The story behind the sequined Trump jackets at Dallas RNC

So we want to bring in Alex Boye. He is there right now on the ground outside of the American Airlines Center. We were watching before the show started and just seeing some of the interesting items around you outside of the the American Airlines Center. Yeah, good morning. You know, it's pretty interesting. We have a combination of kind of the serious aspect of all of the security measures that are in place. And then, of course, some of the lighter aspects that come around President Donald Trump. You can see here this gold Mercedes that is signed by President Donald Trump. It has the official seal on the hood of that Mercedes, along with a smiling President Donald Trump, as well as a full-size cutout of the president here, who we know is going to be headlining this RNC event later on this evening. Now, as far as the security goes, you'll notice here some of these lower barriers. We're on Victory Park, and I can tell you that for about the two blocks leading up to this intersection here at the corner of Victory and Nowitzki, that is the kind of barriers you're seeing to kind of keep people off of the road and kind of funnel them onto the sidewalks here. And then, of course, as you get closer to the actual corner of the American Airlines Center, you can see the taller fences there, of course, which are an added layer of security as you get closer into what is considered the secure zone. Now, kind of talking about all of the pomp and circumstance surrounding the first-ever RNC, check out some of this bedazzling. I don't know, Shannon and Lauren, if this is up your alley, if it's your style, but certainly there are going to be plenty of supporters that are going to want to check out many of these items. You can see that they come in a variety of colors. And if the bedazzled sequence isn't your thing, Noonie over here, we have some, I think, kind of wrap dresses. Is that what these are, ladies? I'm not sure, but it's the American flag, so you don't have to have all of the bedazzling if you don't want it. So I can tell you that there is a lot of stuff set up here for sale. And, of course, they're really hoping that folks are going to want to purchase this as they begin to show up for the RNC that, again, kicks off later this afternoon. Now, I want to introduce you to Sonny. She is running things out here this morning. You and I had a chance to talk briefly beforehand. What do you expect to kind of be the big seller here at this event? Oh, it's going to be this jacket over here. Okay. Well, there's two jackets. The 250 jackets are going to be the big sellers. Okay. And then we have matching hats for these jackets. We make them, so we're kind of happy. Yeah. What goes into making all of this? Well, it takes around six hours to make each jacket. We buy the blank sequence, and then we sew it in, program everything in the computer, then we lay it out, a lot of graphics involved, and then we get people to sew it in for us. What do you think about this first ever RNC from the perspective of a vendor out here? What are you expecting as things start to ramp up? Have you had any conversations with folks starting to show up? Oh, we had lots of conversations. We've been here three nights now. I mean, 24 hours we're here. People are trickling in. As far as the first midterm convention, I don't know. We've done 320 conventions all throughout the U.S., so it's just another convention for us. Absolutely. We like to go wherever President Trump's at. All right. Well, Sonny, we will check back in with you throughout the course of the next two days. I appreciate it. But again, kind of getting back to the security measures. Noonie, if you can, again, kind of just pan over and show what the latest looks like here. As the convention gets underway later on this afternoon, of course, we expect there to be a lot more foot traffic here and for security to really tighten down. I can tell you that, again, President Trump expected to speak at 8 p.m. tonight. There's also going to be a long list of high-profile politicians that are going to hopefully rally the base here and fundraise ahead of the November elections. There's going to be cabinet members here, congressional leaders, and even candidates like Texas AG Ken Paxton. I can also tell you that those with general admission tickets cannot just show up here. They have to go to Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie and take a bus around 16 miles in order to get here to the convention. And then lastly, I do want to mention that the Dart Victory Park station will also be closed during this event, and no Uber or Lyft ride shares will be allowed in what is considered the secured zone around the convention. So again, kind of quiet right now as we are early into the first day of the convention, with things kicking off at 3 o'clock this afternoon. But you can see the vendors set up. They're hoping people will show up. We're going to have to see how it all plays out, considering this is the first-ever RNC convention being held for a midterm election. Yeah. And, you know, for Dallas to be chosen, I mean, you just think about all the reasons that Dallas was selected. We're a large media market. We clearly have the skills and the talent to handle that. But also just, I mean, the size of, like, the American Airlines Center and our security. I think they were saying, what, $2 million, Alex, that Dallas police were expecting to pay for security? Yeah, that sounds right. And to your point, I mean, this is a major metropolitan city with a major airport that makes it easy for folks to get in and out, most of the time, even on direct flights. So that makes it for folks who want to come here and rally at the convention. And then also, again, I think that's why these vendors, like you heard from Sonny, who travels around to these types of things, making an effort to be here, because they do expect it to be a really large turnout. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Also, watch for motorcades today, too, because, you know, when the president lands, for example, that's just one of these people that's going to, and you're going to see a whole motorcade. So traffic is going to be impacted by that, too. But, Alex, thank you so much for checking that out for us. Yeah, we have coworkers, I just wanted to say.