Cincinnati's initial disappointment at losing the Republican National Convention hosting honors to Cleveland has turned to relief as violence continues to ramp up nationwide. Predictions of violence, massive numbers of protesters and a need for strong police presence is even scaring away many Republican lawmakers who have already starting RSVPing "no" to the event.
WCPO reports that Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley.said:
“We’ve seen the violence at the Donald Trump rallies and I just think it’s probably best that it’s not coming here.”
Translation: We dodged a bullet! We had no idea that the xenophobic, racist, sexist, hateful bigot, Donald Trump would rise to the top of the GOP so fast. Had we known, we would never have competed. Thank you, God.
The video above, taken just last night in Costa Mesa, CA, shows violence outside a Trump rally and the police force that was not able to contain it. Video courtesy of ABC 7.
Cleveland is stuck planning for the worst, with threats of riots getting louder by the day. Add to the mix the threat of a contested convention, with the nominee up in the air until the last minute, and the violence and aggression may not be contained to just outside the convention. Cleveland is preparing for the worst, including riot gear for law enforcement.
Our colleague Scarce reports that Cleveland has budgeted about $20 million of the $50 million given by the feds for "riot control". That does not count any fist fights that might emerge on the convention floor itself.
Also, the Republicans put in another $40 million for running the thing, and Cleveland about the same. So they're going to spend at least 150 million dollars on something that supposedly generates $200 million for the city.
And the images of violence in the streets of Cleveland will last for generations. Chicago 1968, anyone?
This is NOT what the Downtown Cleveland Alliance (Motto - and we are not making this up - "You Are Here.") fought for.
