Digital Social Hour - Backstage with Trump: Diet Coke, Snickers & No Water | Lauren Toncich DSH #1063

Episode Date: January 5, 2025

Go backstage with Trump and discover his Diet Coke & Snickers obsession! 🍫🥤 Lauren from Turning Point USA spills the tea on organizing massive conservative events and Trump's unstoppable energy. 🇺🇸   Get an insider's look at: • Trump's surprising backstage snack choices • The explosive growth of conservative events like AmFest • Behind-the-scenes stories of working with political powerhouses   Lauren shares her journey from student attendee to VP of Events, revealing how Turning Point USA became a conservative powerhouse. Learn about Charlie Kirk's leadership, Trump's impact on the movement, and the challenges of organizing during COVID.   Don't miss out on this exclusive peek into the world of conservative politics! Watch now and subscribe for more eye-opening conversations on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly. 🎙️   #DigitalSocialHour #TurningPointUSA #Trump2024 #ConservativePolitics #AmFest   #trump #conference #charliekirk #virtualeventmarketing #eventmanagement   #foxnews #theview #trump #newstoday #donaldtrump   CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:23 - Lauren's First TPUSA Event 02:06 - AmFest Highlights 04:17 - Getting Into Politics 06:14 - Cultural Shift on College Campuses 10:59 - George Soros and Hot Ones 11:42 - Trump and Alternative Media 13:21 - TPUSA Inauguration Ball Overview 17:10 - Future Plans for TPUSA 17:35 - Thanks for Watching   APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail]   GUEST: Lauren Toncich https://x.com/TPA_LT https://www.tpusa.com/laurentoncich   LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/

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it got like what, 100 million views, it was iconic. I was watching it from home that night. They said we won Pennsylvania. It didn't really click in my head. That basically meant that we won everything. And then I see Charlie start crying, I started crying. I mean, you guys are probably working day and night, like for a year straight.

Oh yeah. All right guys, we got Lauren from Turning Point here. First ever podcast. Thanks for choosing me to come on. Thanks for having me. I'm excited. Absolutely. It's going to be fun to dive into the behind the scenes world

of conferences and events. That's what you do, right? Yes. I'm like the like vice president of events here at Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action. I'm doing it for about seven years now. I actually attended my first... I got into this whole world by attending SAS 2017 as a student December, so almost seven years ago to the day. And in my final interview there, a few days later, they're like, hey, I want to move out to Phoenix. I never really heard of Turning Point, I've of Charlie, but I was a conservative.

And then I was like, you know what? This sounds like a good opportunity. I was blessed to come in at a great time when Turning Point was growing and now kind of be a small part of the machine that Charlie's built. Phenomenal. What was he like back then as a leader? He's always been such a strong leader.

It's wild because, you know, I'm 29, Charlie's 31. Our entire staff is like in their 20s for the most part. Super young. But Charlie, I really truly believe is a once in a lifetime leader. He really looks out for his people, but he also expects a lot out of us. We never settle for mediocre. It's always greatness. And he really pushes the bar, but I think that's why we've been so successful as a company

in these events. And I'm very blessed to work for him. If he wasn't that strong of a leader, I don't know if I'd still be here, but I'm very blessed to work for him. I don't, you know, if he wasn't that strong, I don't know if I'd still be here, but I'm really, really fortunate to kind of play a little small part in his little machine. I keep hearing these stories of him, of people meeting him when he's like 18, 21, 24, and they're saying there's something special about him.

It really is. And, you know, I'm fortunate enough to like, kind of consider him a friend now and his wife, Erica, who's actually absolutely amazing. But he's firm, but he also, you know, really believes in just doing the best you can do and kind of expecting a lot, but also like recognizing and, you know, taking care of the people that put all the work. Yeah. I want to dive into Amfest since we're here. Over 20,000 people.

20,000 people. The speaking line-up is probably the best I've ever seen. Thank you. In the political space. What was the mission when AmFest was starting up? When AmFest was started, like I mentioned, when I was a student, I was SAS 2017 and that was our kind of winter event. And then we just realized a turning point while we're, yes, a student movement, that's always our focus, that the movement was growing much bigger.

And there was a really strong earning for the adult and the young adults to kind of come in and also have something that they can be a part of. And so we moved our Student Action Summit to the summer and then made AmFest here in Phoenix, which is where we're actually based out of as the all encompassing all ages event was still obviously a like student focus,

but to really just be the largest gathering of conservatives to provide an opportunity for me out with like such as yourself to like come and be around passionate patriots, to have sponsoring organizations, amazing speakers, all of our students and really just cultivate a, you know, like much larger movement than what we have. Yeah, cause prior to AmFest, it was just RNC, right?

There was no other big- RNC and there's CPAC, which is, you know, they're all amazing organizations. We all work together. We all support each other. But, you know, we were just kind of known for our flashiness, how exciting it was. And the Student Action Summit name, people always were like, well, I'm not a student. Like when we did have adult tickets, we wanted to keep that very student focus. So we're like, well, why don't we make something that, you know, is for everybody, not just

that student base. And now with like Turning Point Action as well, which don't we make something that, you know, is for everybody, not just that student base. And now with like turning point action as well, which is more of the young adult, adult crowd, it really just merges the two organizations together very well. Absolutely. You think Trump's going to make everyone do a Trump dance tomorrow during his speech? I think he should. He did that yesterday and he was talking about it backstage. And buddy is a great friend.

And my husband for like years, he was telling me yesterday, I was like, that's actually really cool. And so they got like all the cameras wide shot. You saw everyone do, they'll dance. I was like, I love it. So I think Trump should, I'll tell his team. That's awesome. Have you done the dance yet yourself? Oh, of course I have.

I haven't done it yet. You haven't? No. So you have to go like. Okay. I might have to break it out tomorrow. And then then little golf swing that he's been, you know, throwing in lately. Yeah.

Yeah. He's got moves. He's been doing that dance for a while. It's his signature iconic thing. It's great. I love it. When did you first get into politics? Really when I started working here.

My family grew up in communism. And so first generation American from Croatia. And my parents is always super conservative. Growing up, I was like, OK, dad, stop talking. Stop talking. And then when I was in high school learning Growing up, I was like, okay, dad, stop talking, stop talking. And then when I was in high school learning about politics, I was like, okay, one side kind of makes more sense. And then when Trump ran in 2016, I think that was a pivotal moment for a lot of people, especially like our generation, when it was like, there was something that collected,

something exciting. And that's when I kind of got more interested in it. And my dad and I went to Trump rally in San Diego, which is where I'm from. And we got there two hours early and we're like, okay, we are going to, you know, make sure that we get a good spot and we got. Looking for the ultimate online casino experience? Step into the BetMGM Casino app, where every deal, spin and goal brings Las Vegas excitement into the palm of your hand. Take your seat at Premium Blackjack Pro where strategy meets top-tier gameplay.

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BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your age or older to wager, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Bet MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Out there and we were in the back of the room and we were actually like so excited because we're like, if he's pulling these crowds in San Diego like we have a shot here and I'm actually excited

because dad's here and we haven't been to a Trump event since then and oh yeah tables have turned a lot so it's exciting but that's kind of what kind of sparked my interest in the movement and I went to SAS and kind of fell in love and now I never thought you could work in politics without like running for office but I was very very wrong in that there's so much you can do within politics that isn't, you know, being an elected official. And it's been a blast. That's beautiful. I've seen my mother's journey too. She grew up in China, so a communist. Yeah. We grew up, then she moved and I was raised in New Jersey, so super liberal state.

Oh, yeah. So we grew up Democrat, but now she's, I think she voted for Trump. That's amazing. Yeah. Even my mom, like, she was born in think she voted for Trump. That's amazing. Yeah. Even my mom, she was born in Croatia and then moved here when she was 12. And she's always been conservative. My dad was very conservative.

But over the last six years, I watched her turn from a, yeah, I'm voting red to a, I love Trump. He has to win. And it's so fun because she wears her MAGA hat. She ran into Charlie not too long ago. I wasn't even there. And she asked him for a picture. And it's just so funny to see how invested she is now and just kind of what Trump's done for the movement and done for our country.

It's absolutely incredible. Yeah. This election was probably the biggest shift I've ever seen. Oh, and seeing it, especially firsthand, like, again, like turning point's done so much. On the event side alone, we did, this will be our seventh rally with President Trump. So we've done a lot with a lot of big events. But that's just one small part of what has done. We have our campus tours, which did like 24 stops pulling thousands of students on every campus and seeing those videos of these college students on these liberal campuses, swarming Charlie, wanting the MAGA hats. And like some of my favorite clips post-election

were the ones from like NBC and CNN that were like, you know, they're not thrilled about it, but they're standing there and they're like, well, you know, actually Charlie Kirk changed a lot of these minds and to be a part of that and just see that cultural shift was absolutely amazing. That was such a brilliant strategy because these campuses have pretty much

been indoctrinated, right? To think liberally. I went to Rutgers and it was, I don't remember one single conservative on campus. No, I went to Boulder, which is, you know, known for being like super liberal. I will say, I was only there for a year and a half. The classes I had, the teachers were actually like pretty neutral. It wasn't that bad. But I remember walking around campus and it's like some bizarre people and like the socialist booths and stuff. But back then when I was in school, Turning Point was just getting

started and they hadn't made their way onto Boulder's campus yet. So I didn't even know what Turning Point was. But they just had like a small, a few smaller other organizations. But like the meetings were like three, four people. They didn't really do much. Then Turning Point like just blew up on campus, making it cool, making it fun. That's why we do these events so crazy.

And like, yeah, it's over the top. I'm very aware that that room is insane. But we do that because we want to make it exciting and fun and engaging so that especially young people are like, wow, you know, it's actually, it's cool to be a conservative. Like it's not just some boring stuffy old person thing. Like it's cool to be a part of a movement bigger than yourself. Yeah, I feel like there was a lot of shame too,

a few years ago of labeling yourself that. Yeah. And now it's more accepted. That's one of my favorite parts too, especially about this event, but all of ours is, you know, the notes and the letters and the texts and the messages that I get after from students that are like, Hey, like, I thought that I was alone on my campus when I came and there's

thousands of people that are think similar to me or like I came by myself and I met some best friends like I had a girl intern for me not too long ago, who came to Young Women's Leadership Summit by herself knew not a single person met some best friends. Like I had a girl intern for me not too long ago who came to Young Women's Leadership Summit by herself, knew not a single person, met some best friends and they were in high school. And for their birthdays, they would fly across the country to go hang out with each other and see each other and they'd still stay in touch and like you form those relationships.

That all started just from one event. And now they're a chapter president and one's running for like city council. Like it's just crazy to see where these people go. That's the power of events. You make lifelong connections, right? That's why I love in-person events. And during the pandemic, everyone was going crazy because they couldn't see anyone. We still did. Oh, you still did them? Well, we had to cancel everything, which that year was wild. That was supposed to be our biggest year today. And then we had like 18 contracts all signed,

had to cancel all of them. But then we actually turning point action did President Trump's second event back post Covid. If you remember, the first one was told to Oklahoma when I think like I think it was Zoro's or someone flooded or had his little bots flooded with registration. So it wasn't very well attended. So there was so much pressure on us to make sure that that next one was like packed. And it was thankfully.

And then we ended the year with a student action summit that year still in West Palm Beach. Still a lot of COVID restrictions, but the demand was insane. People knew what the risk was. It's like, hey, if you're going to go spend Christmas with some elderly grandparents, maybe this is not the best event for you to come to. But the demand was absolutely insane. And we had so many people there just ready to be back in

person and back to normal. And we were, you know, among the first to really do that. Yeah, that's awesome. It's cool to see you guys pivoted cause a lot of events companies got wrecked during the pandemic. It was so sad. I mean, I honestly, I remember telling Charlie, I was like, if I have to get furloughed or let go for a bit, like not

going to be happy about it, but I understand. But thankfully, you know, like I said, Charlie is amazing. Wow. He kept you the whole time. Kept us the whole time. I remember we were working from home, but I was the director, so I had an office. So we could still come in if we wanted to. And I was coming in because I was like, I'm going to go crazy if I stay at home for like months. And so I came in and there wasn't much for me to do honestly, because we had no events. So Charlie was signing, Charlie got like creative, like he was going from all these campus stops to nothing.

And so Charlie would be just signing books, sending them to donors, doing media heads and whatever. I was like getting coffee for him, helping him sign books. Just like doing whatever I could to stay busy. And I was like, you know, I'm blessed to still have a job. I want to be a part of this. And we all got through it.

Shout out to you for having that mindset though, because a lot of people would have just given up, you know? And they wouldn't want to lower their bar. part of this. And we all got through it. Shout out to you for having that mindset though. Thank you. Because a lot of people would have just given up, you know? And they wouldn't want to lower their bar. Yeah, I know. The workout thick is real. You know, definitely have to have that to work at Turning Point and to do events in the first place. But we have an amazing team. They deserve all the credit. It's really not me. Absolutely.

I'm just here. You mentioned Soros earlier. So he's trying to get an alternative media podcast space now. He just acquired a show last week called Hot Ones. Have you seen that show where the spicy chicken wings? It's like, I haven't seen it. But I've, I've, I've heard that Soros just bought that show for 82 million. That's wild. Yeah. So he's trying to get in the alternative media space because he knows that's getting an alternative media. I mean, I know, obviously it's been a big topic lately

where that's a big reason why Trump won. And a lot of credit is to Baron his son, but also Bo Loudon. I'm not sure if you're familiar with him. Oh yeah, he's here. Yeah, I love Bo. Bo knows a lot of these people and Trump did something that no other president has ever done is he embraced the podcast space, the alternative media space. And I think that's kind of, I think that's part of the reason why he won the election. Especially the Rogan thing. I love Rogan too. So that was awesome to see him go on there. And then JD Vance killed it too. Vance crushed it.

Vance was so good. Vance is such an awesome guy. One of Charlie's favorite stories and mine too, is Vance wasn't supposed to come to our people's convention in July. He couldn't make it. It was convention in July, he couldn't make it. It was like a Senate vote thing. But Charlie, this was about a month before the announced VP. And everyone knew that JD was on the short list, and Charlie and JD had been friends for a while. And Charlie was like, hey, man, I think it's really important that you come. So JD Vance flew in from DC on like late Saturday night, drove himself from Ohio to Michigan Sunday morning on Father's Day by himself, no posse, no staff, just drove in, super nice, super gracious, spoke,

drove home, still made it home. Wow. And just one of the nicest, most humble people and it's really been awesome to see his journey. And you know, Charlie in turning point was a big reason why he got elected into the Senate in the first place and I see how hard that comes. Yeah, you guys can't you guys campaign from early on, right? Yeah, we actually did an event with him. I remember with Governor DeSantis and him and gosh,

some small part of Ohio back in 2022. And that was like one of his final events before the election. Wow. So we've been a supporter of him since day one. That's crazy. I know he was a heavy underdog, right? Yeah, he was. He was a heavy underdog and then won the primary. And then even then it was, you know, Ohio, like, thankfully, I think it's like, I think the Senate races are typically super close. But you know, the president, I think Trump won a few points, but that was a tight one for him. But I'm proud to stand by his back for a while. Can't wait for the inauguration. I'm so excited.

Are you guys having an event for that too? We're currently planning a ball. I'm not supposed to say that, but- This will air after actually, so. Oh, it doesn't matter, but we're gonna announce that soon. We're doing a ball on the 19th. And then I think that's it. Nice, I've never been to one.

I haven't either, I'm so excited. I'm pretty pumped. Yeah, I remember in 2016, my dad and I talked about going as like, you know, just getting like, we're super fans, like had no political connections, what I think it like, it'd be fun to go and we ended up not going because we're like, do you see in January, especially if you don't have any sort of like tickets or connections, like, it's really cold, it could be absolutely miserable. And you know, being from California, we don't really do cold weather. So we ended up not

going and I think it was really cool that day. I'm excited to experience it. See it like I've been looking at hotel prices. It's a little depressing. Yeah, it's bad. It's a thousand bucks for a three-star hotel. Oh yeah, no, it's insane. And I mean, I actually bought a ticket to the inaugural, or a flight to the inauguration before. Oh, smart.

Before he was announced to win? Wow, so you were confident. I'm crazy. And that was before Ivan, who at Turning Point wouldn't do anything if he did win. We were just so focused. I was like, you know what? Screw it, I'm just gonna buy it. At least I was like, you know what? Screw it. I'm just gonna buy it.

At least I was like, if he doesn't win, I get a flight credit for it, but he won and now we're doing something. I love it. That clip of Charlie crying those tears, it got like what? 100 million views. It was iconic. I was watching it from home that night and I had Charlie on my main screen, box on the side one, we had like a different TV pull up with like CNN just watching all of it. And when they said we like won Pennsylvania, it didn't really click in my head

that basically meant that we won everything. And then I see Charlie start crying. I started crying. I was like, holy crap. Especially all the hard work that tried, all the sacrifice that he and his family made and a landslide victory too. I mean, you guys are probably working day and night

like for a year straight. Oh yeah. Yeah. And it was always like more, more, more, more, more. It was to the point where we would look at these schedules sometimes and be like, we don't even know if it's possible to get everywhere. Like there was one time, like, oh God, it was like two weeks before the election, we had a rally in Duluth, Georgia planned. We called it the Mother of All Trump rallies. It was stacked. It was like Jason Aldean, Tucker, like all these people. Um, so that, that was planned. It was an arena.

And then a week before Charlie calls me and he's like, Hey, we're doing Trump again in Vegas. I was like, awesome. He goes the day after Georgia. And I was like, what do you mean the day after Georgia? He was like, yes, we have Georgia on the 22nd, Vegas on the 23rd. And I was like, how in the world? But somehow we all made it happen.

We took a 5 a.m. flight out that next day and landed in Vegas and then did it again. And then you guys hit UNLV that trip too, I think. Yeah, and then on top of that, yes, Charlie did. University of Georgia, the day before we had Trump in Georgia, the morning that we had Trump in Georgia, the training point USA Faith had a pastor's summit. And then we had Trump in Georgia. The morning that we had Trump in Georgia, Turning Point USA Faith had a pastor summit. And then we had Trump that evening. And then the next day, Charlie went on on campus at UNLV. And then we did Trump that night. And then I'm pretty sure the day after

Charlie had a different campus job. The man is a machine. He is insane. I remember that trip because I was in Vegas and he was supposed to come on the pod and they had to cancel. I'm like, dude, I totally get it. You're probably all over. And even Trump was doing like three rallies a day that week. Yeah. No, the same one that that man has too, and it says McDonald's and his age. I'm like, Joe Biden can't even form a sentence to speak more than once a year. It's wild. There's a meme right now that no one's ever seen Trump with a water bottle. I never have. Like he doesn't drink water.

No, it's like, and it's like snacks and stuff backstage. It's like, Soda's. Fanta, Diet Coke, Snickers, Lay's, and he's absolute machines. It makes you wonder if he ate healthy, like would he be even better than he is? Right? But he's like, well, it's consistent. I know what I'm getting.

I'm like, it's fair. Like I like McDonald's too, but like... I feel like crap after though. Yeah. Like I could not eat McDonald's. If I had McDonald's before podcasting, it'd be a terrible option. Yeah, I would just feel... Caffeine, that's all you need.

Well, Lauren, it's been awesome. Can't wait to finish off Amfest. What else you got planned? We have a busy day today. I don't know what's today, Saturday. There's some breakouts today, main stage. We have our faith night tonight, which is supposed to be tomorrow, but when the president says he can only come on Sunday and we rearrange everything for him. And so it's going to be a long

night to sweep start I think at 2am. Doors are going to open at six and we're excited to welcome the 47th president back to state 48. I love it. Well, stay tuned guys. Thanks for coming on and we'll link your socials below. Thank you. I appreciate it. See you guys. Thank you, I appreciate it. yet with BetMGM and no matter your team, your favorite skater or your style, there's something every NHL fan is going to love about BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your hockey home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sports book worth a celly and an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions must be 19 years of age or older to wager, Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario.