NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Former President Donald Trump, fresh off his New York deposition, is among a handful of high-profile GOP 2024 presidential hopefuls who will attend a Republican National Committee donor retreat this weekend in Nashville.
The event, which has been in the works for months, comes at an inopportune time for Republicans in Tennessee who have been battling a barrage of negative headlines, including the Covenant School shooting, the expulsion of two black Democratic lawmakers, accusations of racism, and calls from small business owners to refuse service to the GOP because of its stance on guns.
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Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence will head to Nashville, the site of a deadly school shooting where three 9-year-olds and three adults were gunned down in March, after taking the stage at the National Rifle Association's annual leadership summit in Indianapolis that one politico described as "unfortunate timing."
Republican political consultant Nathan Calvert told the Washington Examiner he thinks the location will actually "enhance the seriousness of the event."
"I think it's important to remember who this event is for and what the goals are for individuals attending," he said.
Democratic strategist David McLaughlin also doesn't think the location will affect the party, but for a very different reason.
"For a modern-day Republican, why would this be unfortunate?" he told the Washington Examiner. "I think if your official position is there is nothing we could do to help prevent gun violence, then why should a mass shooting alter your plans in any way?"
He added that "the GOP's core problem is that the Republican base likes, even craves, many extreme right-wing policies and could care less what the majority of Americans want."
For Paul Helmke, the former Republican mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind., and president of the Brady Center/Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, speaking at the NRA meeting and then heading straight to the RNC retreat in Nashville is consistent.
"You're giving a single unified message: You don't brook dissent or disagreement on guns," he said.
Republican presidential hopefuls have expressed different degrees of outrage following the Covenant School massacre and the mass shooting at a Louisville bank earlier this week. Some have asked for the routine "thoughts and prayers," while others honed in on mental health issues, school security, and even the gender identity of the Nashville shooter.
For some in Tennessee, it's just not good enough.
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Alex Vaughan and Quinn Kiseow, owners of the FLWR Shop in Belle Meade, have refused to fill an order for the RNC event and have encouraged other small businesses to follow suit until the party starts making changes to gun laws.
In a lengthy letter declining the job, the owners claimed the "speakers listed are beyond our comfort level."
The Nashville lineup includes Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY).
"Our community has just lost seven people, including three young children, to yet another school shooting," the letter read. "At this moment, I cannot ignore the work that the RNC has done to create this tragedy and so many others just like it. The Republican Party not only refuses to enact change, but many members of the party have worked to pass legislation that makes this problem worse."
The GOP has been going through an identity crisis and has risked long-term damage to their plans to retake the White House in 2024 with their hard-line approaches to abortion and gun control. In 2022, the Republican red wave failed to materialize after Democrats beat them in crucial contests where abortion was front and center. The GOP also looked like a divided party during the speakership election in January that took 15 rounds of voting and a lot of concessions before House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was given the gavel.
In Tennessee, the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly kicked out two black Democratic lawmakers a week ago after they participated in a gun control protest. The move to oust them backfired and turned the two young state House representatives into political martyrs. Democrats painted the Republicans who tried to kick them out as vindictive racists.
The state chapter hasn't done much damage control, but this week the governor broke the party line when he called on the Tennessee legislature to pass a law that would restrict people who pose a threat to others and themselves from having access to guns. The move came as a surprise to state Republican leaders who have pushed back strongly on any attempts at gun control for years.
"Bill Lee is in his second term and won't face reelection as governor," McLaughlin said. "This gives him the freedom to promote policies that might not be popular with the hardcore GOP base. I find it interesting that the typical GOP politician seems to move closer to the political center after they leave office."
Others have wondered if Lee's comments were an effort to diffuse the boiling tensions in his state rather than an actual step toward change.
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For any new gun laws to pass, roughly 25% of Republicans in the House would have to sign on, 30% of Republicans in the Senate, and 100% of Democrats in both chambers.
The RNC donor retreat is a closed-press event.