Ted Cruz and JD Vance fail to bring in the crowds for CPAC
By: Sarah K. Burris (Raw Story - Celebrating Years of Independent Journalism)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The annual far-right conference CPAC is a ghost town, according to some photos of the conference space.
C-SPAN has been airing some of the panel discussions while showing crowd shots of the empty chairs. Reporters at the event have taken photos of not only the empty chairs, but the people who are on hand to watch the speeches are almost entirely elderly and white.
\u201cThe CPAC demographic in a nutshell.\n\nH/t @atrupar\u201d — The Intellectualist (@The Intellectualist) 1677776366
The exhibit hall has considerable amounts of space available for vendors that didn't sign up this year to attend, as the Huffington Post's S.V. Date tweeted.
\u201cIf anyone needs exhibit space through Saturday in suburban DC, you may want to check in with CPAC. \n\nThey seem to have a surplus.\u201d — S.V. D\u00e1te (@S.V. D\u00e1te) 1677785088
While the conference hall was fairly quiet, the "Make America Great Again" booth was hopping with Donald Trump Jr. sitting in front of a giant photo of the White House.
\u201cUnclear if they will be making a mock-up of the Fulton County courthouse or the US District court in DC in the coming months.\u201d — S.V. D\u00e1te (@S.V. D\u00e1te) 1677785088
\u201cThe crowd size at #CPAC2023 is\u2026not good \n\n(Matt Shlapp, @CPAC Gaylord, does not want you to see this)\u201d — Bad Fox Graphics (@Bad Fox Graphics) 1677774792
Insider's Bryan Metzger interviewed former White House Office of Personnel chief Johnny McEntee, who helped purge the government of so-called "Never Trumpers." He's among the exhibits that are in the hall to promote his right-wing dating app The Right Stuff. "We're having a hard enough time as it is right now," he said. They don't offer an option for same-sex relationships, which is a criticism he said they've heard "a lot."
There have been several GOP dating apps or dating websites that were attempted in the past like Donald Daters, Conservatives Only, Righter, Republican Singles and others.
\u201cChatted w/ Johnny McEntee of the right-wing dating app @daterightstuff at CPAC about why they don\u2019t yet allow same-sex pairings.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re having a hard enough time as it is right now.\u201d\n\nI pointed out that if anyone needs this, it\u2019s gay Republicans.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve heard that a lot.\u201d\u201d — bryan metzger (@bryan metzger) 1677780992
Alejandra Caraballo, who sometimes has bylines at Wired, noted that the Libs of TikTok founder, Chaya Raichik, once mocked the Washington Post reporter that outed her for speaking to an empty room. Caraballo noted the panel with Raichik seemed to have a lot of empty chairs as well.
\u201cChaya Raichik mocking Taylor Lorenz for speaking to an empty room versus Chaya Raichik speaking to an empty room at CPAC.\n\nTurns out that bots don't attend conferences.\u201d — Alejandra Caraballo (@Alejandra Caraballo) 1677784969
Media row seemed to be more hopping as Don Jr. began his show in the MAGA booth. As a Politico reporter pointed out, there was a woman painting a lion at one booth. She didn't clarify why.
\u201cScenes from CPAC radio row: Donald Trump Jr. prepping for his podcast, Steve Bannon and crew getting the crowd to chant about taking down the CCP, an assortment of right wing radio hosts and a woman painting a portrait of a lion to music\u201d — Meridith McGraw (@Meridith McGraw) 1677774546
SmartNews
www.mediaite.com /opinion/the-wildest-wackiest-and-just-plain-weird-panels-at-cpac/
The Wildest, Wackiest, and Just Plain Weird Panels at CPAC
sarah-rumpf 6-8 minutes 3/2/2023
AP Photo/John Raoux, File
The Conservative Political Action Conference ( CPAC ) kicked off this week and a number of the panels seem deliberately engineered to raise eyebrows, invoke outrage, and inspire headlines. We’ve collected the most wild, wacky, and just plain weird panels so those of you who share our masochistic interest in observing this unique political circus can follow along for all the coming shenanigans.
In this Trumpian era — former President Donald Trump might have the word “former” in his title but his influence over the conservative base has remarkable staying power — spouting tweetable quotes and owning the libs has arguably taken precedent over less glamorous endeavors such as policy making and grassroots organizing.
The CPAC agenda still contains informative discussions on GOTV strategies, school choice lobbying, and so on, but such topics are more easily found early in the agenda and especially Wednesday , which is typically the lowest-attended day of the four-day conservative confab.
The primetime spots are dedicated to the gadflies and metaphorical bomb-throwers, the conspiracy theorists and election deniers — all culminating with the Election-Denier-in-Chief himself, ex-President Trump.
Look to the Thursday schedule for the quintessential example of this: former Secretary of State (and possible 2024 presidential candidate) Mike Pompeo and Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) are the opening acts for Daily Wire firebrand and Kanye West defender Candace Owens .
Below, a sampling of the various oddities and outrages on the CPAC schedule this year. The full agenda can be viewed online here .
“The Chairman Will Serve You Now”
Thursday, March 2, 10:15 am ET
This was a welcome message from CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp with a perhaps unintentionally hilarious title, given the allegations by a Herschel Walker campaign staffer that Schlapp “grabbed my junk and pummeled it at length.” Schlapp lashed out against the “ fake journalists ” who have reported on the story on Wednesday and fled a reporter who attempted to ask him about the allegations on Thursday.
“No Chinese Balloons Above Tennessee”
Thursday, March 2, 11:00 am ET
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) promoted her chat with Fox News contributor Sara Carter as focusing on border security and holding the “Chinese Community Party accountable”…
…but the panel title made us wonder if Tennessee’s senior senator was planning to guard her state like her colleague from Ohio had suggested he would, in this tweet showing him watchfully staring up at the skies with a weapon in hand.
“Don Lemon is Past His Primetime”
Thursday, March 2, 11:45 am ET
It’s unsurprising that CPAC would take a swipe at Don Lemon , whose liberal views annoy the right and whose recent remarks have brought controversy to CNN’s morning show. But the choice of Kurt Schlichter — an outspoken Fox News contributor and Townhall columnist who wrote a book fantasizing about killing liberals during a second American Civil War — to dunk on Lemon’s far less violent commentary takes this into the realm of the absurd.
Big Tech — Break ‘Em Up, Bust ‘Em Up, Put ‘Em in Jail
Thursday, March 2, 2:25 pm ET
‘Member when the GOP supported free speech and economic freedom? Those days are long ago as we have this panel that includes Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R), Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), and Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes advocating for not just breaking up large tech companies but putting people in jail…for what reason? Presumably all this censorship we keep hearing conservatives complain about to their audiences of millions on Fox News, podcasts, the top-trafficked websites and Facebook pages, and so on.
We suspect that self-described “Chief Twit” Elon Musk , who has tossed red meat to the right with his release of the “Twitter Files” and his own tweets, will not be on the list of Big Tech execs this group wants to see behind bars.
“Taking on the Swamp”
Friday, March 3, 9:05 am ET
This panel includes Jack Posobiec (the notorious Pizzagate and Seth Rich conspiracy monger), Julie Kelly (who blamed the Capitol Police for the violence on Jan. 6 and baselessly accused former DC Metro police officer Michael Fanone of being a “ crisis actor “), Kash Patel (a Trump lawyer who has defended his use of QAnon slogans and may himself need a lawyer regarding the Mar-a-Lago classified documents) and Amanda Milius (the director of a film called The Plot Against the President , which claims there was a conspiracy to sabotage Trump).
These people aren’t taking on any swamp; they’re the creatures most comfortable slithering through the murky waters.
“They Stole It From Us Legally”
Saturday, March 4, 11:00 am ET
Yeah, ok. The title pretty much says it all, hmm? Never mind that if something is done legally, it’s not stealing and that when Trump speaks a few hours after this panel he is absolutely not going to agree the 2020 election was conducted legally.
“The Red Menace Comes to the Americas”
Saturday, March 4, 11:35 am ET
Mercedes Schlapp is going to chat with Eduardo Bolsonaro about this threat to our continent from…commies, apparently?
Eduardo Bolsonaro, it should be noted, is the son of Jair Bolsonaro , the former Brazilian president who has styled himself as the “Trump of the Tropics” and whose supporters engaged in their own violent coup attempt in January of this year that was reminiscent of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
You can follow along with Mediaite’s coverage of CPAC here , and watch the livestream on CPAC’s website here .
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law & Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on the BBC, MSNBC, NewsNation, Fox 35 Orlando, Fox 7 Austin, The Young Turks, The Dean Obeidallah Show, and other television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe.
A lot of wackiness there, but this one may be the winner
They passed batshitcrazy two shits ago.
CPAC got the headliners. Cruz is strange and the JD dude likes Putin. There it is, there you have it.
You have to wonder how much of a money loser this is for the organizers.
Hmmm ....looks like a Biden or Clinton rally
Yet how many millions more votes did they get?
These look like the CPAC delegates from Texas!
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You seem to use the same picture with lots of different captions. That is not only lame but pretty lazy.
JBB recycles to reduce his impacts on our environment.
Oh no!
Not a bad idea but you think he could find a couple better ones than the couple he keeps using.
I am pretty confident that these guys do not vote Democratic!
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So
Perhaps if you tripled their gas prices you could get them to secede again, eh?
I think that we might have more influence in regards to that than New York.....
Except, most of the gop on the south already favors secession!
Putin invades Ukraine. Gas prices rise. The gop blames Biden...
We? You and who? The people represented in that photo?
Yankees already whooped that bunch. Wanting a rematch?
I don't think The Financial Capitol Of The World is worried!
The Financial Capital Of The World sleeps easy knowing your assessment.
That is true. New Yorkers do not lose any sleep worrying over all those poor dumb modern day secessionists in the gop...
Exactly, it’s Sen Warren and Sen Sanders that keep them up at night.
So true because so many New Yorkers are moving in next to them to escape their liberal shithole.
Two years since the Nazi stages hoax at cpac sent the left into a panic.
good times.
Not that long ago leftists saw Russian bots under every one of their beds.
Now it seems that nazis have taken their place.
Leftists sure do keep strange bedfellows.
Gee, I guess all those empty seats shows that the majority of the attendees didn't stick around for Trump's nostalgic "words of wisdom"
Some folks do not know the difference between fascist and Nazi and use them interchangeably.
You see, the thing is neither of them are running for president, so a smaller turnout is expected.
However, they did pull a much larger audience than someone who DID run for president
Explaining how Biden whooped Trump's ass?