By Sherry Zuege
Mother-In-Law calls him “Comb-over”, Ivana called him “The Donald”, and I call him my first opportunity to see a presidential candidate in person. Donald Trump was in the Fort Howard room at the Weidner Center on the UW Green Bay campus recently for a town hall meeting that aired that same night on MSNBC.
The event was invitation only. I heard through the grapevine that faculty and staff were invited and some were able to share tickets with a few students. I think the students who were asked to attend were the over-achievers that typically excel. I begged to go and I promised I would write a story about it afterward. Ta Da.
In order to attend, my name was given to the powers that be and then I got an official email from the media representative from MSNBC. She wanted my complete legal name, social security number, date of birth, and place of birth. I offered it up and about two hours later I had a response that instructed me to print the email to be used as my ticket. I also had to show photo identification at the door. After I divulged all of this super secret information I wondered about the person I just gave it to so I googled her. She is a tall, thin, well-dressed, beautiful New York business woman. She was the junior publicist for the Dr. Phil show and The Doctors. She moved up to senior publicist at NBC. From there she did publicity for Fox and now media relations for MSNBC. This big-city woman intimidated me just from her LinkedIn page. Imagine all of the famous people she’s met.
On the day of the big event I left home early in anticipation of heavy traffic, secret service, road blockages, and car searches. There was nothing of the sort so I sat in the parking lot fiddling with my phone for quite a while to waste time. A group started to gather in front of the Weidner an hour before the doors would open at 10:30 a.m. I joined them at 9:45 a.m. Walking up I saw a group of about 50ish protestors in their cattle-like holding area singing “Let it Be”. It reminded me of the old movies about college protestors in the 1970’s. I snuggled into the crowd because the wind was chilly.
While I was standing there eaves-dropping on various conversations, I spotted a middle-aged man carrying several camera bags and a camera with a lens the size of an assault rifle. “Aha, he must be a national media person,” I thought. I went over and introduced myself. He was from Getty Images here to take photos. He worked for the Milwaukee Journal for many years but now freelances as a photographer. I thought if I stick with him it will be a piece of cake to get in early. He called the media relations lady (the intimidating New Yorker) and sure enough, we were in about 20 minutes before the doors opened to the invitation only crowd.
I had a bag with my notebook, pens, phone, car keys, and a bottle of water in it. The secret service man with weapons and radios dangling all over was wearing medical gloves. He dug through my bag like a kid looking for gum. He passed my bag onto the next person. I had to walk through the metal detector and it lit up in red. Uh oh. Next they used the hand wand to detect where the metal was. I’m not sure, but I think it was my underwire bra.
Once inside I was ushered to the media viewing area. Little did I know all the media people were supposed to sit in the lobby in front of two big-screen TVs. There was supposed to be a full house in the Fort Howard room so we were confined to the “holding tank”. I met Ellery McCardle from WBAY. She’s a tiny, little thing. I also met a man from the Associated Press. I have a sneaking suspicion that he may have been the first to break the news about Trump’s stance on abortion. After a few minutes we met the media representative from MSNBC. She was an intimidating New Yorker but very nice. She had just gotten done with an event in Miami with Marco Rubio and she didn’t know where they would send her next. She talked for a minute and darted away. She looked very busy and important.
I got bored sitting in the holding tank so I started to poke around. I walked down the hall toward the Fort Howard room to see what was going on. I introduced myself to security and asked to peek inside the room. I was directed to the chief of police then to the secret service then to the MSNBC floor director. I just wanted to look in the room. The place was crawling with secret service, paramedics, ambulance, fire and rescue, local law enforcement, and campus police. I tried to talk with a secret service officer who told me everyone is from Washington D.C. Then she turned away to stop any conversation. She’s probably trained to do that.
The MSNBC crew came in and put their computers, cameras, and video equipment on the floor all spread out. The door from outside into the holding tank was guarded. Everyone in the area was told to move back because the K-9 dog is coming in and he bites. In sprang the most beautiful Belgian Malinois with his handler from the Green Bay Police Department. The dog worked and checked all the equipment and gave the all clear. Being an insane animal lover I just knew the dog wouldn’t bite me. I nonchalantly wandered over to the officer and asked him if I could sit next to him and the dog. He said yes but don’t touch because he bites. The officer told me the dog’s name is Cops and he is the largest K-9 dog in the state. The officer gave me Cops’ business card and the giant Malinois got right into my face and started sniffing me. I held perfectly still and fought the urge to hug him. The officer said Cops was very tired because he was working on campus all morning in advance of the big event.
About 11:00 a.m. the doors opened and the invited guests began to filter through the metal detector, hand detector, secret service, and other security. They were brought in in small groups, briefed, and escorted to the Fort Howard room and were told where to sit. I decided to meander out of the holding tank and back to the Fort Howard room for another peak. This time I stood in the doorway for a few minutes and overheard Mayor Jim Schmitt talking to who I believe was the chief of police. The floor director came near the door and I made eye contact with her and introduced myself. She offered to have me go in and occupy a seat. I jumped at the chance.
I took my seat and watched the swarm of activity. MSNBC had a large crew of people all dressed in black and with credentials hanging around their necks. They looked like a bunch of ants with a disturbed nest. Some were doing microphone tests and others were adjusting cameras. A camera man with equipment strapped to his waste was practicing his shots with a little guy following him around holding the electrical cord. He was winding and unwinding the cord and staring at the floor. I could picture the camera man stopping abruptly and the little guy just running into his back. Another person was making sure the back drop was hanging properly and yet another kept adjusting the chairs for the moderator and Mr. Trump. Several people were in charge of seating the audience. The floor director would have people switch seating assignments and at first I wondered why. Soon I realized she was moving people around so the audience looked more diversified.
A man came around handing out pens and index cards. If you had a question you had to write it on the card along with your section number, row, and seat number. He collected the cards when we were done. Every time he talked, you could hear his heavy New York accent.
The floor director told people that once the taping of the show starts you cannot leave so go to the bathroom now if you have to. She warned that in the event you need to leave the room you must get an MSNBC person’s attention. They have a way to get you out without disturbing the taping of the show. But, then you cannot return.
Moderator Chris Matthews was brought in and introduced to the crowd. He talked for a few minutes and tested his clear plastic high chair. He commented that the chairs were too close to each other. The whole time he was talking a woman was lint rolling his suit and then combed his hair with a tooth brush. He went about his conversation as if she wasn’t even there. He left the room and within seconds someone was moving the chairs a bit further apart.
The floor director finished arranging people and said it was almost time to begin. Secret service swarmed the room and took positions throughout. In walked Chris Matthews and took his seat. In walked Donald Trump, waved to the crowd and took his seat. His hair looked crisp, his face looked full of makeup, his voice was hoarse, and yes, his hands are small. He looked just like he looks on TV.
The show began and ran like a finely choreographed dance number. On commercial breaks the lint girl came out and quickly and rolled Matthews and Trump. The camera man ran over with a bottle of water for Trump. Matthews looked over his notes. People chosen to ask questions were moved to the floor and their seats were filled with someone else so there wouldn’t be empty seats on camera. I had the impression the questions were hand-picked and the people were chosen based on diversity.
The show finished and Trump was quickly ushered out by his secret service men. We had to remain seated for a “live shot” Matthews had to do for MSNBC. When it was all said and done it was fascinating to watch the activity before, during and after the show. But I have to say in all honesty, I enjoyed meeting the K-9 dog the most.
The Avenue 