I’m here as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – a Great City on a Great Lake, and I’m going to share life with you as a delegate. I brought along my service dog Lambeau (it’s amazing how many people don’t know how to spell that! haha.) With over 16,000 reporters at Fiserv Forum, Lambeau has been ‘interviewed’ (photographed) I would say more than 250 times in his first day. He’s stolen the show – not on purpose, but because the Wisconsin delegation, being the host state, is seated right up front – and Lambeau lies down right alongside the aisle with thousands of reporters walking by every minute. (Reporters and photographers are allowed to roam the floor, so like a swarm of honey bees, they’re everywhere, clogging up the aisles, blocking our view, etc. but they are also all good-natured, friendly, courteous, and doing their jobs well.)
But let’s backtrack a little. We arrived in Milwaukee by pickup truck on Sunday around noon, deliberately trying to arrive earlier than the other 50,000 or so people – including delegates, alternative delegates, guests, RNC staff, and reporters. The line at the west entrance to the downtown was a mile long, so we drove around to the east entrance, and lucky for us, we drove right into the security zone because it wasn’t secure yet. In fact, law enforcement was just setting up. So, fortunately, we were able to park on a ramp next to the hotel.
Check-in was a breeze. The Republican Party of Wisconsin had been working with the family that owns the hotel for months to complete a renovation in time for the convention and they pulled it off nicely. Each of the 50 states was assigned a hotel to stay in, so all the Wisconsin people were together in one hotel, which made life a lot easier. Fortunately again, since we are the host state, we got a hotel within walking distance of the Fiserv and other places like the really cool 3rd Street Market venue.
Initially, the plan was to take buses everywhere, but with the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday evening, the shuttle buses are no longer allowed inside the security zone. The security zone covers about a 9-block zone around the Fiserv and the hotels. When we went to the SummerFest grounds, we had to walk four blocks to the buses – which were out of the zone. We walk through what we jokingly call the DMZ (De-militarized zone), across the river, and through checkpoint Charlie (where the police screen and inspect everyone, and the concrete barriers prevent any vehicles from getting into the zone). It reminds me of East Berlin when I visited just six months after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Then we were able to board the buses and ride to the SummerFest grounds, where, surprise, there 50 more buses and thousands in line.
But honestly, the security screening there went pretty quickly. It was the high humidity levels that have been the real issue during these walks and standing around outside. Global warming, err, ahh, I mean, climate change must be to blame! The SummerFest grounds were awesome, however, with the entire place restricted to conventioneers – no general public. Trace Adkins sang.
Then we had our own unifying dinner for the delegation from the Republican Party of Dane County, just to set the tone, and get everyone on our team together before the convention launched. I do feel kind of bad for the retailers and restaurants inside the DMZ because it’s literally a dead zone; lifeless, with most stores closed. And I don’t blame them. Except for Sunday night, the conventioneers are eating in ConventionFest, which is a row of vendors and food operators located outside Fiserv, in the stifling heat, because there is so little time to get food.
As the state party chair said, the convention is really one long reality TV show – for 4 days straight! And we’re just the extras. (Wait, it’s not about me?) So we are beholden to prime time… When Trump made a surprise visit to the convention on Monday night, surprise!, it was at 10:00 pm ET, prime news time. JD Vance also made a surprise visit late in the afternoon or was it earlier in the evening? It’s all running together there are so many speakers. And the speakers are good – and they’re not all celebrities – many are regular citizens like the single mom who described how she lost her husband to Joe Biden’s lax stance on drugs.
One monumental speaker was the head of the Teamsters union. If Republicans can get the head of the teamsters to show up, wow, that’s a sea change. The teamsters are finally recognizing that the Democrats are not their friends. Republicans want good-paying jobs in the U.S. while Democrats ship jobs overseas with NAFTA and their green policies.
Each morning we start the day with the Wisconsin delegation gathered together for breakfast in the hotel, listening to some pretty awesome speakers. Tommy Thompson blew it out of the water this morning with a rousing speech, and we had Newt Gingrich speak yesterday. (He’s son-in-law is from Sheboygan.) Along with Scott Walker, Bryan Steil, Ben Carson, and a lot more. A great way to kick off each day.
Likewise, each day we have to pick up our credentials that allow us to get into the venues and the convention, even into the hotel. Security is tight, with over 3,000 officers, but I also see gaps – where a clever criminal could get around the security measures.
All in all, pretty exciting. There’s definitely an air of a ‘win’ coming, if voters turn out for Trump. The excitement and enthusiasm are clear; the shooting of Trump really united the party and has caused everyone to redouble their effort. Everyone here knows how serious this is.
Lastly, I want to say one last thing. This is probably the most diverse group of conservative voters ever. There are all kinds of different kinds of people here; every color and stripe. The base has broadened and that is reflected in the large numbers of people that have never been to a Republican convention before. It’s not our diversity that makes us stronger; it’s that a diverse group of people have come (lawfully) to America, like my Irish ancestors, and then they became Americans, they adopted the American culture and way of life, beliefs, and morals. It’s the unification of all those different kinds of people into one American people that makes America strong!
More tomorrow, I have to run now. Lambeau has an interview with CBS at 1:45 p.m. today, and as his handler (wait, who works for who here?)… yesterday it was a Gannett reporter (which put Lambeau in USA Today, today, and Fox News that had him live on Fox last night…) Exhausting…
More on the Assassination Attempt
First, I’m not the only one thinking these things. Others who talk to me are also, and while all the news media was making excuses for the Secret Service, Wisconsin Right Now and I were the first to call out the flaws and security breaches on the part of the Secret Service within minutes of the attempted assassination of presidential candidate Donald Trump. Now there is more information coming out, but the media is still missing the mark.
Now we learn that the agents on the ground were delayed. If a presidential candidate’s life is at obvious risk from a man on a roof – who has a rifle – then those agents should have standing orders to shoot to kill.
It is well known that liberal presidents always want to micromanage our forces in the field. They want every decision filtered through their political lens. They want to decide, but they don’t want to take responsibility or be held accountable.
Example, this morning the news was reporting that the Secret Service was saying that local law enforcement was in charge of the building where the shooter was positioned. Being here at the convention, I can tell you that the Secret Service has total control, they call the shots, they decide every detail. And if the SS left that building in Butler out of the zone, that’s a message to local law enforcement that the SS considers that building unimportant.
Second, I and others are pissed at the behavior of some of the agents on the ground. No offense, I’m a big fan of law enforcement, but these omissions are obvious. First, assigning agents that are too short to cover the height of their protected candidate is stupid. It’s not about women, it’s about having agents who should be the same height or taller than the candidate in his immediate zone. (Shorter agents can use their brains elsewhere in the operation to add value.)
Second, while there were agents who ran up on stage to shield the president, I watched the video over and over and saw agents who did not run up the steps, but stayed down below or ducked their head for cover – instead of doing their job and standing up tall, on stage, arms in the air, to shield the president from another shot. (Multiple shots were fired.) Then there was the agent who left Trump’s entire torso exposed for another shot as they were about to walk him off, and then there was the issue of how they remained on stage for a long time before moving Trump off. They should have immediately moved off stage with one second. It should be practiced and instinctive. Arrrg, so frustrating.
Then there was the frustration of people in the audience seeing the shooter, yelling at police, and the shooter still being able to act!! Where are our heroes today?
But don’t blame the police or on-the-ground agents. This is a failure of management and a lack of training and conditioning. Repetition can solve the problem. But hey, the head of the secret service literally used to guard bags of Fritos, or was it cans of Pepsi, I can’t confirm which but it was one or the other…so much for having the right people in charge of the Secret Service. Clearly, they don’t.
Wisconsin Right Now is a news organization focused on covering the news from a conservative point of view, in particular on politics and policy issues through analysis and opinions, and is protected by the first amendment of the United States constitution. WRN and the columnist does not make endorsements of candidates or urge a vote for or against any candidate or issue. On October 18 and November 23, 2023 Donald Trump tweeted out on Trump’s Truth Social account T. Wall’s October 6th column on Trump’s property valuations. T. Wall holds a degree from the UW in economics and an M.S. in real estate analysis and valuation and is a real estate developer. Disclaimer: The opinions of the writer are not necessarily those of this publication or the left!
