Surprised no one has mentioned this, but Politico revealed that the Republican National Convention is in complete disarray just a month before Trump is due to be formally renominated for another term. The sheriff of Jacksonville and Duval County revealed that the GOP hasn’t provided him with the kind of plan that he needs to provide security for the convention.
“As we're talking today, we are still not close to having some kind of plan that we can work with that makes me comfortable that we're going to keep that event and the community safe,” Duval County Sheriff Mike Williams told POLITICO.
“It’s not my event to plan, but I can just tell you that what has been proposed in my opinion is not achievable right now ... from a law enforcement standpoint, from a security standpoint.”
A little clarification—by virtue of Jacksonville and Duval County being a consolidated city-county (though four cities retain separate governments), Williams has the powers of both a police chief and a county sheriff. This is why he was charged with providing security for the convention after it was moved there from Charlotte in June after both local and North Carolina officials let it be known they would not allow Trump to hold a full-blown convention as he wanted.
And as it stands now, Williams doesn’t have nearly enough information to do that job. He told Politico that the RNC has yet to pin down what events will be at specific venues. For instance, it’s still not clear whether Trump will give his acceptance speech at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena or TIAA Bank Field. As a result, with 40 days before the convention is due to be gaveled into session, Williams hasn’t been able to sign contracts so he can know where to deploy his men. He’s had a hard time recruiting cops from neighboring jurisdictions to help him due to the mushrooming number of cases in Florida.
This can't be dismissed as another Democrat sheriff trying to undermine Trump. Williams is a Republican. However, he seems to be one of the few Republicans left who has the guts to effectively tell Trump the hard truth. And that hard truth is that he simply doesn’t have what he needs to prepare for the convention.
Williams referenced the lack of time repeatedly, saying that even if he started planning in June, it would have been difficult to pull off.
“At virtually 75 days it was an incredible lift, and everything would have to be perfect. And needless to say it has not,” Williams said. “So you know with that, we can't pull it off in any kind of current configuration. But again, it's not my job to plan the RNC. It’s my job to be able to provide security for it, but I can't do it right now in this time frame with this current configuration of the event.”
Williams isn’t alone. Mike Chitwood of Volusia County (Daytona Beach) has committed to send 12 of his deputies to help with security, though he thinks the GOP should go the way of the Democrats and make their convention essentially virtual. However, he knows what it’s like to have to provide security for Trump, having had to handle security when Trump came down for the Daytona 500. As he put it, if anyone dares to tell Trump no, “it’s like, off with their heads.”
It cannot be stated enough. A major party is literally not ready to host its national convention 40 days out. But then again, we’re talking about a president who runs this country like a badly run business.