Never Trump Republicans planning to gather in Charlotte, North Carolina, in August, at the same moment as President Trump’s renomination celebration there are taking aim at congressional Republicans.
The “Convention on Founding Principles” is scheduled to coincide with the Republican presidential nominating convention, which is set for Aug. 24–27 at the Spectrum Center arena. But event organizers claim their gathering is about much more than protesting Trump. Prominent anti-Trump Republicans claim the problems plaguing the GOP extend far beyond the president, and activists behind the counter-convention say there will be intense focus on reforming Republican leadership in Congress.
“Even if Trump weren’t in the picture, the party would still need some reforming,” said Evan McMullin, a Never Trump Republican and one of the organizers of the event. McMullin mounted a failed, eleventh-hour third-party bid against Trump in 2016 and later co-founded the group Stand Up Republic to counter the president’s takeover of the GOP.
As the name of the convention suggests, it is designed to boost support for a GOP agenda that organizers say would return the party to its “founding,” pre-Trump roots. McMullin said congressional Republicans, like Trump, have failed to lead in a crisis while fostering an atmosphere hostile to religious and ethnic minorities that has put the GOP at a competitive disadvantage with the Democrats.
McMullin rejects the notion that the convention is an elaborate attempt to disrupt Trump’s coronation, emphasizing that the gathering’s ambitions are larger than annoying the president.
“We’re already under his skin. That’s not something we need to try to do,” McMullin said. “We know he doesn’t appreciate our views. The point really is to move the party in another direction.”
Public and private polling consistently shows Trump enjoys overwhelming support from Republican voters. That has been true through myriad controversies, as well as impeachment by the Democratic House, a midterm election shellacking, and the upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Asked to comment on the counter-convention, Trump campaign spokeswoman Erin Perrine referred to the organizers as “irrelevant losers.”
The gathering will give voice to a range of Never Trump Republicans. Much like a traditional political convention, the “Convention on Founding Principles” will feature speeches and discussions led by political figures and thinkers, followed by the development and ratification of a platform intended to guide a political overhaul of the GOP. In addition to live activities in Charlotte, there are plans to livestream the convention. If the coronavirus significantly derails GOP plans to hold a traditional convention, the counter-event would shift to an exclusively virtual presentation.
Some Never Trump Republicans are quietly dismissing the event. Their complaint is that it will not effectively undermine the president in his race against presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. But others believe it could contribute to the ultimate, long-term goal of moving the Republican Party past Trump.
“It’s worthwhile to provide visibility to an alternative vision for the party,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican operative in Sacramento, California, who opposes Trump.
