This year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was at the Gaylord Resort Conference Center in Texas over March 25-28. U.S. President Donald Trump and much of his family has attended every gathering of CPAC for the last decade, but this year the entire Trump family skipped the multi-day event in Grapevine, Texas. Last year’s event was packed, but this year there are no MAGA luminaries, no JD Vance, no Marco Rubio, no Kash Patel, no Pam Bondi, no Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, or other presidential hopefuls. It should come as no surprise that Turning Point’s national convention in December drew about 10 times more attendees.
There were a few unsavory characters in attendance, such as Steve Bannon and Enrique Tarrio, the former chairman of the Proud Boys who was reportedly most happy about being out of jail. There were also fewer prominent figures. Among those attending were the son of Rudy Giuliani, Andrew Giuliani, who is the White House liaison to the FIFA soccer league’s World Cup activities.The most interesting speaker at CPAC was the former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, but he criticized the Iran War, the allowing of U.S. foreign policy to be directed by Israel, opposed the use of ground forces in Iran, and stated, “I’m not sure we would end up killing more terrorists than we would create.”
Trying to generate some enthusiasm from the audience on March 27, the host of the CPAC event, Matt Schlapp, asked the crowd, “How many of you would like to see impeachment hearings?” But the audience erupted in cheers. Schlapp responded with “No. That was the wrong answer. Let me try it again. How many of you would like to see impeachment hearings?” But again the crowd erupted in cheers. According to IRS records CPAC paid Matt Schlapp $830,000 in 2023, which came in handy for his $500,000 legal settlement in 2024 for inappropriate behavior with a male campaign worker in Georgia.