When thousands of Republicans descend upon a heavily Democratic city, there is a surrealness that goes beyond the familiar strangeness that a political event like the Republican National Convention (RNC) usually brings to town. And it’s not just the crazy costumed folks like the man dressed as Uncle Sam maneuvering his Segway between conventioneers on Milwaukee’s Wisconsin Avenue.
As I was walking to the corner of Water Street, for example, a guy riding a 10-speed bicycle had a few choice words with two Republican conventioneers and soon the skinny and tall young man in a black T-shirt and shorts jumped off his bike to chase the dark-suited men around with his fists raised. Some shoving erupted and a few choice swear words were exchanged. A nearby policewoman soon intervened. After a minute of shouting and near blows, another officer came out of a nearby air-conditioned squad car to help out.
A couple of Marquette University students clutching their TJ Maxx bags stopped to watch, a hometown Harley-Davidson motorcycle roared by, and I noticed the “Welcome Future Fake Electors” sign in the window of the storefront of Penzeys Spices, which is large national spice retailer based in Milwaukee and known for its liberal and anti-Trump views. The faint outlines of the “Trump” graffiti someone had spray-painted on a Penzeys window a few weeks earlier were still visible. Eventually the bicyclist-Republican confrontation was defused when the police sent the man angrily pedaling off on his bike while the Republicans were left yelling that the guy was a “crazy addict high on drugs.”
I’m pretty sure he was not one of the Downtown Milwaukee Public Service Ambassadors who are supposedly welcoming delegates and others attending the RNC at Fiserv Forum and roaming the downtown area in the summer heat to keep the streets “clean, safe and friendly.” I also didn’t notice any of those ambassadors while watching thousands of protesters marching along those downtown streets – or even afterward when I was walking in the blazing sun trying to find a cool place to grab a beer.
I eventually did find a place for a beer, the lobby bar at the fancy arts hotel, Saint Kate, conveniently across the street from that day’s protest assemblage. Sadly, I asked about happy hour but the bartender told me the hotel canceled its normal happy hour this week. I guess the rich Republicans sitting all around me didn’t need happy hour. I stayed for just one beer, as the big screen TVs that were moved in for the occasion blared Fox News coverage of the RNC while the poor guitarist-singer hired for the now-suspended happy hour tried his best to be heard above the TVs, including one inches away from his head. It was a losing cause.
Some serenity was found at the nearby RiverWalk along the Milwaukee River. As I climbed the stairs on Wells Street up from the RiverWalk, two exasperated Republican women lugging huge suitcases saw me and pleaded with me for help. “Are you from here? We keep going in circles trying to find our Airbnb, and our GPS is going crazy.” I calmly reassure them they are not far, but they will have to walk around the RNC Security Zone to find their lodging on Old World Third Street. They don’t seem to believe me, but I explain the straightforward Milwaukee street system to them. “There’s Sec
