CPAC makes it clear: there are no Republican policies except Trump
The official Republican platform used to be whatever Donald Trump wanted it to be, and it changed whenever he wanted it to. Now that he’s banned from Twitter for life, the GOP’s policies have been reduced to merely whatever Donald Trump is feeling at the moment, unless you’re the often deadbeat dad advising him or a waiter at his country club, you have no way of knowing what they are at any given moment.
That’s why I was surprised when my friend, CPAC Chairman, Matt Schlapp, (yes we are friends) insisted that Republicans have policies.
Looking back on CPAC, it’s very hard to determine what they are.
The lineup at CPAC featured top Trump enablers like Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis, sexual assault cover-up expert Rep. Jim Jordan, and his “ultimate defender” Rep. Matt “Pizza” Gaetz. But the parade of horribles was far deeper and worse than those usual suspects, with speaker after speaker lined up to worship at the altar of the Republican party’s Golden Calf idol.
Of course, the statue was made in Mexico.
There were no less than ten sessions at CPAC that attempted to expand “the Big Lie.” Several speakers claimed Trump was still President (he is not, how is that something that needs to be noted anymore).
Speakers like the well-rested, tanned, and ready Ted Cruz, who presumably used his frequent flier miles to attend the conference, promptly spat out that Cancun is nicer than Orlando after he shirked his duty to Texas for a vacation escape from his state to Mexico during an emergency. Occupy Democrats accurately described his new schtick thusly:
Cruz ended his speech with a nasally, high-pitched yell for “FREEDOM,” which can’t be unheard. He was trying to channel William Wallace of Braveheart fame but sounded much more akin to Howard Dean’s infamous “YAHHH!”
Gun lover Lauren Bobert delivered a rambling speech loaded with praise for Trump devoid of any substance that nearly made Sarah Palin look like an English professor, “babbling that “they say we’re that party of ‘no’ but we’re saying no to all of their no’s…They are the party of no! We are saying a big HELL NO to all of their no’s!”
I like beans as much as anyone but the Goya CEO has clearly lost his as he took the stage to make the absurd claim that Trump is still the legitimate President, saying:
“It’s just an honor to be here. But my biggest honor today is gonna be that — I think we’re gonna be on the same stage — as, in my opinion, the real, the legitimate, and the still actual president of the United States, Donald J. Trump,” the Goya CEO deludedly declared from the stage.
I enjoy a good policy debate, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had one with a Trump supporter.
Formerly “principled conservatives” have disappeared to the right-wing fever swamps which have been the driving force of the GOP since the 2010 Tea Party movement, which combined astroturf policies to favor the rich with its most openly racist dog whistles yet while opposing President Obama’s agenda at every turn.
Watching CPAC this weekend, I really had to wonder what the godfather of the conservative movement, William F. Buckley would have thought of it.
Buckley had principles. Even if you didn’t agree with him, he brought facts to his arguments that you could not avoid.
There was nothing worthy of a legitimate policy debate emerging from CPAC this year.
Nothing.
It was all feelings and no facts.
Because Republicans have become the party of feelings that want to say ‘F your facts.’
It was a pathetic display of loyalty to a failed president that grifters have made into a demigod to keep his followers hooked.
He owns the conservative movement today.
Trumpism an ideology that can no longer be defined as political but only as a Republican cult to fete the treasonous ex-president for whom they wished to overthrow America and install as its dictator.
Christopher Hahn is a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the most aggressive Liberal commentator on Fox News. Follow him on Twitter, @ChristopherHahn.
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