In focus: ‘Cost of living, immigration enforcement, artificial intelligence and data centers,’ and the future of the party after Trump
By Carolina Lumetta, Real Clear Wire
IRVING, Texas —While the Republican Party faithful streamed through Secret Service checkpoints in downtown Dallas, other conservatives flocked to the Rayleigh event center in Irving, less than two miles up the road. A new conservative programming organization called FORUM hosted a series of panel discussions to tackle the topics the convention rally wouldn’t touch: the cost of living, immigration enforcement, artificial intelligence and data centers, and the future of the GOP beyond Donald Trump.
The two events were not technically dueling, but while the president spoke to uproarious applause at the American Airlines Center, a smaller crowd of conservatives barely even watched the livestream of the president’s speech. Instead, attendees were buzzing about a mainstage debate on artificial intelligence.
“I’m tired of older institutions that don’t get it and are years behind the base for where the action is,” CEO Matthew Peterson told a crowd of a couple hundred, mostly men. “For the sake of finding the roots of our actual disagreements, we need to assume patriotism and good faith,” Peterson added. The whole point of the day is to get into it and to have a hell of a good time doing so.”