Chapter 70: CPAC

276     organizer of . . . CPAC  Blake Hounshell and Leah Askarinam, “CPAC: From ‘City Upon a Hill’ to ‘Anti-Anti-Putin,’” New York Times, February 24, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/02/24/us/politics/cpac-ukraine-putin.html.

276     upon the invitation of GOProud . . . first speech as a potential GOP candidate  Chris Moody, “Gay Conservatives Who Helped Kickstart Trump’s GOP Career Have Serious Regrets,” CNN, March 3, 2016, www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/politics/donald-trump-first-speech-to-cpac/index.html.

276     had announced his first Senate campaign a few weeks earlier  Brandi Grissom, “TribBlog: Cruz-ing Into the Senate Race,” Texas Tribune, January 19, 2011, www.texastribune.org/2011/01/19/frmer-solicitor-general-ted-cruz-joins-senate-race/.

276     donned black cowboy boots as he introduced CPAC director . . . introduced Trump  Moody, “Gay Conservatives Who Helped Kickstart Trump’s GOP Career Have Serious Regrets,” www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/politics/donald-trump-first-speech-to-cpac/index.html.

276     exploded in glee as Trump walked onto the stage to . . . ”Moody, “Conservatives Who Helped Kickstart Trump’s GOP Career Have Serious Regrets,” www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/politics/donald-trump-first-speech-to-cpac/index.html; and Roll Call Factbase Videos, “Remarks: Donald Trump Addresses the CPAC Conference in Washington DC—February 10, 2011,” YouTube, youtu.be/I672gb2zajE?si=JIG8TEWZiQlXpWkP, 0:00–0:05.

276     “You’re hired!”  Roll Call Factbase Videos, “Remarks: Donald Trump Addresses the CPAC Conference in Washington DC—February 10, 2011,” youtu.be/I672gb2zajE?si=JIG8TEWZiQlXpWkP, 0:12–16.

276     “You’re hired” . . . “These are my people”  Roll Call Factbase Videos, “Remarks: Donald Trump Addresses the CPAC Conference in Washington DC—February 10, 2011,” youtu.be/I672gb2zajE?si=JIG8TEWZiQlXpWkP, 0:16–0:21.

276     “Our current president came out of nowhere” Roll Call Factbase Videos, “Remarks: Donald Trump Addresses the CPAC Conference in Washington DC—February 10, 2011,” youtu.be/I672gb2zajE?si=JIG8TEWZiQlXpWkP, 4:05–4:08.

276     “In fact, I’ll go a step further . . .” Roll Call Factbase Videos, “Remarks: Donald Trump Addresses the CPAC Conference in Washington DC—February 10, 2011,” youtu.be/I672gb2zajE?si=JIG8TEWZiQlXpWkP, 4:10–4:15.

276     “have absolutely nothing to do with . . .” CPAC spokesperson Ian Walters quoted in Domenico Montanaro, “White Nationalist Richard Spencer Kicked Out of CPAC,” NPR, February 23, 2017, www.npr.org/2017/02/23/516867886/white-nationalist-richard-spencer-kicked-out-of-cpac.

277      in Brazil, South Korea, and Australia  Simon Murdoch, “CPAC Your Bags: Franchise Continues Global Spread,” HOPE not hate, September 20, 2019, hopenothate.org.uk/2019/09/20/cpac-your-bags-franchise-continues-global-spread.

277      welcomed to Budapest . . . and ACU chairman Matt Schlapp  Flora Garamvolgyi and Julian Borger, “Orbán and US Right to Bond at Cpac in Hungary over ‘Great Replacement’ Ideology,” The Guardian, May 18, 2o22, www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/18/cpac-conference-budapest-hungary-viktor-orban-speaker.

277      gave virtual addresses  Garamvolgyi and Borger, “Orbán and US Right to Bond at Cpac in Hungary over ‘Great Replacement’ Ideology,” www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/18/cpac-conference-budapest-hungary-viktor-orban-speaker.

277      inaugurate a new session of the Hungarian parliament Jonathan L. Krohn, “CPAC Europe Is a Safe Space for Authoritarians—and the Republicans Who Love Them,” Rolling Stone, May 19, 2022, www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/cpac-europe-american-conservative-union-orban-immigration-1355926/.

277      “One such suicide attempt that I see . . .” Viktor Orbán, May 16, 2022, quoted in Krohn, “CPAC Europe Is a Safe Space for Authoritarians—and the Republicans Who Love Them,” www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/cpac-europe-american-conservative-union-orban-immigration-1355926/.

277      barred international journalists . . . did the same at CPAC Hungary . . .in 2023  Justin Spike, “At CPAC, Hungary’s Viktor Orban Decries LGBTQ+ Rights, Migration,” Associated Press (AP) News, May 4, 2023, apnews.com/article/cpac-hungary-orban-woke-gender-migration-da47d0febc22d935de0b48fe5e3ad4a6.

277      declared it a “No Woke Zone” Quoted in Jacob Heilbrunn, “I Was Banned From Entering CPAC Hungary’s ‘Woke Free Zone,’” Politico, May 6, 2023, www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/05/06/cpac-hungary-woke-free-zone-00095576.

277      ordered to wear . . . “FAKE NEWS”  Josh Butler, “CPAC Australia: Hardline Culture Warriors Rail Against Indigenous Voice, ‘Fake News’ and ‘Woke Corporates,’” The Guardian, August 19, 2023, www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/19/cpac-australia-hardline-culture-warriors-rail-against-indigenous-voice-fake-news-and-woke-corporates.

277      headlined the conference  Oliver Browning, “Watch as Donald Trump Delivers Keynote Speech at CPAC 2024,” The Independent, February 25, 2024, www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-speech-cpac-2024-livestream-b2501940.html.

277      held the conference in National Harbor, Maryland  Ben Goggin, “Nazis Mingle Openly at CPAC, Spreading Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories and Finding Allies,” NBC News, February 24, 2024, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nazis-mingle-openly-cpac-spreading-antisemitic-conspiracy-theories-fin-rcna140335.

277      “Nazis, antisemitism, the great replacement theory . . ."  Ben Goggin, X, February 24, 2024, 5:41 p.m., x.com/BenjaminGoggin/status/1761521684794773931.

277      “How CPAC has changed”  Right Side Broadcasting Network, “Full Speech: Nigel Farage Addresses CPAC 2024 in DC—2/23/24,” YouTube, February 23, 2024, youtu.be/6o3qmgqLtkg?si=YZLj4U9Ea_T6Z3Tt, 5:16-5:18.

277      “When I first came here a decade ago . . .”  Right Side Broadcasting Network, “Full Speech: Nigel Farage Addresses CPAC 2024 in DC—2/23/24,” youtu.be/6o3qmgqLtkg?si=YZLj4U9Ea_T6Z3Tt, 5:19–5:49.

278     great replacement theorist named Jack Posobiec To learn more about Posobiec and the great replacement ideas he espouses, see “Jack Posobiec,” Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), accessed March 6, 2025, www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/jack-posobiec/.

278     “Welcome to the end of democracy—we're here to overthrow it . . .” “Pro-Trump CPAC Speaker Pledges ‘End of Democracy,’” MSNBC, February 26, 2024, video, www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/pro-trump-cpac-speaker-pledges-end-of-democracy-204921925518, 0:01–0:13.

278     organized by the Edmund Burke Foundation “Home,” The Edmund Burke Foundation, accessed March 6, 2025, burke.foundation.

278     chaired by Yoram Hazony “Yoram Hazony,” The Edmund Burke Foundation, accessed March 6, 2025, burke.foundation/people/yoram-hazony/.

278     authored The Virtue of Nationalism  Yoram Hazony, The Virtue of Nationalism (New York: Basic Books, 2018). Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1019590199.

278     “everyone should be equal to everybody . . . it goes on and on”  Yoram Hazony quoted in Kathryn Joyce, “The New Right’s Grim, Increasingly Popular Fantasies of an International Nationalism,” New Republic, January 6, 2022, newrepublic.com/article/164441/conservative-inspiration-orban-hungary-poland.

278     appeared in Rome, Orlando, Miami, Brussels, London, and Washington, D.C.  “Home,” burke.foundation.

278     included Orbán, the UK’s Farage and Suella Braverman . . .  “A Conference in Brussels, Belgium, April 16–17, 2024: Confirmed Speakers,” National Conservatism (NatCon), accessed March 6, 2025, nationalconservatism.org/natcon-brussels-2/.

278     included Stephen Miller, Vivek Ramaswamy . . .  “A Conference in Washington, DC, July 8–10, 2024: Confirmed Speakers, NatCon, accessed September 23, 2025, nationalconservatism.org/natcon-4-2024/confirmed-speakers/; Ben Lorber, “The Elite Movement Laying the Foundation for a MAGA That Will Outlast Trump and Remake America: Inside Natcon Part I,” Religion Dispatches, October 3, 2022, religiondispatches.org/inside-natcon-the-elite-movement-laying-the-foundation-for-a-maga-that-will-outlast-trump-and-remake-america-part-i; “A Conference in Orlando, Florida: Conference Schedule, October 31–November 2, 2021,” NatCon, accessed March 6, 2025, nationalconservatism.org/natcon-2-2021/conference-schedule/.

278     held its first large gathering . . . in Washington, D.C.  The first NatCon conference, held in London in May 2019, was a single-day event that featured only twelve speakers. The conference hosted in Washington, D.C., that July spanned three days and had forty-six scheduled speakers and five session chairs. “A Conference in London, United Kingdom, May 13, 2019: Confirmed Speakers,” NatCon, accessed March 7, 2025, nationalconservatism.org/natcon-london-2019/; and “A Conference in Washington, DC, July 14–16, 2019,” NatCon, accessed March 7, 2025, nationalconservatism.org/natcon-dc-2019/.

278     Tucker Carlson and billionaire Peter Thiel “A Conference in Washington, DC, July 14–16, 2019,” nationalconservatism.org/natcon-dc-2019/.

278     who financed the U.S. Senate run of JD Vance  Daniel Klaidman, “The Billionaire Who Fueled JD Vance’s Rapid Rise to the Trump VP Spot—Analysis,” CBS News, July 16, 2024, www.cbsnews.com/news/jd-vance-trump-vp-peter-thiel-billionaire/.

278     “We are a unique nation with a unique history” Senator Josh Hawley, “Senator Hawley’s Keynote at the National Conservatism Conference,” YouTube, July 17, 2019, youtu.be/KPAUQKY9Jyw?si=ZEV93Oe3mbPeihFN, 10:22–10:26.

278     “That history began more than two thousand years ago . . .” Hawley, “Senator Hawley’s Keynote at the National Conservatism Conference,” youtu.be/KPAUQKY9Jyw?si=ZEV93Oe3mbPeihFN, 10:29–10:38.