CLEVELAND — The “Wednesday Meetings” hosted at the Americans for Tax Reform offices in Washington, D.C., are well-known in conservative circles. Typically, those meetings are off the record. But in a rare instance, the group hosted an on-the-record, invitation-only meeting Wednesday at the Republican National Convention.
Roughly 130 people attended as 33 presenters spoke during the meeting that lasted longer than two hours. Presenters included Rick Perry, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, Republican Study Committee Chairman Bill Flores, R-Texas, Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., Gov. Sam Brownback, R-Kans., House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn.
Here’s a full rundown of what happened:
Norquist opened the meeting with a brief introduction explaining how the weekly center-right meetings started in the 1990s to mobilize conservative groups against Hillarycare.
After a brief presentation from the Business Roundtable, Emmer spoke about free trade, mentioning that Trump speaks about free trade in a way that makes people think Trump opposes it. “I think what he’s talking about, and I’m going to go on this until he proves it differently, he’s saying ‘I could negotiate a much better deal’,” Emmer said. That deal wouldn’t necessarily be anti-free trade. But Emmer says the economy needs free trade agreements.
Then a staff member of the National Republican Congressional Committee spoke, reminding attendees that this election isn’t just about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The staffer said the NRCC now has unprecedented financial strength. Keeping the focus on Congress, Paul Ryan’s chief of staff, David Hoppe, then spoke. Norquist asked how the House GOP’s “Better Way” agenda was different than the “Contract with America” agenda of 1994. Hoppe replied that “Better Way” is broader and deeper.
After that, representatives from Facebook spoke about using Facebook Live to reach voters and constituents.
Then the focus turned to evangelical voters with a presentation from Ralph Reed, the founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. Reed cited a Pew poll where 78 percent of evangelicals supported Trump, with only 17 percent supporting Clinton. Reed said that matched the support President George W. Bush got from evangelicals in 2004.
After Reed, a staffer from the Republican National Committee spoke and praised the party’s platform as the “most conservative platform in a long time.”
Then a staffer with the American Legislative Exchange Council spoke to plug the group’s annual meeting in Indianapolis next week, where GOP Vice Presidential nominee Mike Pence will speak. A member of Republicans Overseas spoke next, followed by Nunes discussing tax reform.
The discussion then turned to Brexit, with Martin Callanan, a British politician who campaigned in favor of “Leave.” The room cheered at his first mention of Brexit, and Callanan mentioned that the “first thing we want to do” is sign a free-trade agreement with the United States. This was followed by Ian Duncan, a member of the European Parliament from Scotland, who campaigned for “remain” but said “we are all Brexiters now,” because the voters have spoken and their will must be carried out.
One of Microsoft’s top lobbyists, Fred Humphries, then said the House GOP tax plan “is a very good plan, one that Microsoft supports.” He also said “getting privacy right is critical,” and that Americans for Tax Reform does great work on the issue.
Robert Alt, president and CEO of the Buckeye Institute, then spoke about reforming Obamacare.
Mario Lopez, president of the Hispanic Leadership Fund, spoke about Trump’s favorability with Hispanics. Polls show only 11-18 percent of Hispanic voters view Trump favorably. “That’s not very good,” Lopez said.
The next presenters spoke about e-cigarette vapers and the forced unionization of home health care workers.
Brent Bozell, founder of the Media Research Center, then spoke about what Trump needs to do to get enthusiastic conservative endorsements, rather than many of the tepid endorsements coming from many Republicans. Bozell said picking Pence to join the ticket was progress for Trump.
After Bozell, Brownback spoke and defended his oft-criticized tax cuts in Kansas. Then Roskam spoke about the IRS and civil asset forfeiture, earning cheers from the crowd.
Around the meeting’s halfway point, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey spoke, followed by Indiana State Senator Jim Banks, who won a Republican nomination to Congress earlier this year. Then Ed Martin, president of Eagle Forum, spoke and plugged Phyllis Schlafly’s most recent and soon-to-be published book.
Then Morton Blackwell, founder of the Leadership Institute, spoke. Blackwell has attended every Republican convention rules committee meeting since 1972 and been a member of every committee since 1988. So when he said the “RNC obeys the rules it chooses to obey,” it wasn’t just a hollow opinion.
Flores then spoke about the House GOP agenda, concluding with “Two words: Never Hillary.” The audience responded with cheers.
FreedomWorks CEO and President Adam Brandon reported on an event they’d hosted the previous day, noting that more than 50,000 people had watched video of the event online.
Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch then spoke about her work with the Republican Lieutenant Governors Association, which she chairs. (Side note: I walked out of the building right after Kleefisch, who stopped to pick a nickel off the ground. My first thought was “Wow, the RLGA must really be hurting for money,” but Kleefisch wondered aloud how, with all these fiscal conservatives around, no one had yet picked it up.)
After Kleefisch spoke, a Colorado Republican, who came to the U.S. from Hungary, spoke about migration in Europe.
Kim Strassel, a member of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, spoke about her new book, The Intimidation Game. She said liberals “threaten, harass and intimidate” conservative because the Citizens United Supreme Court case overturned laws that liberals used to silence conservatives.
At that moment, Perry walked in the room, hugged Norquist and was surrounded by a miniature swarm of people as Strassel was finishing.
Alex Smith, chair of the College Republican National Committee, spoke about the GOP’s branding problem with Millennial voters.
James Higgins spoke about the monthly center-right Monday Meetings he organizes in Manhattan.
Finally, Perry spoke. Although side-chatter had filled the room for most of the meeting, all of that stopped during Perry’s speech. “If the Lord ever blesses us again with the ability and opportunity to have a Republican president, a Republican House, and a Republican Senate, we promise we will not piss it away again,” Perry said to cheers. “Donald Trump wasn’t my first choice for president. I was my first choice for president,” he later said, provoking laughter.
Ann Stone, the co-chair of Women for Trump, spoke briefly about why women should pay attention to Trump’s deeds, not words, toward women.
Stone was followed by Brady, who naturally spoke about tax reform. Some people seemed to follow Perry and start filing out of the room as Brady spoke.
The very last presentation came from a representative of the Log Cabin Republicans, who said Trump was the most pro-gay nominee the GOP has ever had.
With that, Norquist thanked AT&T for providing the space, and the meeting was over. Some people picked up the handouts left on every chair: mostly op-eds written by Norquist and other Americans for Tax Reform staff, but also a colored map of state legislative control by party and a table showing the number of concealed carry permits in each state.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
