Nazis, antisemitism, the great replacement theory, Fuentes, have become so common among conservatives that I think attendees, even journalists, didn’t think too deeply about them being at CPAC. There was very much an “oh them” attitude about the nazis.https://t.co/GxszahWw7q — Ben Goggin (@BenjaminGoggin) February 24, 2024 Fringe leftist media outlet NBC sent a ‘cub reporter’ …
Late Night Horrorshow Open Thread: CPAC Did Nazi A ProblemPost + Comments (129)
People are saying that these people are "cosplaying" as Nazis.
These are the young faces of an increasingly successful fascist movement in the US. They peddle extreme, racist, violent ideas. They're inserting themselves into the mainstream.
It's not cosplay. Call them Nazis. https://t.co/NvFdmMRwj7
— Ben Goggin (@BenjaminGoggin) February 26, 2024
And somehow their statement still doesn't address the photos and videos of the Nazis at CPAC. https://t.co/KJEAPbTKSg
— Ben Goggin (@BenjaminGoggin) February 26, 2024
The FTFNYTimes, of course, treats it as a style issue:
Spent the weekend covering the wild world of big tent politics at the CPAC afterparty scene for @NYTStyles https://t.co/19bQ6NodHB
— Jack Crosbie (@jscros) February 26, 2024
(Gift link… but you can’t say you weren’t warned.)
… CPAC has long been as much a social event as an opportunity to set the tone and agenda of the conservative movement. But in recent years, as Donald J. Trump has remade the Republican Party, CPAC’s attendance and cultural capital has declined, a trend heightened by allegations of sexual assault made in a lawsuit against the organization’s president, Matt Schlapp. (Mr. Schlapp has denied the allegations.)
In the days leading up to the convention, one longtime conservative activist told The New York Times in a text message that he would rather poke out his own eyes than attend, arguing that the event had turned into a veritable Trump rally at which no other views were permitted.
Those who did show up were quick to note that the CPAC party scene was also on life support.
“It’s dead,” said Michael R. Bartels, 28, the advisory chairman of the New York Young Republican Club. Mr. Bartels said that the conference was caught between an older generation of conservatives in the mold of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and a younger, Trumpier wave…
At the atrium bar in the Gaylord Convention Center, where CPAC was being held, Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida posed for pictures with grinning college students and grizzled consultants. Across the way, a small group of men in an assortment of antiquated formal wear — double-breasted coats, lederhosen, low-collared vests — sidled in from the hotel lobby. They stopped to chat with three CPAC attendees, one of whom NBC News identified as a minor internet personality affiliated with the white nationalist Nick Fuentes and his groyper movement.
“I’m a national socialist,” said Gregory Conte, 35, one of the men in formal wear. Mr. Conte, the former operations director for the National Policy Institute, the white nationalist think tank run by Richard Spencer, said he had come to CPAC for “people watching,” but wasn’t willing to pay for attendance…
The “War Room” party was billed as invite-only, but with Mr. Burra at the door, it seemed as if everyone was invited. The groyper contingent showed up alongside several of the costumed National Socialists. So did a contingent of Young Jewish Conservatives.
“It’s all about building coalitions,” said Ian Chase McMath, 31, a member of the New York Young Republican Club and a cameraman for Newsmax. “There could be a future president in this room.”
"Do make yourself a loony fanatic" https://t.co/3qhDXKskc3
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) February 25, 2024
2/ I'd be remiss if I didn't note that CPAC was totally whack in 2014 and pretty bad in 2004 too. But they've managed to continue refining the product, kind of like ever purer production of heroin or meth.
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) February 24, 2024
This year’s CPAC was like a January 6 reunion, and Donald Trump leaned into the rhetoric of revolution in his keynote address. https://t.co/yZZUZtmdOt
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) February 25, 2024
With any luck, this past week will eventually be diagnosed as what behaviorists call an ‘extinction burst‘. Ben Jacobs, for NYMag — “Calling Himself a ‘Political Dissident,’ Trump Pitched Regime Change at CPAC”:
If Trump rallies are for his fans, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is for his zealots. In his keynote address to the conference on Saturday, Donald Trump let his most devoted followers know that he was a “proud political dissident” on a mission to liberate the United States from Joe Biden…
The former president also spent much of the event indulging in the discursive rambling that marked much of his first presidential campaign. After all, he didn’t need to adhere too closely to the teleprompter for this audience. CPAC was once considered the premier right wing gathering in the U.S., where a variety of conservative leaders and activists could link up, share ideas, and try to push their agendas forward. Not anymore. Now, it’s a niche MAGA convention that only seems crowded when Trump himself appears and increasingly has the feel of a reunion — if not a commemoration — for those who wanted to overturn a presidential election on January 6, 2021…
Unlike an average Trump rally, attendees had to nominally pay to get into CPAC. And, unlike CPACs of the past, there was no other draw. Less than a dozen congressional Republicans attended an event that had once been a showcase for ambitious conservatives. Further, despite the fact that the National Governors Association was holding winter meetings only miles away in Washington D.C., the only sitting governor to attend was Kristi Noem, who is a contender in the Trump veepstakes, and used the event to tout her bona fides as a MAGA diehard compared to other vice presidential hopefuls who had been disloyal enough to even consider running for president against him.
There were no Trump skeptics. There was no corporate presence, unless you counted a business that sold silver infused toothbrushes or www.magahammocks.com. The professional political operatives who once treated the event as a virtual trade convention were nowhere to be found. The conference has become more international, but by featuring Trump’s fellow travelers from abroad. This year’s speaker list felt like a Steve Bannon dream team of figures from the foreign populist right, including Argentinian President Javier Milei, Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele and, for some reason, former British prime minister Liz Truss…
Lou Dobbs receives large applause for the line “Joe Biden is an illegitimate president”
— shmulik (@souljagoytellem) February 24, 2024
Yes. But all the big names still show up to curry favor. Which suggest the party as a whole has gone off the rails. https://t.co/L4Z1hYvJHy
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) February 23, 2024
We watched CPAC so you don't have to. Here it is in 120 seconds. pic.twitter.com/Bc1VVdZCv9
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) February 25, 2024