At a Thursday press briefing President Trump announced that the planned public part of the 2020 Republican National Convention that was supposed to take place in Jacksonville, Florida, in August has been canceled due to coronavirus concerns.

The president said, “The timing for this event is not right, it’s just not right. To have a big convention, it’s just not the right time…There is nothing more important in our country than keeping our people safe.”

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With the Democrats promising a virtual convention and GOP plans now up in the air, this very strange election year just got weirder.

The loss of a public convention hurts Trump and the GOP more than the Democrats. Biden’s poll numbers have been up since he has generally been locked away out of public sight. But Trump thrives on the public connection to an energized crowd and his base eats it up.

Without that, and perhaps without MAGA rallies also due to virus conditions, Trump and the Republicans will have to substitute it somehow or lose a vital aspect of his appeal.

If the president and his team were smart they would take a page out of Churchill’s actions during the WWII London Blitz. As London was being bombed by the German Luftwaffe during 1940-1941, Churchill ventured out into the bombed areas, sometimes under danger of aerial attack, and let the public see him there. It showed his courage and focused public determination against the Germans.

The president should immediately begin a tour of the worst parts of riot ravaged cities in America, starting with Portland and Seattle, to show America he is unbowed by the violent opposition and to further buttress his image as a law and order president. Let America exactly see what the Democrats and their allies are doing to this country. With the promise of more violence, the networks would cover it minute by minute. The president would look like a Daniel in the lion’s den. Better drama than even a convention.