Wisconsin Delegates Offer Their Take On Milwaukee, RNC

Tucker Carlson, Congressman Byron Donald, Donald Trump, J.D. Vance and Mike Johnson. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Milwaukee good, Biden bad.

That was the message from almost all Wisconsin Republican Party delegates visiting media row Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s all positive,” said Congressman Glenn Grothman in an interview. The congressman is attending his fourth political convention. “It’s the best of the four because Milwaukee is the best city. It’s a hidden gem.”

“Having it in Wisconsin is fantastic,” said delegate Kathy Broghammer of Mequon. “We are able to showcase this beautiful city. The whole world can see us. It’s just, to me, a fantastic opportunity for everybody to see how kind we are, how nice we are, how friendly we are. I am hearing amazing things about how people think we are really nice here.”

La Crosse area alternate delegate Larry Schneider said Monday’s unanimous roll call vote was particularly moving. “That for me was just kind of a cool ‘savor it, I’m actually here’ kind of moment,” said the first-time convention attendee.

And while the Republican Party is preaching a message of unity, that doesn’t apply to President Joe Biden.

“People are scared to death of Joe Biden,” said Grothman. “Even before what President Trump went through last week, Joe Biden is scary. He is going to let 250,000 people in here every month. He’s going to sit there and run around and try to create this racial discord, which he is trying to do. We cannot let him have another four years of that. If the Democrats were in charge he would be passing these trillion dollars bills again, which is why we have this inflation.”

“We are in a extremely bad place right now with our country,” said Broghammer. “It’s never been worse.”

Migrants crossing the country’s southern border is the primary issue for Broghammer. “What I think is the worst thing is the ridiculous open border that is unsustainable and ruining our country…. that to me is the umbrella of all the other issues,” said the second time delegate. “If we can close our border we can solve a lot of the other things.”

What Should Visiting Delegates Experience?

“Good food,” said Schneider of his Milwaukee highlights before noting that Milwaukee seemed to lean more to pretzels than cheese curds.

“You’re going to have a lot of brats, which is kind of a new thing for these folks, so that’s good. And some good Wisconsin beer, which is also good,” said Grothman in praise of the different delegation events.

“I think they all have to try Miller Lite, have a beer, have some cheese curds, go look at the beautiful lake, see the skyline, look at the architecture, ,have a brat, that kind of stuff, go to some local places,” said Broghammer. “Get a sense for how Wisconsinites live. We’re happy people.”

“I wish there was more time,” said former Wisconsin Republican Party chair Brad Courtney of Whitefish Bay. He said it would help delegates experience more areas. As it stands, Courtney himself is finding it a challenge to navigate parts of the security perimeter. That includes getting to Major Goolsby’s, a pre-game favorite of his before Fiserv Forum events. “I can’t figure out how to get there.” The bar and restaurant is located just outside the security perimeter and is specially noted on the Secret Service map, but requires exiting the perimeter and a long walking loop to return.

Van Orden Dissents

There was one person Urban Milwaukee interviewed that had a radically different take on Milwaukee: Congressman Derrick Van Orden.

“What’s within the security perimeter is going great,” said Van Orden. “I had a bunch of folks say they were so surprised about Milwaukee.”

But Van Orden said there were 25 shootings by mid-day yesterday, Columbus police shot and killed a Milwaukee resident involved in an altercation and an individual was found with an AK-47 in their bag outside the security perimeter.

“This unfortunately not the total picture of what takes place in Milwaukee. This place has the potential to be a world class, awesome city that it should be, but unfortunately Cavalier Johnson has done a horrible job running this place. That’s factual,” said Van Orden in criticizing the mayor. “You have schools in Milwaukee where zero percent of the kids are reading at the appropriate grade level, zero, that’s wrong. So although there is so many tremendous things here, awesome history, I would recommend the people of Milwaukee take a step back and look at it in totality.”

Van Orden, on Tuesday, said he was assaulted by an anti-war activist near the Pfister Hotel. The organization he cited, CODEPINK, denies the claim and said Van Orden pushed its activist in the back.

Later Wednesday, District Attorney John Chisholm said that body camera footage of the incident showed no criminal conduct and that no charges would be filed.

Ready for Vance

The delegates are ready to see vice president nominee JD Vance make his first major speech Wednesday night.

“I’m interested in hearing him introducing himself not just to the delegates, but to the world,” said Courtney. He said he was a true conservative that had clearly earned Trump’s trust. He said Wisconsin voters would find his Midwest upbringing and Ohio State education relatable.

Broghammer said she would like to continue to hear more about the border. Grothman said he would like to hear more about the welfare. “I think we have a system right now that discourages work,” he said.

And are Republicans running away from abortion after election losses across the country?  “The people that are the most concerned about that are the reporters,’ said the congressman. He said he didn’t expect to be voting on any pro-life bills during a Trump presidency. As Urban Milwaukee reported earlier Wednesday, the Democratic Party assailed the Trump campaign’s abortion platform and Vance’s “extreme” views.