The following is Ryan Brahm’s experience at the Trump rally in Green Bay on April 2nd, told from his point of view.
I will preface my story by saying I am not an overly political person. I am not a republican. I am not a democrat. I am just a guy that got incredibly lucky to have an experience of a lifetime.
If I could use one word to describe my experience at the Donald Trump Rally, it would be chaotic, both in a good way and a bad way.
The chaos began before I even got to the KI Convention Center, as I was granted “Special Guest” status by the Trump Campaign. I had the honor of interviewing the former president the day before, an opportunity I never thought I would get from either party. I was told that there would be special parking for those with the “Special Guest” signs in their vehicle, however, when I spoke with the Green Bay Police Officer who was guarding the street I was supposed to go down, he told me the lot I was referencing was a private lot owned by a bank, and that it could not be used for this event. He was kind enough to direct me to a nearby parking garage.
I turned the corner to go down the road to the garage, which is across the street from the convention center, and I was floored by the number of people standing outside. It had been raining for a few hours, and it was starting to turn to snow, and the sidewalk outside of the main entrance was packed. The sidewalk on the other side of the road was packed. There were at least 200 people standing in the rain and snow, waiting to get inside. This was at around 1:10 p.m. The doors weren’t scheduled to open until 2:00.
Parking was not an issue in the garage, but by the time I made my way to street level, they were cutting off cars as the garage was completely full. I called my contact, Margo Martin, on the Trump campaign team, to figure out where I was supposed to go. This is where my personal chaos begins.
Margo, who was in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was juggling the two rallies. She connected me with someone who told me to go to the entrance on Monroe Street. It just so happens that there is a Monroe Street two blocks away from the KI Convention Center, so I began walking in that direction through the wind, rain, and snow. Just as I was getting close to where I thought I was supposed to be, I got a message from Margo.
“Wait, Ryan, are you in Green Bay?”
I tell her I am, and shortly after, I get a call from the man running the Green Bay Rally, Andrew Nixon. By this time, I had made my way into the main entrance of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, which is connected to the KI. Andrew, whom I am assuming was crazy swamped with things to do, told me to go to one door. They did not have me on the list. He directed me to another door. I went to the wrong one. He finally told me to look for a sign saying press entrance, and I went in. My name, again, was not on the list, but he had messaged the volunteers at the desk, and I was given a press pass and made my way through security.
As one may expect, security was tight. Much like a TSA checkpoint, we were instructed to empty our pockets and walk through a metal detector. I was let through, and finally, at 1:50 p.m., 40 minutes after entering the parking garage, I was in the hall where the rally was being held.
Being in the hall before the crowd was a surreal experience. I felt very out of place. There were dozens of camera crews from local, state, and national TV stations there to cover the event, political experts, and people who were helping set everything up. I wandered around looking for Andrew, and when I finally did, he told me to hang out for a while. I walked around the nearly empty hall, snapped a few pictures, and sat down to wait for the floodgates to open.
Ten minutes later, the doors were opened.
Old. Young. Men. Women. Black. White. Asian. Hispanic. Some in American flag attire, others in pro-Trump gear. Some had full sleeve tattoos and piercings, others, a more clean look. One man even had on a suit that was designed to look like a wall. To say it was a wide array of people would be an understatement.
Volunteers handed out signs that read things like “Trump 2024” and “Fire Biden”. Congressman Glenn Grothman was perusing through the crowd doing the whole “shaking hands and kissing babies” thing as the hall began to fill. Reporters began interviewing people for “man on the street” segments as I was grabbed by Andrew and brought to my seat.
I was seated four rows back on the left side of the stage as we looked at it. It was, again, surreal to see my name on a seat in the same area where Senator Ron Johnson, Congressmen Glen Grothman and Tom Tiffany, and other important people would be sitting. I did not recognize many around me, but that could likely be due to the fact that I don’t really follow politics all that much.
The name next to me was Dan O’Donnell. I decided to look him up because I had no idea who he was. It turns out that Dan is the host of a conservative talk show on WISN radio in Milwaukee. I introduced myself to Dan, and we started talking about life in radio, the Elijah Vue case, and the honor it was to interview a former president. He actually interviewed Trump right before I did on Monday. We both thought Rachel Reisner, our contact with the Republican Party of Wisconsin, was playing an April Fools joke on us.
Andrew told me to hang around that area and that when it was time, we would be brought backstage for the meet and greet. So, I people watched. The hall continued to fill up with people, including a family that was also sitting next to me who had two other family members on the stage.
As I waited, Brian Schimming, the Chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, took the stage to welcome the crowd. He was followed by Kasey Kerry, the Lead Pastor at Cross Point Church, who led the invocation, and Rich Kirksdorf, a veteran and political leader in Shawano County led the Pledge of Allegiance. Jenny Thiel sang the National Anthem.
Then, Mike Lindell, the My Pillow guy, spoke. He was followed by Congressmen Tom Tiffany, and Glenn Grothman, and Eric Hovde, who is running against Tammy Baldwin for a Senate seat. All of the speakers used the same Republican rhetoric we have heard a thousand times. Drain the swamp. Secure the border. Anti-trans. Etc. Those in attendance loved it, erupting in cheers and boos as appropriate.
After they all finished speaking, a group of around 30 people were brought backstage to line up for the photo op. This is where I went into a sort of out-of-body experience. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of people in this hall, and I was one of a very small percentage of people who were going to meet the former president. I just couldn’t wrap my head around how lucky I was to have this experience.
Now, before anyone claims bias, I would have had the same reaction if I was going to meet any former president. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barrack Obama, anyone that has sat at a desk that only 45 other people have occupied. I am a firm believer of the idea that someone can disagree with the ideals of an individual, but if they have been elected president, they deserve 100% of your respect. Respect the office, question the individual.
The day kind of hit a wall at this point. We were organized in a specific order, of which I was near the end, and then we waited. The snow had gotten worse, and Trump was on his way from Michigan, so he was running a little behind. We waited backstage for over half an hour before the photo ops began. In that time, I continued to speak with Dan O’Donnell, who introduced me to Eric Hovde and Tom Tiffany, whom he had interviewed previously, and I reintroduced myself to Brian Schminning, whom I had first met when Senator Ron Johnson was campaigning in Manitowoc. Senator Ron Johnson also took the stage to rile up the crowd.
Then finally, the line began to move. At this point, I felt myself become rather nervous. I had never met anyone with anywhere near this level of celebrity or power. The closest experience I can recall was interviewing Charlie Berens as he was first growing his Manitowoc Minute series, and that was over the phone.
The line slowly moved forward as the political leaders went in first. As I got close to the entrance to the tarped-off area, I was instructed to empty my pockets of everything but my phone and to make sure the camera was open to speed up the process. Dan and his wife were in front of me, and as they had their photo taken, I was moved into the on-deck circle.
That was the first time I ever saw a former president in person.
He has an aura of confidence around him that I have never experienced. As he finished his photos with Dan, my heart began to pound. I was about to shake former president Donald Trump’s hand.
The handlers introduced me, reminding him of the interview we had the day before. He looked me in the eye and said, “Hello, Ryan. Nice to see you again. Wow, they really have a lot of talent around here,” which garnered a few chuckles.
He then lied straight to my face.
“It was such a great interview. They are using it all over the place.”
While I would usually be honored to hear that, I know that is not how this works. He did not say anything in my interview that he hadn’t already said to dozens of reporters before me, both on TV and on the radio. Plus, he reiterated a lot of it in his speech later on. At that moment, I chuckled and didn’t really think about the statement. I turned around, gave a thumbs-up to the camera, and posed for a picture.
In total, I spent about 10 seconds with Trump. I was quickly escorted back out, grabbed my things, and had a few moments to reflect before going to my seat.
I will not be going into detail about what he said in his speech, as hundreds of news outlets, including Seehafer News, have covered that. Instead, I will talk about what it was like to be in the crowd.
When he was introduced and “God Bless the USA” began to play, the roar of the crowd was deafening. The packed convention center chanted “USA” as the music ended and cheered again anytime he said anything negative about President Joe Biden or about what he wanted to do if reelected.
There were two incidents that ended with people being ejected. A man who was a few rows behind me somehow got a sign in that promoted the Green New Deal. He stood up a few minutes into Trump’s speech and began yelling. I couldn’t really make out what exactly he was saying, as the speaker was a few feet away from me, but I saw a security member point directly at him, and two other men grabbed him and sent him outside. I am not sure if he was arrested or just ejected.
Another individual also began causing a commotion, but he was way in the back, and I couldn’t hear what he was saying.
When the speech was over and Trump left, so did the crowd.
I ended up sitting in my car for about half an hour to let the traffic disperse a little bit, and to call back to the radio station to give a couple of quick reports for our election night coverage, but when I decided to back out and leave, a kind driver quickly let me in, and I was on my way.
Overall, my experience had highs and lows. The obvious high was meeting Donald Trump and being a part of the “Special Guest” portion of the crowd, but the stress involved with actually getting in and the confusion about parking and where I was supposed to be dampened the experience just a little bit.
Also, with me not being big into politics, the speech itself was exactly like every clip I had ever seen online or on news stations. If you are into what he is saying, you likely are having a blast. If not, you are miserable.
All that being said, I wouldn’t give up the experience for anything.
