Politicians have refused. Sports figures have declined. Who’s left to speak at Trump’s convention?
If you wanted to compile a list of the Republican figures likely to speak at, say, a Republican National Convention, it might look something like this:
Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida. Gov. John Kasich of Ohio. Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada. Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
And if you were so inclined, you could keep going:
Former President George W. Bush. Former Vice President Dick Cheney. Former first lady Laura Bush. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California. Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois. Former Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania. Former Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. Former Gov. Luis Fortuno of Puerto Rico. Former Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
We didn’t pick these at random. The first group attended the 2012 RNC in Tampa, Fla., to deliver remarks on behalf of that year’s GOP nominee, Mitt Romney. The second took the stage in 2008, when John McCain accepted the Republican nomination in Minneapolis.
Yet now, all of these Republicans — from both 2008 and 2012 — have indicated that they won’t be speaking at Donald Trump’s convention this summer in Cleveland. Most of them won’t even be attending. And dozens of their fellow GOP leaders — senators, governors, former nominees, even a surviving president — have refused the call as well.
Which raises the question: At a typical nominating convention, more than a dozen people address the American people each night. Will Trump be able to find enough speakers — speakers with the national stature we’ve come to expect from previous conventions — to fill his primetime program? And, if so, who the heck will they be?
Trump has always said his convention would be … unusual. “The last Republican convention was extraordinarily boring,” he has argued. “It’s very important to put some showbiz into a convention, otherwise people are going to fall asleep.”
In part, he doesn’t have a choice. Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush have both excused themselves; same goes for former presidential nominees Romney and McCain. Meanwhile, the roster of Republican politicians who plan to skip the festivities is growing — from rising stars worried about tarnishing their reputations to current reelection candidates concerned that an appearance in Cleveland would hurt them back home this fall.
Earlier this month, for instance, Politico contacted more than 50 prominent governors, senators and House members to gauge their interest in speaking. Here’s what they found:
Only a few said they were open to [speaking], and everyone else said they weren’t planning on it, didn’t want to or weren’t going to Cleveland at all — or simply didn’t respond.
“I am not attending,” said South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, who is overseeing the high-profile congressional Republican investigation into Hillary Clinton’s handling of the attacks on Benghazi. Gowdy, who said he was taking his family to the beach instead, hasn’t gone to conventions in the past and didn’t plan to now.
“I’m not,” said South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford, a former two-term governor. “But hope you have a good Thursday!”
“Don’t know,” said Sean Duffy, a reality-TV-star-turned-Wisconsin congressman. “I haven’t thought about it.”
Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo: “I won’t be there.”
Normally, politicians are desperate to mount the convention stage and introduce themselves to a national audience. (It’s how some guy named Barack Obama launched his national political career, after all.) But not this year.
“The widespread lack of interest, Republicans say, boils down to one thing: the growing consensus that it’s best to steer clear of Trump,” Politico concluded.
Trump insists he’s OK with that — which makes a certain kind of sense. Trump won the GOP nomination because he isn’t a politician. Surrounding himself with a bunch of boring politicians wouldn’t exactly be on brand.
And so earlier this month in Virginia, Trump told his fans he was “going to do it a little different.”
“I’m thinking about getting some of the great sports people who like me a lot,” Trump elaborated. He then unveiled his vision of a “winner’s evening,” with sports celebrities and champions addressing the convention rather than “these politicians who are going to get up and speak and speak and speak.”
The only problem? None of Trump’s “winners” seem to want to speak either.
On Tuesday, Bloomberg Politics reported that Trump “campaign aides were lining up several retired athletes, coaches and other sports leaders to appear at the convention.” The roster, according to Bloomberg’s sources, included legendary former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka, former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight, NASCAR chief Brian France and former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.
But Jo Mignano, Tyson’s personal publicist, quickly denied the report. “He’ll be nowhere near Cleveland,” she said of the boxer.
A NASCAR spokesperson speaking on France’s behalf added Wednesday that the racing tycoon “does not plan to speak at nor attend the convention.”
And as for Ditka, he initially told the Chicago Tribune that “no one [had] ever talked to [him] about” speaking and he had “no idea” where the information was coming from. Then Trump himself reached out — and Iron Mike declined.
“I spoke with Mr. Trump this afternoon and he invited me,” Ditka explained. “But I don’t think I’m going to go.”
Even the musicians are balking. Asked by the Washington Post whether he’s attending, Lee Greenwood, who has performed his hit “God Bless the USA” at several GOP conventions, refused to say. And a spokeswoman for Trump fan Ted Nugent told the Post that Nugent is skipping the convention “due to our intensive concert touring schedule.”
So, who’s left?
Well, Knight could still be in the mix; no one has heard from him either way. Trump told the New York Times Friday that he is “thinking about asking Serena Williams, Don King and Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, to play a role of some kind in Cleveland,” and that he wants Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — two of his earliest endorsers — to speak. His running mate, whoever that turns out to be, will address the convention as well. (They always do.) And given that the only national politicians who still sound gung-ho about Trump and Cleveland are the ones who want to be his running mate — Newt Gingrich, Chris Christie, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer — it’s reasonable to assume that at least some of the runners-up will deliver remarks.
And then there are Trump’s kids.
Families are almost always trotted out at conventions to “humanize” the nominees. In 2012, Romney spoke wistfully about his loving wife, Ann, in a soft-and-fuzzy bio videothat also featured interviews with their wholesome children about everyday life in the Romney household, and both Ann and son Craig addressed the convention in person.
But the Trump clan will likely play a more central role at this year’s gathering. If recent reports are correct, Trump’s three eldest children will be speaking in Cleveland — an unprecedented level of family involvement. Ivanka — Trump’s favorite surrogate — may introduce her father when he accepts the nomination Thursday night, a role usually reserved for the candidate’s spouse, and Donald Jr. and Eric are expected to deliver remarks as well. (Potential topics include the Second Amendment, Benghazi and national security.) Trump’s wife, Melania, who is originally from Slovenia and retains a strong accent, is also mulling a speech.
“She’s actually writing some things up right now,” Trump recently told the New York Times.
(Trump himself even considered speaking all three nights — “it would get high ratings” — but eventually ruled it out because he thought it would look like he was “grandstanding.”)
Cleveland is “not gonna be a ho-hum lineup of the typical politicians,” Ivanka said Wednesday in a radio interview. “It’s gonna be a great combination of our great politicians, but also great American businessmen and women, and leaders across industry and leaders across really all the sectors, from athletes to coaches and everything in between.”
The question now is how many of those “leaders” will be named Trump.
