The 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference, which begins on Thursday, appears to remain aligned with Donald Trump, even as Republican leaders condemn and clashed publicly with the former president.
The CPAC 2021 list of speakers features Trump – who will make his first major speech since leaving the White House – and a list of other politicians and experts who support him. Although analysts have described tensions within the Republican Party as a “civil war”, critics of Trump’s Republican Party will not have a platform to share their perspective during the event, which takes place in Orlando, Florida, February 25-28. .
Mike Pompeo, who served as Trump’s secretary of state; Ben Carson, who served as Secretary for Housing and Urban Development; and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former White House press secretary now competing to become the next Arkansas governor, are expected to speak at the event along with several other former Trump administration officials. In addition, pro-Trump politicians, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs should address the participants. The son of the former president, Donald Trump Jr., will also speak. Notably, former Vice President Mike Pence, who has been a success at CPAC for the past three years, would have declined the invitation to speak.
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Last year, Senator Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, was publicly told not to attend the event – despite having won the CPAC presidential election on four occasions. But Romney became a persona non grata after his criticisms of Trump during his first Senate impeachment trial in 2020, in which the Utah Republican voted with Democrats to condemn the former president. Rejecting Romney again this year, the CPAC has fully embraced Trump – as have most conservative voters.
CPAC President Matt Schlapp said in January 2020 that he would be concerned that Romney would not be safe if he participated in the event.
In 2021, the Republican division grew significantly in the wake of Trump’s claims that the presidential election was stolen and the violent uprising against the U.S. Capitol on January 6 by his supporters. While most Republican lawmakers and voters continue to align themselves with Trump, a significant number of prominent Republicans have now spoken out against the former president.
Trump was impeached a second time on January 13, a week after the insurrection. Ten House Republicans voted with their fellow Democrats to challenge him for inciting the Capitol crowd in an attempt to block President Joe Biden’s formal certification of victory.
When the Senate trial was held this month, seven Republican Senators voted with all 50 members of the Democratic Caucus to condemn Trump – making him the most bipartisan impeachment conviction vote in U.S. history. However, he failed to reach the two-thirds majority limit of the constitution to condemn, which would require at least 10 more Republicans to vote as “guilty”.
Although Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, voted to absolve Trump, he said he did not believe it was constitutional to hold a Senate trial for a president after he stepped down. McConnell condemned Trump’s actions, suggesting that he should be prosecuted by the criminal justice system. Trump then released a statement last week attacking McConnell. The former president described the Kentucky Republican as “a serious, sullen and serious political hack”. McConnell is not on the list of CPAC speakers this year, although he has certainly been an important presence at the event in previous years.
McConnell and several other prominent Republican lawmakers hope to expel Trump from his ranks going forward. But that seems unlikely to happen, as polls suggest that the former president remains very popular with Republican voters. A poll conducted earlier this month by CBS News / YouGov showed that 70 percent of Republican Party voters would join or consider joining a new political party if Trump formed him. In addition, 71 percent of Republican voters said they considered Republican lawmakers who vote to impeach or condemn Trump to be “unfair”.
On the other hand, this week, prominent Republicans resisted Republican Party censorship of senators who voted to condemn Trump in the impeachment trial.
Newsweek contacted CPAC press representatives for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.