The news broke late last week that the site of the 2020 G-7 Summit would be at Trump National Doral, in Miami, Florida. Who in the administration thought this was a good idea?

Look, Doral may have been perfectly designed to host the G-7 Summit. But there’s this thing called “not handing your enemy ammunition.” By holding the G-7 at Doral, it was giving the left a field day – and the Republicans some massive heartburn.

Late Saturday, President Trump got on Twitter (because this is his preferred form of releasing information, for better or worse), and announced that the G-7 would no longer be held at Doral.

…..its own 50 to 70 unit building. Would set up better than other alternatives. I announced that I would be willing to do it at NO PROFIT or, if legally permissible, at ZERO COST to the USA. But, as usual, the Hostile Media & their Democrat Partners went CRAZY!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2019

….Therefore, based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020. We will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately. Thank you!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2019

Shorter Trump: “The media and Democrats freaked out, so no Doral for you! Too bad, it would have been awesome!”

Well, we’re learning that it wasn’t exactly just the media and the Democrats who pointed out the huge ethical conflict at play. It turns out that the GOP leadership is really, really tired of having to keep up with whatever next thing that this administration does. So when Doral was announced as the site for the G-7, that was the final straw. And for the first time in a while, Republican leaders were able to bring enough pressure to bear on the president to get him to switch gears, even though he didn’t admit it.

In the month since Democrats announced their impeachment inquiry, Republicans have struggled to offer a coherent response. With no White House war room, GOP lawmakers have seized on process-related responses.”

At the same time, they’re being asked to defend the president’s erratic approach to policymaking, including his abrupt decision to withdraw U.S. troops and abandon Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria. That announcement was roundly condemned by Republicans, including some of his staunchest defenders. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), in a rare public rebuke of Trump, wrote a withering op-ed in The Washington Post on Friday, just days after 129 House Republicans backed a resolution criticizing the president’s move.”

Trump’s decision to host next year’s G-7 meeting at his private golf club only increased the anxiety among GOP lawmakers, some of whom have grown weary of having to develop new talking points almost daily.”

Privately, and occasionally in public, several Republicans said they were not prepared to defend the president from charges that he was engaged in self-dealing on the G-7 site selection.”

Trump has been closely watching Republicans and their comments about impeachment, according to one administration official. The president was told repeatedly his G-7 decision made it more difficult to keep Senate Republicans in a unified front against impeachment proceedings, the official said. Before he changed course, Trump had waved off concerns from advisers who said hosting world leaders at his club would not play well.”

Now, the reaction from Democrats and the media was definitely loud about ethics and the Emoluments Clause – and ironic, considering their continued glossing over of Hunter Biden’s many ethical issues in order to “spare poor Joe” any questions about his conflict of interest in Ukraine. Not that Joe can remember what year this is, anyway.

A pool report from a @JoeBiden fundraiser tonight in New York includes a quote where Biden refers to the G8, but it’s been the Group of 7 nations since Russia was kicked out in’14. He criticized Trump for his now cancelled plan to host at Trump Doral. pic.twitter.com/zlMYZu3DzM

— Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) October 20, 2019

Hmmmm, if only Biden could remember as far back as 2014, when he was vice-president, right?

Trump has no problem hitting back at the media and Democrats on Twitter for their reaction about pretty much anything. But Trump hasn’t been shy about hitting at certain Republicans on Twitter, either. Why the silence on the pressure from within his own party? Simple. Trump needs to keep the Senate Republicans happy. If the House Democrats ever manage to pull themselves together and actually vote on an official impeachment inquiry, then an actual vote on impeachment is sure to follow. If that happens, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that he will hold a trial – where history would probably repeat itself. It takes two-thirds of the Senate to vote to convict, and with the Republicans currently in the majority, a conviction doesn’t look likely. What Democrats really want is to be able to split off those senators who loathe Trump – say, a Romney or a Murkowski. Break off enough splinters, you might be able to make a stick to create a wedge. President Trump cannot afford to lose support over something as easily solved as simply giving up Doral as the G-7 location. So that’s what he did.

This may be the first time that Donald Trump has changed his mind after hearing from Republican leaders, for his own good and the good of the party, without doing callouts on Twitter over it. Honestly, I think it was the smart thing to do. Trump needs to make it easy for people to support him, and choosing Doral, whatever his intentions were, was having the exact opposite effect. And it’s also good that the party leaders were able to stick together and push back on this really bad idea, without having a fight dragged out in the open. The issue was settled behind closed doors, and not in full view on Twitter – and we can all be glad for that.

Featured image: President Donald Trump, getting off Marine One on October 10, 2019 (Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour, public domain)