Magical Monday at the RNC

Convention update #4 by Sue Greenwald M.D.

Standing on a chair trying to get a shot of J.D. Vance as he is announced as the Vice Presidential candidate.

Goosebumps. The was the only possible reaction upon entering the arena at Fiserv. Walking down from above as the band plays upbeat tunes. Seeing the field of state name banners rising over the colorful seating area. Feeling the pulse of the lights. Pinching ourselves to prove we are not dreaming, we will be part of a ritual and tradition we have watched on television since we were children. For some of us that was more than a few Presidents ago.

After experiencing yesterday in person, I watched some of the replay on CSPAN. I don’t need to tell you who said what, you can watch it for yourself. The theme was “Make America Wealthy Again,” and the speeches were about economics, inflation, and jobs. I will tell you how it felt to be part of the production that is the Republican National Convention.

The Nebraska Delegation is the front row to the right of the stage. All of the chairs are packed in tight, and shimmying in or out of your row takes a group effort, similar to a Husker game.

There is no wasted space, the aisles are narrow and somewhat raised, and filled with photographers with their large cameras on their shoulders. Also some photographers taking still photos and media personalities doing their live reports.

The only small open space is between our rows and the stage. The band is above our heads. That open space became a staging area for many of the photographers. Cameras were pointed at us at every moment. Partly due to the fact that we were easy to find with a lens, but mostly due to the fact that we were the rowdy ones. We were the first to chant, coordinate the sign waving, stand on chairs, and dance in the staging area that became known as the Nebraska mosh pit. Eventually some Ohio neighbors were joining us in a conga line which has been dubbed the “Trump Train.”

There was plenty of time for shenanigans as we had long episodes of grooving to the very talented band, presumably during commercial breaks.

We had a stage manager in a green hat named Matt. Every time the speaker’s theme changed we were handed a new sign to wave. We had collections of a dozen signs by the end of the night.

The “Roll Call of the States” happened in the morning. It was fun to listen to each state’s representative bragging up their state, many of them humorously, before announcing their delegates for Trump. There is a threshold number of delegates that clinches the official nomination. Florida was chosen to be the “Over the Top” state. The room erupted when Eric Tump, his wife Lara beside him, gave an emotional speech to nominate his father.

Another highlight of the morning was the J.D Vance announcement, although for reasons that are unexplained, we had a delay of 40 minutes or more, while waiting for him to arrive in the arena. After that, the break that was supposed to be 3 hours was truncated to one hour: 4:30 to 5:30 pm. Since everyone’s most recent meal had been breakfast, and some of the arena restaurants were not open for supper yet, a burger stand did a heroes job of feeding tens of thousands of people.

The evening session was for prime time consumption, but we had been cooped up long enough by then, a little moving around was absolutely necessary. What you saw on screen was probably not the epitome of decorum from the crowd that you might have expected.

The speakers were all outstanding. I was particularly impressed with a young woman named Amber Rose, who said she used to believe the lies about Trump. When she called him a racist, her father said “prove it.” She did her own research and learned her father was right.

There was a buzz of rumors that Trump was on the way for about an hour before he arrived. It was an unscheduled visit. Some of the speakers may not have had the full attention of the crowd because of that. Lee Greenwood appeared to sing his famous song. When President Trump made his appearance, which I am sure you have seen, it was triumphant. He appeared weary with a bandaged right ear. He fought tears when the crowd chanted “fight, fight, fight,” but found his equilibrium when the chant switched to “we love Trump.” He sat with his inner circle including his family, Speaker Mike Johnson, Byron Donalds, Tucker Carlson and J.D. Vance, among others.

At the end of the evening we again found our way to buses in the rain. Food and camaraderie were to be found in the hotel lobby. We have this hotel to ourselves.

This morning I went for a swim before heading to the lobby for our morning speakers. A Congressman from North Dakota, Kelly Armstrong, stopped by to speak about how important the flyover states are because we feed and fuel the world. He said we need to be free to continue doing so. He told us an amusing story about Trump giving tours of the Lincoln bedroom during a White House Christmas party. If you can hear his version, it’s hilarious, but the punch line is that Trump thought the renovations done by a previous administration used sub-par construction methods.

Also speaking this morning were Matt and Mercedes Schlapp of CPAC fame.

They spoke about their world travels and how the problems in our country are paralleled in many others, particularly Brazil. He said Europeans have only CNN for their news of America, and many ask him if we have all gone insane.

Mercedes talked about the attack on the family from our current culture. She said families need to curate what their children are exposed to, and stay close in faith. She also talked about a foundation they started to stop human trafficking by proposing legislation as well as helping survivors.

Soon I will be back on a bus to more adventures to share with you tomorrow.