City officials dread campaign rallies and GOP convention as coronavirus burns through Trump country

Elected officials are dreading President Donald Trump's campaign rallies in cities where new coronavirus cases have been spreading.

The president will appear Tuesday at a megachurch in Phoenix, where intensive care units are filling up with COVID-19 patients, and the city's mayor has stated her opposition to the Students for Trump event, reported The Daily Beast.

“While I do not believe an event of this magnitude can be held safely, particularly as Arizona sees rising COVID cases, the President has decided to continue with this rally,” said Mayor Kate Gallego.

The president's rally in Tulsa over the weekend drew far fewer than he'd hoped, but he's moving forward with the Arizona event and another event planned for Alabama, where new cases are rising sharply, to support the GOP rival of his former attorney general Jeff Sessions.

The Republican National Convention is moving forward with plans for an in-person event in Jacksonville, where city officials are concerned about the example Trump is setting.

“With his attitude, the way he's always been and the way he's treated this, shame on him,” said Tommy Hazouri, a Democrat who will soon take over as president of the city council. “He should be setting the example. He doesn't even tell people to do what I say, don't do what I do. He's not even saying that. He just says do what I do."

“While I may not like it, that's the mayor's call,” Hazouri added. “This is an executive decision and it doesn't require a vote...he's made great decisions, but this one I think is not so great.”