Trump evolved CPAC beyond conservatism. Is there still room for Reagan Republicans? | Opinion
CPAC has become a parade of prancing personalities, all trying to one-up each other in toadyism to Trump, where provocation is everything and actual policy of governing is, at best, an afterthought.
Washington, D.C., will host this weekend a pair of events offering a split screen of contradictions about what it means to be a conservative in the time of President Donald Trump, who drives division in all things, including the Republican Party.
Principles First is an annual summit launched in 2019 in response to the disillusionment some conservatives felt about Trump's first term – and also as a rebuke to the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering known as CPAC that started in 1974.
Consider Principles First, an attempt to return to what CPAC once was – a place where conservatives, independents and libertarians discussed and debated policy, up-and-coming politicians sought support, and young and aspiring political operatives came to learn and network.
Compare that with what CPAC has become – a parade of prancing personalities, all trying to one-up each other in toadyism to Trump, where provocation is everything and the actual policy of governing is, at best, an afterthought.
Sorry to say, but CPAC's favoring of flash over substance has been more successful at attracting attention, at least for now. Still, Principles First is growing in influence, while CPAC feels like it has reached a controversy-riddled zenith.
That might be wishful thinking. Time will tell.
The conservatives who want Trump held accountable
Heath Mayo, a 34-year-old lawyer who first attended CPAC as a sophomore in college, told me he launched the volunteer-driven Principles First six years ago, hoping to create a grassroots community of people interested in "ideas rather than personalities."
CPAC, Mayo said, deteriorated and is "just not a serious place" for that kind of conversation.
A year ago, Principles First was hoping to prevent a second Trump presidency. This weekend, its activists will explore ways to contain the convulsion of norm-busting and government enfeeblement that Trump has pushed in his first month back in the White House.
"It is what we thought it was," Mayo said. "It wasn't overstated. The concern was not exaggerated. These guys, through a combination of incompetence and a complete disregard for the fundamental principles that made America great and the institutions that have made us great, are really threatening what we have done over the past century."
On the agenda: Trump's tariffs on allies and embrace of geopolitical foes, how to lower costs for health care and housing, and a big focus on urging Republican members of Congress to stand up to Trump when they disagree with him.
"They have an independent duty on (Trump Cabinet) nominees to advise and consent, not just trust and obey," Mayo said. "They're independent as legislators in their own right, not just sort of lemmings or foot soldiers in Trump's little MAGA army."
CPAC has evolved into a MAGA mecca
Over at CPAC in Oxon Hill, Maryland, about 10 miles south of Washington, D.C., Trump is expected to speak this weekend after his co-president Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance addressed the crowd Thursday.
Then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan, speaking at the first CPAC in 1974, used the opening lines of his speech to honor and introduce three men who had recently been released from North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camps. One of them was John McCain, who'd become a Republican senator from Arizona and his party's 2008 nominee for president.
McCain was cheered at CPAC 51 years ago. Dying of brain cancer in 2018, McCain was jeered when Trump derided him in a noxious CPAC speech.
I'd bet that the late President Reagan, with his "Tear Down This Wall" speech before the fall of the Soviet Union, would be outraged at the MAGA crowd at CPAC cheering Trump's flagrant fealty to a Russian president who illegally launched a war against Ukraine and a Republican-controlled Congress chock full of politicians who would really like to stand up to Russia about all that but won't dare cross Trump because they fear his wrath.
Trump is the perfect speaker for what CPAC has become. Anyone who disagrees with Trump and his CPAC pals is a “global Marxist” who must be hated. It’s simple-minded messaging that taunts the listener to comply or face conflict.
Charlie Gerow, a Pennsylvania political consultant, was a college student when he heard Reagan speak at CPAC in 1974. He joined CPAC's board about a decade ago and was vice chair when he resigned last year, while calling for an independent investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by the chair, Matt Schlapp.
Gerow recalled the early days of CPAC this way: "It was a training ground for young conservatives. It was a place to see and be seen. All the young guys who thought they were going to rule the world went."
Republicans are having a moment. What would Reagan think?
Gerow declined to comment on the current state of CPAC. But his resignation letter, obtained in November by The Daily Beast, expressed strong concerns about the group encouraging "blind loyalty" to Schlapp.
The CPAC chairman was facing a lawsuit brought in 2023 by a political consultant who accused Schlapp of groping his genitals.
Schlapp denied the allegations. The lawsuit was dropped last March, with CNN and The New York Times reporting that the consultant received a $480,000 settlement.
Right on cue, Schlapp is now accused of grabbing another man's crotch while creeping on a group of men at a Virginia bar two weeks ago, according to a scoop from independent journalist Yashar Ali. A local paper, the Rappahannock News, obtained the details from a police report.
No charges were filed, and Schlapp did not respond to the newspaper or Ali.
Make of that what you will. But, putting the salacious controversy aside, think about what it meant to be a conservative five decades ago and how some savvy politicians and opportunistic grifters have completely co-opted what it now means. Would Reagan cheer what he would hear at CPAC this week if he were still alive?
I think Reagan would give all that cacophonous chatter his signature shake of the head, a signal he used to send when he wondered what was wrong with the world around him.
Follow Paste BN columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan