Delivered by President Gavin M. Wax, December 9, 2023.
I’ll be honest with you tonight. I did not prepare a speech for this. I’m going off the cuff here. I had a much more important speech I had to prepare for later when our special guest arrives. More on that to come.
But every year, and I’ve been doing this now, this is my fifth year running this organization, a storied club. You’ve heard it all before. One hundred eleven years ago, we had our first gala with President Taft. Ever since then, this institution has defined the American body of politics and charted a new course, and I’m glad to be continuing that legacy with all of you tonight.
When I took over this Club five years ago, I never would have imagined standing here before you in this beautiful ballroom, the largest freestanding ballroom in the city of New York, built in the 1850s with all these ornate columns and this beautiful crowd in front of me, close to I don’t know, we’re pushing 1000 people here tonight. Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable.
I want to stress a few things because you may have some questions. This organization is entirely volunteer-run. Everything you see here today was put on by an organization that has no paid staff, that has no, you know, lofty officers that are collecting six-figure paychecks. We work full-time jobs. We work in the private sector, and we take time out of our days, out of our busy work weeks here in New York, to make this organization possible to make events like this possible and to host you. Fine people.
We’ve come a long way since we first took over this Club with my consiglieres Nathan Berger and Vish Burra in April 2019. Stand up, guys. Stand up! We have quite the motley New York crew, to put it lightly, but when we took over this organization, we set out with a few goals. We would revive our membership. This was a club that, at one point, had 5000 members in multiple clubhouses. They were hosting galas at the Waldorf Astoria. It was the institution. It had fallen on hard times. We took it over. We wanted to revitalize that membership. And thanks to our Hebraic friend doing the menorah lighting, I think we pushed well over 1200 members this year. So thank you, Alex Zhik.
In addition to our membership, we wanted to secure a clubhouse for the first time in 60 years. And you all know the real estate market in New York, it’s pretty, pretty abysmal, but we were able to pull it off, and it’s become our sort of meeting of the minds, a speakeasy if you will. It got us through Covid. It’s continued today, and it’s our little home in this liberal, left-wing paradise known as New York City.
However, one of the main goals that we set out was twofold. One, I always envisioned hosting one of our amazing galas at one of the greatest venues that New York City has to offer. That venue is none other than Cipriani Wall Street, and here we are today. A massive affair with a beautiful crowd, and it wouldn’t be possible without my team.
But in addition to that, we could never have imagined in a million years that tonight, of all nights, we would be graced by the presence of the greatest president of the United States of America, President Donald John Trump. It is an honor to be hosting him this evening, and he will be arriving shortly for dinner. But I cannot stress enough that this is an incredible honor and feat for this organization. This is a man who understands loyalty and respects his friends and allies, and this Club will continue to be a friend and ally to our greatest president, President Donald J. Trump.
So tonight, we got our two goals. We have a gala at Cipriani Wall Street, and we have President Trump. I can’t imagine a better night. I can’t wait for it all to be over. It has been stressful, but I need to thank my entire team individually because that’s what we do. Because we’re a club that honors each other and works together, we’re going to continue to work together to continue to grow this organization, to reach new heights, to achieve new membership goals, to continue to grow, bring more dignitaries, build more international partnerships, bring in more great minds of this conservative populist movement. Continue to make headlines and continue to make waves. We are not going to stop. I hope you don’t stop and you’re with us all along the way.
I’d start off by first thanking the love of my life, my girlfriend, Chelsea Hall, who’s been with me through everything, through thick and thin. Chelsea has been by my side, both the good and the bad. She’s our Communications Chairwoman. But without her, nothing would be possible. I want to thank my executive committee and vice president, Mr. MENSA. This man is a genius. He’s super high IQ. Nathan Berger. He’s moving somewhere to deal with the problem. He’s a great guy. Our Treasurer, Claire Walsh, who’s keeping the books balanced. We are totally above board financially.
My Corresponding Secretary, Ilana Marcus. Ilana, thank you for all you do. My Recording Secretary, Nick Tan. Everyone stand up as I call you. Nick Tan, thank you for all you do. My Executive Secretary, Viswanag Burra, from the great borough of Staten Island. My Sergeant at Arms, co-author of my upcoming book, The Emerging Populist Majority, Iraq war veteran Troy Olson. Troy, thank you for your service, sir. Advisory Committee Chairman Mike Bartels, Mike, you did well on check-in. You didn’t mess up. I thank my advisory co-chairman, James Lalino, James’ handsome devil. I want to thank my finance chairman, Matt Antar, Rules Chairman, Phil Leggio, and Law Chairman, Alexander Ben Shmuel Zhik; I think he sold half the tickets to the Russian Jewish community in Brooklyn. It’s like half the crowd. It’s great. I want to thank our Speakers Chairwoman, Hayley Prudente and Speakers Co-Chairwoman, Macayle Carey, and Membership Chairwoman, Asha Etherton. She just got married in Mar-a-Lago, a beautiful ceremony. Mazel Tov to her. The Chairman of our Black Caucus and our Philanthropy Committee is none other than Jude Somefun. Jude, stand up.
Oh, man, I’m going off ad-lib. I’m trying to remember all the names. Nick Rafael, our Publications Chairman, thank you for your help. Becky Oliviera, Design Chairwoman, you’ll get a big show later. I’m forgetting names, but I don’t want to keep you here all evening. The team is fantastic! The team is growing! We’re here with you, and we’re going to remain here! We’re going to continue the fight deep behind enemy lines. We’re not going to stop. We are not scared. We are not afraid. We will be on the streets. We will be knocking on doors. We will be winning elections from Queens to Brooklyn; cheers to Vickie Paladino, 20-point win! Cheers to Inna Vernikov 20-point win! We flip seats! We host great parties! We know how to run an organization, and it’s about time the Party starts to take some cues. Maybe they can learn something from a young Republican group and get off their high horse.
We’re going to keep winning. We’re going to keep fighting. And thank you all for being here tonight. God bless America. God bless you all, and let’s make America great again. Thank you.