Following the City Club’s beloved decision in late 2025 to host Aaron Baer, the executive director of a designated LGBT+ hate group, the free speech forum plans to go even bigger for 2026.

Funded by trusted local donors and advocates for the region, like FirstEnergy and the Greater Cleveland Partnership, The City Club’s 2025 lineup featured prized public officials like Bernie Moreno and lesser-known backroom dealsmen like Jerry Cirino. They also made national news by featuring a levitating hologram of former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross in a conversation about cryptocurrency, followed by a Ouija board seance with President Andrew Jackson to discuss a time possibly dumber than this one. 

The first speaker for the 2026 year is Attorney General Pam Bondi, who, at first glance, looks racist, and at second glance, confirms it. AG Bondi oversees law enforcement in the United States at a critical time of prosecuting immigration, drug trafficking, and investigating the crimes of Jefferey Epstein and his co-conspirators. The City Club asked AG Bondi hard-hitting questions, like “What is your favorite color?” to which she responded, “whatever President Trump’s is.” One attendee asked about Ohioan Les Wexner’s involvement in the Epstein files, to which Bondi calmly replied, “turn that dumb idiot’s mic off right now.” The City Club reminded the audience how awesome civil discussion is, and AG Bondi reminded everyone that the DOW is over 50,000 points.

“Can we take a moment to appreciate how important this is?” said the City Club moderator, “I mean really, how important is it to have free speech in today’s day and age, huh?” He then went for a high-five, saw no one noticed, and proceeded to high-five himself.

A spokesperson for the event has reminded critics that hosting the Attorney General is consistent with The City Club’s mission of “hearing out fascism from all sides.”

“Whether you agree or disagree with the individuals ripping apart our fragile democracy, giving the elites yet another platform to spin their wrongdoings is the sort of fun thing we do around here,” the City Club spokesperson said. 

When asked about plans for this upcoming year, one staffer said they would be focused on “using the power of AI to recreate speeches from Vlad the Impaler.”