Sweet Home resident Angelita Sanchez, after returning home from the Republican National Convention as an official at-large delegate, shares her experience at the historical event.
On Friday, I landed in Chicago. I have never experienced that city before, so I had to see what it was about. Honestly, it’s gorgeous and architecturally, I was in awe.
I headed out from the airport during the early morning rush hour traffic. I wanted to get down to the 1927 Buckingham fountain. It’s one of the largest in the world and it’s just majestic. I circled and circled trying to find a parking spot and ran across even more historical places. Every street had something beautiful and something brick. I ended up driving past the 1911 Chicago City Hall and was mesmerized. It had amazing colossal granite columns and I wish I had more time.
The Great Lake Michigan, on the border of the city, is like an ocean. People were on the sandy beach smiling, swimming, boating, jogging. Everyone was smiling. No homeless, no trash, impeccable and pristine. There are canals that you can boat around and take tours. There is just too much to see, my senses were overloaded.
I purposely found the long way around on the back roads through Illinois to Wisconsin, and arrived at my landing place for the night in Mayville, Wisc. What a quaint little historic place that started as a booming sawmill town and turned into the historical founding roots of John Deere tractors. Such rich history. There are fields of corn, grass and dairy cows everywhere. Heck, even Mayberry Farms is just down the road. Mayberry, of all places. So much more to explore.
Saturday I put 450 miles of back-roads traveling on, just to see where the Wisconsin journey would take me.
I was headed to the Little White Schoolhouse, the original birthplace of the Republican Party. It had been packed all day and I managed to get an hour there to myself. The tour guide had her doctorate in civil war history. I asked her what intrigued her to go that far with it. She stated she wrote her 300 page dissertation on the effects of the Civil War to the First Nations and indigenous people. She said that is something that is never discussed and she wanted to know.
She gave a great presentation. What impressed me most was the fact that people of diverse political parties and ideologies came together. Free-Soil, Whigs, Democrats all came together. They busted out a former slave, who was now a free man, from a jail cell in Chicago. They took a battering ram to the place and freed him again. Even in Free States, they would have to participate in capturing the slaves and returning them back to their owners, else suffer the federal consequences. Free wasn’t actually free.
Around 50 men joined in this little schoolhouse to discuss forming a new political party, including the mayor of Ripon. A legitimate local grassroots effort formed the Republican party. They could not fathom slavery was encroaching all around and were worried it would take over the entire nation at that time. They ended up running their first presidential candidate only two years later. He lost, but right after that, President Abraham Lincoln won. Immediately the south seceded and the Civil War transpired shortly after. All because of a newly formed Republican Party and president set against slavery.
While I was traveling to and from the schoolhouse, I stumbled upon a pioneer cemetery, and this tombstone intrigued me: Young man, died at 22, only known as a son. And he had a star next to him, a star that marks a veteran of the Civil War, Union Soldiers. GAR, Grand Army of the Republic. The first organized and fierce political lobbyist group in America. They supported voting rights for black veterans, promoted patriotic education, made Memorial Day a national holiday, lobbied Congress to establish regular veterans pensions, and supported Republican political candidates, getting five presidents elected. It was what war was worth dying for.
The Horicon Marsh was on the way too, and all the county back roads that took me to and fro were actually Native American trails nearly 1,300 years old. And in Horicon, John Deere lives. And proud American Farmers throughout the land. And cheese, oh the cheese. I think I’m an official cheesehead now.
Stopped in at Schultz’s Cheese Haus and went a little crazy. Hundreds of local Wisconsin cheese. I had some samples and brought some home. Can you believe they even make a FUDGE cheese??? Me neither, but I bought some of that too.
And a trip to Wisconsin wouldn’t be complete without making it all the way out to Al Capone’s hideaway. I drove to the northern border of Wisconsin to Bootleggers Lodge, in Tomahawk, Wisc. The hospitality was like none other. The presentation was gorgeous and the ambiance was something to die for, probably literally. I think I might have also driven through a tornado waiting to happen.
As I was driving, a call came in that shook me to the core. One that shook the world to its core. At that moment I learned that President Trump was shot. An assassination attempt happened. I started crying in the car. I was sad and scared. I needed to pull over to compose myself, but it was a terrible storm. I wasn’t sure if he was dead or hurt, if the convention was still on. I called my parents and we cried and prayed.
Sunday, as I made my way down to Lake Geneva where the delegation was staying so we could get ready for Monday’s opening day at the convention, I was trying to look for Sunday papers all day long. Under the circumstances, it was a bit tricky. I drove around Wisconsin and Illinois and managed to find four, two from the Chicago area, one from Lake County and one from Milwaukee. The lady at Piggly Wiggly knew I was buying souvenirs, but cautioned me to not go to Milwaukee this week. I told her that’s why I’m here, and she laughed.
I cannot hardly believe that the Milwaukee Sentinel made a conscious decision to NOT write about the assassination attempt on President Trump. They did however remember to include their two full page color ads against him and us. Surprisingly enough, The Oregonian wrote that it was an assassination attempt.
Monday, we conventioned until we dropped. Literally my legs are like noodles. The GOO bus took us into the security perimeter, we stood in line, got scanned and checked. We laughed, we politicked, we made predictions, albeit we were all on edge. They actually arrested a man in a mask today who had an AK47 hidden and lots of ammunition just outside of the security perimeter. Thankfully we were more safe in the zone than probably anywhere in the world. The place was locked down and surrounded with so many officers of all sorts. On this day, all of the political nerds were like little kids in a candy store, just buzzing on adrenaline.
As an at-large delegate, I was able to be on the floor. Oregon gave all of our Republican delegate votes to Trump. As a matter of fact, he just about unanimously took the nomination. For whatever reason, a handful of delegate votes went somewhere else, per that state’s rules. But no matter what, it was a resounding and overwhelmingly choice for Trump. No shenanigans or brokered convention, just Trump.
The announcement for JD Vance as vice president was shocking. I never would have considered him an option. He was a never-Trumper turned Trump VP pick. He was a kid who came from nothing, a child of a drug addicted mom who made something of his life. Things can change in an instant. We scurried down the red carpet to see him enter the arena and the media was in a frenzy. Delegates and media were brawling for who got to see him first. Kinda like a mosh pit with folks who don’t like each other. It was intense.
I stood next to a former chair of the Republican Party and helped him with his zoom call. Apparently he is also the chair of a government security committee and was giving an interview to the media about the attempted assassination. There are many questions, and he has them, but this week was not the time to deal with that. The next week would be. He wanted to know how and why, among other things.
I got to meet quite a few prominent elected officials. I also had interviews today with quite a few media outfits, including Newsmax, Democracy Now and Washington Post. Plus, when I found the Hebrew sign, everyone wanted a picture. I just about cried when I found the sign. Our entire delegation was so happy for me, they could see the pride and joy in my heart, showing big, big time. Democracy Now asked me why I would choose Trump over Biden when it comes to Israel and Gaza.
“Well, this would have never happened with Trump. And you can see with your own eyes the death and destruction that’s happening under Biden.”
That’s why. Baruch Hashem. Many prayers to him for the hostages and State of Israel. So much support. It was fantastic.
The Trump campaign was marketing their brand to different audiences: Unions and Laborers, Blacks and Latinos, Millennials and Gen Z, lots of influencers and folks that formerly voted for Biden, walk away Democrats. Trump was being promoted by all. Oh, and Mitch McConnell got booed right on out of there…awkward.
And when Trump walked in, as Lee Greenwood was singing, he was a visibly different man. His demeanor was softer, more humble. The crowd cheered and cried and chanted. And for me, to be a part of this process, one that our founding fathers prescribed, was a moment of a lifetime.
Tuesday was all about safety. Many people spoke about being victims of district attorneys that let criminals go free, or that have been wrongfully convicted, lots of two tier justice system talk.
What moved me the most was the fact that many speakers wanted to advocate for Israel. I loved hearing from Elise Stefanik. She spoke about Jewish college students that aren’t safe and how Hamas is out of control with Biden in office. I was so encouraged to hear all the support for Israel. Talks about not being afraid to wear the kippah or the star. And I’ll be honest, I wore my Star of David necklace without fear. It was an amazing feeling last night being in a house without fear. I went to an event in Portland a few months ago with a pro-Palestine protest outside, and I was afraid. I even got a Trump kippah for my dad.
I also sat on the bus home with a gal from the Bronx last night. She talked the entire time, for more than one hour, and told me all about the Trump she knows. She’s been with him for 30 or more years. He’s a public figure in NYC way before politics. Mean tweets are the culture of New York, nothing wrong with it; it’s from a strong man who will keep us safe. It’s back and forth banter about, we aren’t taking no shit, and we need a leader of the free world who feels the same. She said the Bronx showed up for Trump 25,000 strong and when NYC breaks, like they did when the illegal immigrants were being bussed in during broad daylight with their demands, it will go all the way red. It’s very close…NYC is very angry at Democrats, and the Jews are following suit.
The next morning we were scheduled to have a private breakfast meeting with Vivik Ramaswamy and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I couldn’t wait…sleep is overrated.
Heartache, healing and hope was the theme for Wednesday and Thursday. It’s taken me a few days to process them because it’s been so emotional. The recurring theme to me is heartbreaking: Feckless failing leadership resulting in the loss of lives and livelihoods.
On Thursday we heard the gold star families story of grief and suffering over the loss of their loved ones in Afghanistan. They said all of their names with tears rolling down and lips quivering. And we heard from the mom and dad of a Hamas hostage named Omer. We chanted “bring them home” so many times. It was sobering, yet powerful. The entire convention has been about failed policies resulting in tragedy, extreme ideology putting people in harm’s way, and the fake news media that has been complicit. President Trump even said “deface the nation ran a story the other day” and the crowd ate it up. The mainstream media has been a strong arm of the government, not the lifeline of truth to the people and it all keeps coming to light.
JD Vance accepted his nomination as the VP and gave a great speech. When the crowd chanted “JD’s mom” after he spoke about her sobriety of 10 years and going to the White House to celebrate, it was a very touching moment.
Thursday was the finale, what we have all been waiting for. Trump was finally going to speak, but not before an epic lineup from Tucker Carlson to Dana White, and none other than Kid Rock and Hulk Hogan – childhood favorite of mine. As a kid, I was a WWF fanatic. When I saw him, I literally chased him down in my Trump heels and just barely caught up to him as he was walking into the press box. Dratz, missed him. He did make all of the crowd go wild.
I met a local Wisconsin reporter who was supporting Trump. I wish I got her name. She and I chatted it up quite a bit. When Trump made his entrance and started talking about the assassination attempt, she grabbed my hand and said she was happy I was there with her. We held hands for nearly an eternity as we all hung onto every word the president was saying.
He said he will tell us what happened, but he will never speak of it again, it’s too painful. He said he shouldn’t be here, and the entire arena chanted “YES YOU ARE!” That was the most surreal moment to me, hanging out in another dimension and then, then the shofar blew. The literal shofar blew! In the crowd. Someone brought a shofar and they sounded the trumpet. I am getting goosebumps just thinking of it. Baruch Hashem, it was so incredibly powerful.
Toward the end of Friday night, the room was buzzing about the rumors of President Biden dropping out and who would be the candidate. I actually had The NY Times, NPR and some Polish broadcast ask me about my thoughts.
This convention week is probably the most unprecedented of all time. An assassination attempt and a potential sitting president not running again for a second term. You never know what’s going to happen; I’m just thankful I was chosen to go on the ride.
Not only that, but the entire experience felt spiritual, a Republican revival. All four days, we showed up in our Sunday best and met some of the most influential personalities. I talked with many of them about our way of life. The epic balloon drop while hanging out with our Oregon delegation and having so much hope for the future. Even my shoes made it into The LA Times!!!! Living and breathing, walking right into history. That was my most favorite part. It’s what making America Great Again looks like.