One of the most frustrating refrains one hears these days is that the Republican Party has "suddenly" gone crazy — as if it was a spontaneous explosion of lunacy that came out of nowhere. The fact is that there has been a strain of crazy on the right for a very long time and the allegedly normal Republicans who are now shocked at what's happened to their party were willfully blind and refused to see how toxic that strain was all along. All they had to do was attend any Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) of the past 20 years and open their eyes to what their party was becoming.
I'm not talking specifically about ideology here, although there was plenty of odious far-right philosophy at this confab going all the way back to its first meeting in 1974. I refer to the smart-ass, frat house attitude that came out of right-wing radio, led by the contemptible Rush Limbaugh and all the spawn that followed him. Sure they pretended to be pious conservative Christians dedicated to bringing morality back to decadent America but down in the basement where people sold their right-wing wares, there was always a plethora of nasty merch. From creepy t-shirts to crude caricatures of Black people (especially the Black First family), they made good money selling racist, sexist insults to their devoted fans.
This year, they've outdone themselves with what may be the most blatantly anti-American toy they've ever featured at a CPAC conference: a January 6-themed pinball machine described by The Hill this way:
The game can be played over several modes, including “Stop the Steal,” “Fake News,” “Peaceful Protest,” “It’s a Setup,” “Babbitt Murder” — a reference to the Jan. 6 rioter who was shot and killed by police after trying to climb barriers at the Capitol — “Have Faith” and “Political Prisoners.” As you play each mode, videos from the insurrection play on a screen above.
January 6 is now literally a game to these people.
The first couple of days have largely featured the usual culture war shock jock commentary. For instance Florida congressman Byron Donalds, rumored to be a VP contender on the Trump ticket, demonstrated his homophobia by sharing this lovely little anecdote:
“Little boys are little boys. Little girls are little girls. When I was a little boy, I liked little girls. This is a good thing. This is the natural order that keeps society progressing.”
Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville was interviewed by podcast host Ben Ferguson and claimed that "we are at war" because the communists, socialists and Marxists believe that children are part of the United States government and that "Hillary Clinton said it takes a village, why, because she doesn't like your home." Queried later by reporters about the ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court essentially making IVF fertility treatments unconstitutional, he claimed he was "all for it" because "we need more kids." When it was explained that this would actually prevent people from having kids, he said that was a different conversation and that he hadn't read the bill. Of course it wasn't a bill, it was a state Supreme Court decision. Byron Donalds, also said that he was in favor of the ruling as did presidential candidate Nikki Haley in a different venue, although both seemed to be as confused as Tuberville.
CPAC is a mess and you have to wonder whether it's on its last legs.
The panels so far have been the usual obnoxious fare. There was one called “Cat Fight? Michelle vs. Kamala" in which a panel of white people trashed the former first lady and current vice president with one of the participants implying that Michelle Obama is a man, one of the right's favorite tropes. It brought gales of laughter from the entire panel and the audience.
There was another panel called "Babies R Us" which I thought could be an appropriate title for any of the panels considering the amount of whining and temper tantrums they all feature. But this one was about how happy all the panelists were that Roe v. Wade had been repealed, celebrating the fact that their entire agenda is now going to be enacted.
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But all that fun and frivolity doesn't hide the even darker turn the conference has taken. For all of its extremism in the past, it's only since Donald Trump that they've been welcoming authoritarian dictators to the conference. Yesterday, the self-described "coolest dictator," El Salvador president Nayib Bukele, received a "rock-star welcome" from the crowd (who had probably never heard of him until that moment.)
It's a little unoriginal but even Bukele knows you really can't go wrong with a little Soros bashing in a right-wing crowd. On Saturday, the new far-right president of Argentina, Javier Milei, will be at CPAC to talk about "fighting socialism and corruption." (CPAC has already featured Hungary's Viktor Orban at earlier conferences.) Authoritarians are the big gets for these meetings nowadays and, needless to say, the superstar wannabe "dictator for a day" Donald Trump will be the keynote speaker as he has been for the past eight years. This is the conference that launched his political career back in 2012 and in recent years it might as well have changed its name to TPAC.
Interestingly, this year's meeting is apparently pretty sparsely attended or at least it was in the first couple of days. Numerous shots of empty seats have been circulating on social media. If they weren't such hypocrites, one might imagine that conservatives might be put off by the raging scandal around the organization's leader, Matt Schlapp, who is under investigation for the sexual assault of a young male staffer and has been accused of several others of drunkenly groping them at various conservative functions. The Daily Beast reports that subpoenas were recently issued to various CPAC officials seeking information about document shredding in relation to the lawsuit amid other claims of financial mismanagement.
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CPAC is a mess and you have to wonder whether it's on its last legs. The truth is that as much as Trump loves CPAC, the MAGA faithful prefer the newer, more exciting conferences put on frequently by Turning Point USA, run by activist Charlie Kirk. He's more edgy and fun. Why just this week on his podcast he and his guests fantasized about beheading people on national TV.
He also called for Joe Biden to be executed. It's a favorite topic.
One of the guests on that podcast was Jack Posobiac, a notorious right-wing activist who spoke at the beginning of the CPAC conference and made quite a stir when he said, "Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn't get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here," showing his fist. Former White House adviser, grifter and podcaster Steve Bannon exclaimed, "Amen!"
That's what MAGA really wants to hear these days. Even the crude insults toward Michelle Obama and speeches by dictators are too soft for this crowd. Why, even Donald Trump is a bit of a RINO these days. CPAC for all its petty spitefulness just doesn't give them the same thrill anymore. They don't want frat house humor and obscure Latin American leaders. They want blood.
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