CPAC kick-off makes ripple, not waves in conservative circles
Call it the Bland Old Party. The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) kicks off in earnest today, and while it is still drawing some major speakers to include President Trump, its influence as a barometer for the conservative movement as a whole is at a low point.
For years, CPAC was the premier annual event on the right, where activists, influencers, students, interest groups, Republican presidential hopefuls, and attention-seekers would gather and debate, seeking to grow influence and buzz. The after-hours parties and tangential events were as big of a draw, if not more so, than those on stage.
Now, nearly everyone I talk to in the conservative spheres in D.C. sees CPAC as an easy skip. Some did not even remember it was happening this week.
One clear sign of CPAC no longer being the same major social hub: Last year, the New York Times called Steve Bannon’s WarRoom show bash “the only party that mattered” at CPAC. This year, a CPAC opening night party hosted by WarRoom, The National Pulse, and Human Events is taking place on Capitol Hill rather than in National Harbor, where the conference takes place at the Gaylord Conference Center.
Dennis Lennox, a Republican consultant and columnist who had attended many CPACs (and who I believe I first met at CPAC), is not attending this year. He put it to me this way:
“I remember then-President George W. Bush speaking at the Omni Shoreham. For me, CPAC was always the heir to William F. Buckley Jr. and Russell Kirk. At least two generations of conservative and Republican politicians, operatives, consultants, journalists, and thinkers came through CPAC at some point or another. I don’t know a single person who goes to CPAC anymore, including those with other people’s money."
You don’t have to take his word for it. Just look at the major sponsorship partners that CPAC flaunted a few short years ago compared to this year. In 2022, the last CPAC I attended, signs thanked sponsors like the Republican National Committee, Heritage Foundation, Fox Nation, Leadership Institute, Turning Point USA, and Students for Life.
Those were not present on signage listing this year that I saw last night (when I bailed on picking up media credentials – it took some of my colleagues three hours in a long line to get theirs because of tech issues). Patriot Mobile, Moms for America, Proverbs Media Group LLC, and Revere Payments have stuck around as featured sponsors; Newsmax, The Daily Wire, Parler, and Great American Pure Flix are featured additions.
The American Conservative Union, which puts on the CPAC, did not respond to an email inquiry about its influence. But Matt Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union, and Mercedes Schlapp, his wife who is also involved with CPAC, are projecting buzz, saying top-tier tickets sold out and encouraging single people to attend since marriages and engagements have come out of CPAC.
Bannon also promoted discounted CPAC tickets on his show and hosted a WarRoom “Force Multiplier Academy” live show in a CPAC pre-event on Wednesday.
I’ll post CPAC observations on X: @emilybrooksnews. Want to say hi? Ping me at ebrooks@thehill.com.
WHAT EXPLAINS THE CPAC DECLINE? There are a number of factors at play.
- Trump’s rise and the conservative sphere coalescing around him could mean there is less appetite to explore varying ideologies and brands of leaders like in the early 2010s.
- The COVID-19 pandemic and bans on large events likely challenged the longtime event and changed norms around it, even as CPAC found workarounds like hosting in Florida.
- Organizations like Turning Point USA who once brought hoards of young people to CPAC now focus on their own major conferences, like AmericaFest.
- And perhaps most importantly, the American Conservative Union saw an exodus of longtime board members in 2023, with some expressing concerns about financial reports. The departures coincided with Matt Schlapp battling an accusation of sexual assault from a GOP strategist. Schlapp vigorously denied wrongdoing and that accuser, Carlton Huffman, later dropped his lawsuit against Schlapp in early 2024. CNN reported at the time that a $480,000 settlement was paid to Huffman through an insurance policy.
But even as CPAC has declined in the U.S., it has gained influence in conservative circles across the globe, hosting gatherings in Korea, Brazil, Japan, Argentina and Hungary.
Indeed, some of the conference’s major speakers this year are foreign leaders: Former President Bolsonaro of Brazil, President Javier Milei of Argentina, Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia. Some see the international expansion as impressive; skeptics raise eyebrows at the foreign partnerships.
Mercedes Schlapp told Newsmax on Wednesday: “CPAC has become almost the United Nations in a good way, in promoting freedom and in promoting sovereignty and ensuring that we can fight back against the enemies."
The true test of strength will be in a few years, as conservatives search for a successor to Trump. If CPAC is made great again, all the major contenders will be there.
Other CPAC speakers: Megyn Kelly, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), border czar Tom Homan, Vice President Vance, Ben Shapiro, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Brietbart’s Matt Boyle, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley, Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs.
CAN THE MAHA-MAGA ALLIANCE LAST? One new ideological coalition that Mercedes Schlapp name-checked while promoting CPAC to Megyn Kelly was “Make America Healthy Again.”
Can confirm, MAHA is there. Spotted Wednesday night at the Gaylord convention center where CPAC is taking place: Del Bigtree, who was formerly a close adviser for new Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
I met Bigtree last week at a press conference his new MAHA Action organization hosted at the National Press Club following Kennedy’s confirmation. After at least 30 minutes of Bigtree lecturing and berating reporters for not adequately covering vaccines, I got to chat with him about the GOP embrace of the MAHA movement. He told me:
“The Democratic Party just ceded the entire natural health movement, which I grew up in, all the crunchy granola moms, my hippie parents, were Democrats. And in some stroke of genius, they just let every hippie and child of hippies that fought for human rights and free speech in the 1960s, that supported Robert Kennedy and JFK, they just let that entire group of people move over to the Republican Party. That will be one of the worst decisions ever made by a political party in the history of this country.”
But while Bigtree doesn’t see Democrats being able to win those voters back, what about the prospects for Republicans to keep them in the fold after Trump is no longer at the top of the ticket? He said he does not worry about that.
“We find ourselves in a position we never dreamed of. We have exceeded beyond our wildest dreams,” Bigtree said.
This week in the conservative world beyond CPAC…
FOREIGN POLICY FAULT LINES: My colleague Caroline Vakil reports that even as Republicans are generally energized ahead of CPAC, fault lines on foreign policy are on display.
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, speaking on a press call from the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship Conference (ARC) in London earlier this week, took a jab at former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has voted against some Trump cabinet picks.
“What I see is it’s time for people like Sen. McConnell, respectfully, to get on the train,” Roberts said in the context of divisions over foreign policy.
“The train’s left the station, and the train isn’t just the President of the United States, all due respect to him. It’s the conservative movement.”
SHIFTING ‘PRO-LIFE’ STRATEGY: Leaders in the anti-abortion movement including Leonard Leo and Robert George announced a $30 million investment in a new Pro-Life Venture Fund and a new Life Leadership Conference organization that will focus more on building a “culture of life” than on changing laws.
Fox News Digital reports a memo about the new initiative that takes some jabs at existing anti-abortion infrastructure: “[O]ld strategies for building public support and advancing the pro-life cause in legislatures and courts need to be rethought and, in some cases, revised … Some groups have adapted and are charting winning strategies. Some are posting more losses than gains and are redefining what it means to win in ways that risk making the movement weaker and less effective."
"What’s more, the battle over abortion never was, and must never be allowed to become, simply about making sure the issue is delegated to the right government actors … Our coalition will work tirelessly to provide genuine protection to unborn babies and practical assistance to pregnant women in need."
I’m Emily Brooks, House leadership reporter at The Hill, expanding to cover the wider right-wing ecosystem, influences, and debates in Washington, D.C. Send me observations and tips: ebrooks@thehill.com.
Updated at 7:00 a.m. EST
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