Thread by @lara_korte

Good evening folks. @THEHermanCain has stopped by the KU biz school to give the annual Vickers Lecture. I'll be live-tweeting the talk, which is set to start at 7p. Right now there's only about ~25 people here. Follow along!

ICYMI: @realDonaldTrump has floated Mr. Cain as someone he might appoint to the Federal Reserve board of governors. The Fed is one of the (if not THE) most powerful financial institutions in the world. politico.com/story/2019/04/…

More people are filtering in, likely around 60+ people now and many more students, it's still a majority of older folks.

7 p.m. on the dot out comes Herman Cain to a big round of applause.

Paige Fields, Dean of the Biz School, introduces the lecture. The agenda for tonight includes a Q&A after remarks from Cain. Audience members can write their questions on a notecard that will (or won't) be read to Cain.

Then, a reception in the lobby.

Cain is up now -- says he's been working for 50 years and talks about the American dream.

"America is in a war between capitalism and socialism... socialism is trying to creep its way into our culture."

This is the main theme of the night. To, as he says, "consume the truth."

"I'm here to give you some facts, I'm here to connect some dots that are very scary when it comes to socialism trying to creep into our lives." He says.

Cain compares himself at times to Dr. Martin Luther King, because "You reach a point in your successful career where making more money isn’t inspiring enough."

If you take away anything from tonight, it's that Herman Cain loves capitalism.

"People who want to use history as an excuse for moving forward, I don’t have any need for those people."

Cain now talking about the advent of technology and the importance of distributor processing. "In America you can innovate, you can try things. You can succeed and you can fail."

"Bill Gates started in his garage. You couldn't have done that in another country."

Cain now attacking a "certain candidate" who is in favor of Medicare for all.

"Bureaucrats want to control the decisions that you ought to make about your health care and your health insurance."

Cain says "healthcare is a right" sarcastically to chuckles in the crowd. "Is a Cadillac a right?" he asks

Now he's railing against @AOC 's Green New Deal Plan which

"When God is ready for us not to have fossil fuels, he'll find a way."

"God gave us resources for a reason and he will allow us to use them until we're ready to move onto the next thing."

There are heads nodding in the crowd.

Cain giving Venezuela as an example of a failed socialism country.

Also pointing out the failings of the U.S.S.R.

Herman Cain on Healthcare: "Obamacare was a miserable failure that was shoved down the American people’s throats."

Sounds very similar to someone I know who may or may not be considering Cain for a new fancy job.

Cain going through his roles at Pillsbury and Burger King. He didn’t allow workers to come in with bad attitudes, he said.

When you are running a biz, look for that one thing you can change ... that’s the American Dream, he says.

In 2011, he says he “lost his mind in a temporary measure of insanity and ran for president.”

After he started moving up in the polls for President that’s when the blood games started, he said, and accusations came out (re: sexual assault. “Not one accusation was ever proven... but the media decided I was guilty... that’s socialism.”

“I don’t hold onto the past,” he says, tells young people to “value those ideals that made is great and you can be great too.”

Cain is wearing the same tie he wore to the Presidential debate, fun fact

Big comment here, Cain addressing attacks that have come up since the Fed position was floated. “That was expected. I was not surprised.” Then quotes Ephesians 6:11-12.

That bible verse talks about putting on the full armor of God to defend against the devils out there “and some are in high places.” He says

Herman Cain on the vetting process for the Fed: “bring it on.” Seems really confident about his chances.

“You think I’m going to get intimidated by a bunch of yahoos (presumably the Senate Banking Committee members) trying to embarrass me? They’re the ones that are going to be embarrassed.”

Sorry I haven't given you an update in a while (deadline!)

The Q&A ended with Cain telling folks to follow their dreams. There's now a reception. Fin.

I caught up with Cain in the hallway and asked about the criticisms being dredged up in light of the Fed consideration --

He says it's because of four things:

1. He's a Trump supporter
2. He's a conservative
3. He shares some views about the fed with Trump
4. He's black.

Final dispatch of the night: Herman Cain was handing out these “Truth Cards” at the after-party.