The gop is blocking journalists from covering trump’s renomination. That’s a first in modern history.

/Star Max/IPx Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free _Mother Jones Daily_. It’s the political party whose members openly mock masks,

lambast the nation’s top infectious disease expert as a partisan hack for simply doing his job, and protect a president whose chief response to a pandemic has been to deny, deny, deny. But

when it comes to re-anointing Donald Trump as the Republican Party standard-bearer, coronavirus safety suddenly matters. When Donald Trump is renominated for president later this month in

Charlotte, North Carolina, it will be a private affair, according to a Republican National Convention spokesperson on Saturday. No press allowed. According to the Associated Press: > 

While Trump called off the public components of the convention in > Florida last month, citing spiking cases of the virus across the > country, 336 delegates are scheduled to gather in

 Charlotte, North > Carolina, on 24 August to formally vote to make Trump the GOP > standard-bearer once more. >  > Nominating conventions are traditionally meant to be media 

bonanzas, > as political parties seek to leverage the attention the events draw > to spread their message to as many voters as possible. If the GOP > decision stands, it will mark 

the first party nominating convention > in modern history to be closed to reporters. >  > “Given the health restrictions and limitations in place within the > state of North 

Carolina, we are planning for the Charlotte > activities to be closed [to] press Friday, August 21–Monday, > August 24,” a convention spokeswoman said. That might change, the

spokesperson admitted. We’ll see. In the meantime, there’ll be no shortage of press-packed events featuring Trump gorging on free airtime, lavishly flouting safety concerns and sickening his

staff, while blaming everyone but himself.