From Eric Dondero:

I am in Nashville. Earlier this afternoon I met with Dutch Parliamentarian and Party of Freedom leader Geert Wilders at the Williamson County Republican Headquarters in downtown Franklin. There were about 50 people there for an outdoor Welcome Geert BBQ in the parking lot. During the BBQ attendees got to meet privately with Geert inside for a photo shoot and some words, one at a time.

When it was my turn, I greeted him and welcomed him to the United States. I said "pleasure to meet you," in my broken Dutch. He was taken aback. I invited him to Texas for his next trip to the States. He joked, maybe I can drive back with you to Houston. He said he had never been to the Lone Star State and was anxious for a visit.

He's a very pleasant man in person. Tall, and thinner than I expected. He's constantly smiling. He seemed genuinely excited to be in Nashville.

Security was tight. There were about 20 protesters across the street. They were well-dressed, and looked to be Democrat political operatives. They were holding sings, "Stop Islamophobia." I walked across the street, and snapped a few photos of them. One protester, confirmed to me he was a Democrat. They weren't particularly nasty.

I also met a small group of Jewish supports for Geert at the BBQ, one a Rabbi from Boston, who claimed to be one of the very first people ever, to support Geert in the United States way back in the early 2000s.

Tonight is the big event. Geert Wilders will be addressing a crowd at a very large church on the northside of Nashville. It is sposnored by the Tennessee Freedom Coalition. (tennesseefreedomcoalition.org).

I hope to be able to Live Blog the event. If not, I will bring you all full news of his speech sometime tomorrow.

Note - Obviously, posts to LR today and tomorrow will be less than usual, due to my trip. We should return back to normal format on Saturday.