It was January 2013, and the Lincoln Dinner was just a few months away. Oakland County, Michigan has one of the largest and oldest Lincoln Dinners—which raise money for the county’s Republican Party—in the country. I had promised, as the chair of the event, to organize the most successful event in our 125-year history and I had no keynote speaker. I had asked various GOP stars (of the time)—Bobby Jindal, Dana Perino, Ted Cruz—and they all declined.