My experience at the 2024 GOP debate in Milwaukee

Earlier this week, I attended the first 2024 Republican Presidential Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and it was a blast. It was a long day for me outside, hanging out in 100 degree weather, meeting and seeing famous celebrities and politicians. Eventually the debate time arrived and I entered into the rather beautiful Fiserv Forum building anticipating that of the candidates who actually showed up, Vivek Ramaswamy would win the debate--and I was right.

How I got a spot

I've been building iPhone apps professionally for 14 years now (since 2009). In the very beginning of January 2022 I took a job with the social podcasting and live streaming startup Callin and helped to build their iPhone app which many still use today.

In May of this year, the very popular and very American video-sharing platform Rumble had acquired Callin, both product and team.

We've been very busy working under Rumble since May, and last week I heard from my boss that he was going to join the Rumble team in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to attend the debate and help out around the booth they'd setup outside of the forum.

Excited for Rumble and everyone going, I asked if I could go, too. Did I have any business asking such a thing? Probably not; but a few days later, I had a plane ticket and a hotel reservation in my name, and on to Milwaukee I went.

If I could encourage the reader, I'd like to do so by sharing something the great and famous hockey player Wayne Gretzky once said:

You miss a 100% of the shots you don't take.

If you ask, it might be a "no". If you don't ask, it's definitely a "no".

Before the debate

On the morning of Wednesday, August 23rd, I woke up in my hotel room ready to go. My wife packed me a full suit for the debate, but since I was going to be outside most of the day and it was 100 degrees in Milwaukee, I wore slacks and the lightest button down in my carry-on.

I met up with my boss and we walked over to the Fiserv Forum where the Rumble booth was. We got special badges that let us walk in and out as we please. I won't go deep into each and every famous person I saw or met, but Viva Frei was the first person we ran into. I recognized him from Rumble and YouTube, but could not remember his name -- now I can't forget it. It's amazing what meeting a person does.

We had some really useful meetings with some of the Rumble team and walked around. Through the day I did meet some top-tier politicians like Congressman Matt Gaetz and saw many others like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kari Lake (who I think is going to be Donald Trump's VP pick). I met Nigel Farage (very briefly), had some great conversation with Jeremy Hambly (The Quartering), shook hands with Patrick Bet-David (PBD) of Valuetainment and discussed a recent episode of his with Anthony Weiner. "Yea, he's a nice guy, huh?" he asked, sarcastically. I also met Vincent Oshana who works for PBD, and that guy is hilarious (more on him later).

I was at one point or another in the same small room with Michael Malice, Donald Trump, Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, Glenn Greenwald, and more.

In short, it was a wild day. I don't think I've ever been around that many famous people at once, and what was really cool is how casual it was. At least until we got closer to debate time and the rest of the audience started showing up.

The debate

The debate started at 8pm local time, but they stopped letting people in after 6:30pm. I waited on line, took my seat, and right behind us sat Vincent Oshana. My time at the debate was only made better by this guy. At one point, he noticed Ron DeSantis was wearing platform shoes. He was standing up, zooming in on the guy, and yelling "he's wearin' heels!"

Mike Pence was so long winded, that by the end of the debate, Vinny (Vincent? I don't know what he prefers) was predicting they'd need to ring the bells many times on him -- and he was right.

The debate was great. I went in thinking Vivek was going to do the best, and I think I was right. Of course, there's a bias here, but most of the polls I've read and the panels I've seen, they almost all say the same thing.

Vivek reminded me of Trump in 2015. At one point, he was the only one raising his hand (when asked who would be against increasing funding for the Ukraine war). Very quickly it was everyone verses Vivek, and I think he expected this.

This post is not meant to be a play-by-play of the debate. I'm just free-writing about my experience. If you're interested, you can watch the entire debate for free at https://rumble.com/v3ak5c2-fox-news-republican-presidential-primary-debate.html

Predictions

I have a couple of predictions. First, I predict that the top players by the end of the primary debates will be (and in this order):

Donald J. Trump
Vivek Ramaswamy
Ron DeSantis
Mike Pence

My next prediction is that both Pence and Vivek will lean heavily into the dynamic they began at this first debate, which is this old / young, experienced / rookie dynamic. I think Pence will be pushing it the hardest (therefore, leaving Vivek to defend himself or Jiu Jitsu it into another topic), but it really does capture what's going on in politics today.

Do you want incremental reform, or do you want revolution?

Vivek Ramaswamy asked the crowd. And that's what it boils down to. People forget that Thomas Jefferson was 33 in 1776, and Alexander Hamilton was only 21. It's the young and restless that can do revolution. The old-timers can only do incremental reform.

In 2024, with President Trump having just been indicted again, massive abuse by the Democrats of the Executive Office, the DOJ, the FBI, the CIA, and just about every other alphabet institution, we've learned for the last 8 years that incremental reform simply does not work. The Democrats are trying hard to make sure Trump doesn't win this primary, and if it succeeds, they'll be going after Vivek next. I don't think it will.

My final prediction is this. Trump will win the primary. Vivek will campaign very hard for Trump. I do not think Vivek will, or should, accept a VP position, but if Trump wins the election, he should certainly be involved one way or the other and start building his resume for 2028. Unlike DeSantis, I do not think Ramaswamy is in a position where if he doesn't win now, he will not win later. Actually, right now, the only reason he wouldn't win is because he's up against Trump.

What I'm worried about is if Trump doesn't win in 2024. That's ok, really -- but not if he's also convicted of any of the crimes he's charged with. Short of a pardon, I don't think the American people will stand for a loss and a conviction -- not because they're sore losers, but because this is blatant election interference and, as if we couldn't trust the elections any less as it is, we will never have another credible election again.

And if the people truly feel that way, what are they to do except demand a National Divorce.

So I hope Trump wins (and I predict he will win at least the primary). If he doesn't, I hope it's Vivek -- because he's campaigned (and I believe him) on the promise of pardoning Trump, shutting down the FBI, and many other radical policies that could really put our country on the path of tremendous propserity.

Final thoughts

The debate was a blast, and I'm truly grateful to my boss and Rumble for letting me go. I'm looking forward to debate number two on September 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California