Inaugural Diary: Thanks Van
By Van Mobley
The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.
The last time I spoke with Donald Trump was way back in August when he did a Sean Hannity show that was taped at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee.
Susan (my wife) and I sat right behind Trump on the stage that night. If you google the show and watch it, you will see that I am telling the truth — because periodically Trump will move his head and you can see me sitting right behind him.
Anyway, whenever they would take a commercial break Trump would talk to the people on the stage — people like me. By that time, of course, I had already written a number of editorials on his behalf and appeared on some radio and tv shows talking him up, plus met him briefly at an earlier event. So during one of the early breaks I took a business card of mine, handed it to him, and said, “Mr. Trump, I think we are going to win.”
He took the card, looked at it, looked at me, and started to say something. But the producers started yelling that we were going back live in “3,2,1” so Trump gave me a wink, shoved the card in his coat pocket, I sat back down, and we were back live.
There were about 30 people sitting on stage and Trump tried hard to talk to everybody in the breaks plus posed for pictures, etc. But periodically he would look back over in my direction like he was remembering something about our relationship.
“You know,” my wife whispered, “I think he knows who you are.”
“He ought to,” I whispered back, “because in the primary I took a hell of a beating on his behalf.”
We cackled uproariously over that one. Right after the show was over Trump came over to me, put both his hands on my shoulders, stared me in the eye, and said, “thank you for what you are doing.”
I mumbled something silly like “you’re welcome,” and then there was a crush of people taking pictures, Secret Service guys started complaining about how we needed to back up, Scott Walker, Sheriff Clarke, and Rudy Giuliani came on stage to take some pictures, and in general pandemonium. So I never really knew if Trump knew me or not.
Never really know until Tuesday, that is. Because after I got done packing that day for the inauguration festivities, I checked the mail and would you believe it? The mailman delivered to me a gold envelope that had “the Trump Organization” as a return address. The envelope contained only one item — the business card I had given Trump back in August. But on the back side of the card Trump had written:
THANKS VAN
BEST WISHES
DONALD TRUMP
To that I say, “You’re Welcome Mr. Trump. Thanks for the tickets to the inaugural events and thanks for your willingness to serve.”
I look forward to relating to you some of the adventures Susan and I will have over the next three days!
It is going to be huge!
Mobley is the Thiensville Village president and was an early Trump supporter in the presidential race. He is attending inaugural festivities this week and is writing about the experience for WisOpinion.com.
