By Elizabeth Cook
editor@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Dr. Ada Fisher could not pass up her first invitation to the Trump White House.

Fisher, North Carolina’s National Republican Committeewoman and an early Trump supporter, has been to Washington, D.C., more times than she can count, and she has visited the White House before.

But the invitation to hear a panel discussion on women’s empowerment on Wednesday was her first chance to see President Donald Trump and wife Melania in their new residence. And Fisher absorbed every minute of it.

“It gave me a better feel for why he chose the people he did,” Fisher said during an interview Thursday, after she returned home.

The panel included three women filling key roles in the administration: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon and United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was the host for the panel.

Also present were White House counselor Kellyanne Conway and former “Apprentice” star Omarosa Manigault, now communications director in the public liaison office.

“Nikki Haley is a star,” Fisher said. The former South Carolina governor said some officials greeted her arrival at the U.N., saying it was time for the United States to lead again.

“I was very appreciative of her story about how she got where she was,” Fisher said. Haley said too many women were risk-averse, and she urged them to take chances, Fisher said.

The Salisbury resident said the White House was easily accessible; the delays she expected for security checks did not materialize. Fisher, who is black, said she was impressed by how many members of the Secret Service agents that she saw were black, and she wondered why more of the members of the military present were not black.

Trump spoke briefly at the event, part of his administration’s Women’s History Month observation. His remarks echoed the Women’s History Month proclamation that was handed out to attendees. He mentioned several women who have made a difference in the nation through the years.

Some reports noted that Trump made a quip about social reformer and suffragette Susan B. Anthony, asking the attendees if anyone had heard of her. “I’m shocked that you’ve heard of her,” he said, according to USA Today, which reported he was clearly joking.

Fisher said she could tell Trump was in a good mood.

“He’s having fun being president,” she said, “and that was fun to see.”

She had only one criticism of the event: “I wish they had let Melania Trump speak.”