The City of Riverside announced Friday night that an “America First” rally with Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fl) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) planned for Saturday at the Riverside Convention Center “will not take place.”
This comes after a day of outrage from citizens of Riverside who found out that the rally was moving to the Riverside Convention & Visitors Bureau after the original location in Laguna Hills, California canceled when they found out who would be speaking at the event.
The city was notified by Raincross Hospitality Corp., the operators of the convention center, Friday night that the rally planned for Saturday evening, July 17, won’t take place, according to a press release.
The event has been “widely condemned by Riverside residents” ever since it was made known it was scheduled for the city, the press release said.
“Riverside is a diverse and inclusive community, so it is heartening to hear that this event will not move forward,” Mayor Pro Tem Gaby Plascencia said in a statement. “I am disappointed we even got to this point, because these speakers are the antithesis of everything Riverside stands for.”
The Republican firebrands have been traveling the country since May co-hosting America First rallies and spreading the big lie that the election was stolen from Trump.
Gaetz and Greene have faced some problems of their own. Gaetz is under federal investigation for alleged sex trafficking of a minor and prostitution and Greene lost her House committee assignments after past comments resurfaced of her encouraging political violence against top Democratic officials.
Both were also linked to plans to create the ‘America First Caucus’ which calls for a “common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions” and pushes a series of conspiracy theories about election integrity. The caucus also pushed a nativist argument warning that “mass immigration” poses a threat to “the long-term existential future of America as a unique country with a unique culture and a unique identity.”
