On December 13th, 2016, I got the privilege to attend President-elect, Donald Trump's Thank You Tour in West Allis, Wisconsin. Throughout this article I will be describing my experience that I had throughout the entire course of the day. I know this article is long, so if you read anything please read the last paragraph.
At 7:00 am I woke up to start getting ready for the day, and this day in particular I was extremely excited because I knew I was about 12 hours away from seeing a future President of the United States. I got ready for the day and left my house about an hour later to go to classes.
I attended my classes as normal and even got out a little early. At about 11:45 am I started making my way to my car to start driving towards West Allis where I would sit in a local coffee shop to do some homework while I waited for the doors to open to the venue.
At about 12:30, I was finally down in West Allis and I needed to grab some lunch. There was a McDonald's right across the street so I figured I would just grab that (unhealthy... I know... but I was starving!) After I grabbed some food and ate it, I noticed that the line was getting kind of long so I decided to head on over and grab my spot in line.
By 1:00 pm I was in line outside waiting to go inside of the venue where Donald Trump would be speaking. It was a balmy 10 degrees. All of the news stations from Wisconsin and even the Chicago area were outside going through the lines doing interviews. I myself, was never interviewed, however the people in front of me gathered quite a bit of media attention due to wearing a fur coat. Everyone in line was super nice and had no problem with a person getting their spot back if they needed to go use the bathroom or leave for some other reason. The atmosphere was very welcoming and everyone was laughing and in good spirits despite the frigid air.
Towards the end of the wait time outside everyone was getting antsy and you could tell that everyone was cold.
At 4:00 pm they started letting people into the building. When I walked in I had to take everything out of my pockets and go through a metal detector while my purse got searched by security. Once I got through security I walked towards the other side of the building where the stage was. Before I got to the stage there were many people handing out signs that read "Women For Trump" and "Make America Great Again" and his campaign signs as well. After grabbing one, I made my way to the stage where I found myself front row behind the VIP section. I again found myself surrounded by many friendly people who held spots while others went to the restroom, grabbed food or got some merchandise. Since I was up against a guard rail I offered to hold others' jackets on it. While standing and waiting, Wisconsin's Attorney General, Brad Schimel was walking around saying hello to people from the VIP section. I got the privilege of shaking his hand and talking to him about future politics. In front of me in the VIP section was retired veteran and former Wisconsin Senator, David Zien. He was a really nice guy who shook hands with many people and was all about telling stories. Zien got interrupted during one of his stories because some speakers started to come out.
At about 6:00 pm, Wisconsin Senator Scott Fitzgerald took the stage and led the crowd in a non denominational prayer. After the prayer the Wisconsin RNC chairman, Brad Courtney, led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance where afterwards the crowd erupted in the ever-popular "USA" chant. After that the National Anthem was sang, the crowd once again participated in the "USA" chant.
After the National Anthem the announcer introduced "America's sheriff" David Clark who spoke about a variety of different topics, along with Sean Duffy and Ron Johnson. Johnson spoke about how "we" defeated all odds to win twice in Wisconsin.
That selection of people were all done speaking by about 6:30 pm and there was a slight break. During that break a guy in a wheel chair was brought up next to me. He mentioned how he didn't vote for Trump but he came because he wanted to support the next President. Also an Army veteran stood next to me that mentioned she didn't vote but wanted to come and support the next President. I also met a group of people who drove 13 hours from Nebraska and waited outside since 1:00 am to be front row and see Donald Trump.
Shortly before the next set of people were about to speak, the crowd started chanting "CNN Sucks" because they saw someone from CNN talking and reporting something from the rally.
At about 7:00 pm Reince Priebus, who is Trump's choice for Chief of Staff, and a Wisconsin native, took the stand. The first thing he stated was "How does it feel to win... twice?" and the crowd went wild with cheers. Priebus went on to talk about how the Administration is going to get right to work on a secure border. After that statement the crowd began to chant "Build the Wall." Priebus then went on to introduce Governor Scott Walker.
Walker noticed the vets that were standing in front of me so he instantly thanked all of them. He also mentioned how in Wisconsin the common sense conservative bills work and that Washington needs common sense. Walker also joked about how he is asked about what is in the water in Wisconsin with all these successful politicians such as Johnson, Priebus, Ryan and Walker. He said that he always tells them its not water... it's beer. Walker also mentioned that in Wisconsin the vote from 18-24-year-olds went to Trump and Pence. Once Walker was done speaking he introduced the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan.
As Paul Ryan was walking up to the stand he was greeted by a mixture of boos and cheers. Ryan stated "the last 8 years have not been fun in Washington." Speaker Paul Ryan was not on the stage long and after his statements he introduced Vice President-Elect Mike Pence.
The crowd greeted him with the USA chant. Pence greeted the crowd with a huge "Hello Wisconsin!" At this point I was in complete awe by just the whole experience. Pence mentioned that we need to hunt down and destroy ISIS and repeal Obamacare. He mentioned that "we will build a wall" and the crowd chanted "Build a Wall." Pence also stated that we need a government as good as our people which means we need to drain the swamp. The whole time he spoke about we as a group, never of himself as an individual. He then introduced the main event, President-Elect, Donald Trump.
As Donald Trump walked up to the state, "Proud to be an American" played through the speakers and the crowd chanted "USA." The feeling that took over that room was pure happiness. The entire crowd you could just tell were proud to be American and hopeful for our future as a country. Donald Trump greeted everyone with a big "Merry Christmas." He wants to make sure that we say Merry Christmas again. Trump then went on to mention how millions of dollars were wasted and the recount results were in. He jokingly mentioned how the Green Party got less than 1% but she somehow "thought she was going to catch us." Trump mentioned how we won by 131 more votes than the first time. He mentioned that it was worth it. Donald Trump also mentioned how it was the first time since 1984 that a Republican has won Wisconsin in a Presidential Election.
Trump then went on to say, "I will never forget you and I will never stop fighting for you."
He mentioned how competing against Governor Walker for the Republican nomination was tough, and how he has come to appreciate Paul Ryan. Trump said "Work on the wall Paul." (I personally found little comments like this to be funny and make Trump more personable.)
On the other side of the crowd a woman must have fainted or got sick or something, but Donald Trump stopped his speech and asked for a doctor to come help this woman. He mentioned how we love this woman and we love everybody. He said that he has seen this woman before and that she is a wonderful woman. He made sure this woman was okay before he continued. For me that was a a great showcase of his character.
Trump also touched base on the law enforcement, thanked veterans, talked about winning and putting together his cabinet. He formally announced his plan to have Rex Tillerson as the Secretary of State. Donald Trump said we need to not be taken advantage of by other countries and defeat radical islamic terrorism. He wants to take care of our vets. Trump touched on us being a strong and rich nation.
Donald Trump drove the point home on how he wants to create jobs, fix our infrastructure, take Americans off of welfare and how we will go back to buying American and hiring American. Trump stated "From now on it's going to be America first."
Donald Trump mentioned how with all of the polls and media he assumed he lost the presidential race and that he was okay with it. He then went on to go over the last month before the general election. He mentioned that he was doing on average three rallies a day and no interviews because the interviewers would cut and edit it to the way they wanted and that they were dishonest people. Trump spoke about how he liked the rally setting because it was high energy. He said that he had no days off and no Sundays off but he would go to church when he could.
Donald Trump mentioned how his wife, Melania, has been so supportive and would tell him that he wouldn't lose.
Trump mentioned how on the night of the election he remembers seeing the polls close and thought it was going to be an embarrassing loss so he didn't want a big ballroom if he was going to lose.
He spoke about how we all worked together and that what we did was a movement. He then talked about his reaction as he started seeing the numbers come in and how he was in shock over all the states he was winning. He mentioned how at one point watching the results come in got boring and it wasn't even a contest. He talked about winning Wisconsin and how he wanted to thank us.
He ended his speech by saying that they (meaning him and his team) are going to make us proud of this country. He stated "We are going to make America strong again. We're going to make America powerful again. We're going to make America rich again, wealthy again. We are going to make America great again."
He then concluded with saying God bless, Merry Christmas and thank you.
Instantly the speakers played, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" as Paul Ryan and Scott Walker handed Donald Trump and Mike Pence some Packer jerseys.
As Trump exited the stage, he shook hands with the retired veterans in front of me and signed some autographs. At this point I was getting trampled but I was only about three feet away from the future President of the United States.
From this experience I have learned a lot about Donald Trump as a person. I know a lot of people do not agree with his policies or some of the things he stands for. But I ask that people please respect him as a person and human being. Respect the office that he is holding. If there is one thing that I have learned, it is that Donald Trump is fearless. Throughout his whole campaign he never once showed doubt or fear. I am hoping that he does this country good. You do not have to agree with him, but instead of throwing fits, protesting and saying he isn't your President, why don't you keep an open mind and stop worrying about stuff that hasn't even happened yet. He has not taken office yet but when he does we need to be supportive of him. Trying to ruin him getting in office is just going to ruin our country coming together and ruin making America great again. We have to give him a chance. And guess what... if you don't like it we get to try again in four years.
