strong leadership in Charlotte that has followed a long North Carolina tradition of putting the needs and opportunities of our people before politics.”

But politics was behind the contentiousness surrounding the council decision.

More than 100 people debated the convention publicly and passionately before Monday’s council vote. Through it all, Democratic Mayor Vi Lyles championed the event and urged people to put partisanship aside.

Asked Friday if she would have started the bidding process had she known the opposition it would spark, she said she would have. She said the city would have had the same debate, even if the outcome may have been different.

“I think we would have done exactly what we did,” she told reporters. “The outcome I can’t project.”

COMMENT:  The Democratic mayor set a good example.  Other Democrats did not.  They believe that only people they agree with should meet in Charlotte. 

We can reasonably expect mass demonstrations, some of them violent.  We may well see a repeat of the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, which was surrounded by violent demonstrators trying to move the party well to the left, something at which they eventually succeeded.

July 21, 2018