It may seem like Trump has taken over everything. That's where you're wrong. | Opinion
CPAC and Principles First couldn't be further apart on Donald Trump. The circus draws a bigger crowd because it's entertaining. But study hall is where the work gets done.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The easy, but misleading, perception after conservatives converged on our nation’s capital this weekend could be that President Donald Trump has taken over everything, now and forever.
That was certainly the prevailing pitch at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where Trump on Saturday delivered a rambling 73-minute speech focusing as much on old beefs with Democrats as it did on his controversial first month in office. In Trump’s estimation, he’s winning and anyone who opposes him is losing.
But Principles First, a group of conservatives and independents opposed to Trump and his policies, was also here, with a sold-out summit crowd of 1,100 and 200 people on a waiting list. They had a competing narrative to share.
The perception is understandable. CPAC, started in 1974, is a significantly larger crowd. But even at CPAC, I found abiding respect for the U.S. Constitution when I asked Trump supporters about his penchant and potential for busting such norms.
At Principles First, the vibe was anger and frustration, mixed with a smidge of both hope and despair, amid rallying calls for people of all political parties to stop Trump when he crosses constitutional boundaries.
CPAC is a ticket to the circus. Principles First is a seat in study hall. The circus draws a bigger crowd because it’s entertaining. But study hall is where the work gets done.
Even some conservatives see Donald Trump as a con man
Heath Mayo, a conservative lawyer who started Principles First in 2019 in response to Trump and CPAC, set the tone by telling the crowd that the Republican Party embraced “isolationism, corruption, entertainment, populism, a con man and victimhood.”
He cast the conflict as a fight to save the country, not the Republican Party.
”Our problem is not some fictitious deep state that is weaponized against these poor politicians,” Mayo said. “Our problem is that so many of the damn politicians are breaking the law.”
Speakers across several panels pointed to recent backlashes against Republicans in Congress from constituents who see no improvement on issues like inflation and instead are watching federal employees ejected from their jobs with glee by Trump co-president Elon Musk.
A memo from Trump’s campaign pollster, obtained by Politico and reported on by The New Republic, showed trouble for the president and his congressional allies in 18 swing districts for the U.S. House. That’s the 2026 midterm elections calling. And not with good news for Republicans.
Trump on Saturday pitched phony polling numbers that he floated Thursday, telling the CPAC crowd that he now has “the highest poll numbers that I’ve ever had, and that any Republican president has ever had.”
A quick review of poll after poll after poll after poll reveals that Trump’s math is so mangled here that it might have been calculated by the error-prone Department of Government Efficiency.
Democrats might not be able to capitalize on Trump's mistakes
Mark Cuban, the billionaire part owner of the Dallas Mavericks who campaigned last year for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, pointed at the Principles First summit to what he called “a gift” of missteps from Trump. But he sounded less than optimistic about the Democratic Party capitalizing on that.
Cuban praised Trump’s skills as a salesman while knocking his ability to execute policy to improve the economy. People wanted more affordable eggs. Instead, they got chaos.
”The only person who can convince a Donald Trump supporter to not support Donald Trump is Donald Trump,” Cuban said. “He’ll do all the hard work. He’ll do all the heavy lifting.”
Still, Cuban’s experience with the Harris campaign last year left him worried: ”I learned that the Democrats can’t sell worth s---. They're so, you know, persnickety about every little detail.”
Cuban and other speakers also despaired as much about ineffectual Democrats in Congress as they did Republicans in Congress surrendering their legislative power to Trump.
Trump kept looking to the past during his rambling CPAC speech
Trump, at CPAC, bragged about the obvious stuff: firing low-level federal workers, ending foreign aid, fighting with news outlets that dare to report honestly about him, and pardoning the criminals who sacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
But he was mired in the past, spending time musing about old fights with legislators and asking the crowd which insult was better suited for former President Joe Biden. His speech was just as much about the 2020 and 2024 elections as it was about his first month in office.
Trump tried a look-ahead moment, while noting that the political party that holds the White House takes a beating in the midterm elections.
”We’re going to forge a new and lasting political majority that will drive American politics for generations to come,” Trump predicted. “I think we’re going to do fantastically well in the midterms.”
That didn’t just fall flat. It sounded completely unconvincing.
Because Democrats in Congress can’t get moving and Republicans are frozen in fear, the Principles First crowd should hope that Trump keeps mulling the past while his future falls down around him. Cuban is probably right about Trump ‒ he’s the best prospect to stymie his own presidency.
Follow Paste BN columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan