CPAC brings simmering GOP tensions to the surface

[marmar]

CPAC brings simmering GOP tensions to the surface
Trump's dark "retribution" speech at CPAC reveals that Republican reunification may be too hard to pull off by 2024

By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
Columnist
PUBLISHED MARCH 6, 2023 9:16AM (EST)


(Salon) Last Friday I took a look at the first day of this year's CPAC gathering where it was obvious that the attendees were overwhelmingly Trump followers but the crowds were also thinner than usual, which says something —but nobody can agree on exactly what it is. Since that dispatch reporters and other observers of the event have characterized this CPAC as an unusually desultory affair that didn't improve much as the days wore on. Speeches were sparsely attended and the presentation was lackluster. Everyone seemed bored with the outrage.

Could it be that after seven long years of Trump-style politics, they're finally getting worn out?

According to this report from Laura Jedeed at The New Republic, attendees she spoke with felt that having the event in Washington was a mistake. They suggested that instead it should have been held in Orlando, as it was last year. After all, Florida is now the center of the Republican universe. Florida Governor Ron Desantis, the new GOP dreamboat, didn't show up, instead opting to spend the weekend at a donor retreat, signaling that he didn't think it was worthwhile to mingle with the MAGA faithful. Apparently, he believes that his record of destruction in Florida will be enough to bring them into his fold.

Jedeed also pointed out that CPAC has competition from the more exciting Turning Point USA confab called AmericaFest. She describes its December event as "a bacchanale, an indoctrination session: ComiCon for politics nerds" where "speakers emerged onstage to thundering bass, a light show, and often pyrotechnics." Poor old CPAC could only come up with this:

Link to tweet

The GOP has been declared to be cracking up many times and it didn't happen so I'm not going to suggest that. But the truth is that there is a growing schism around the Trump cult of personality and many of the rest of the party who are anxious to move on. It's not about ideology, around which the aspiring presidents club is pretty much in agreement: "woke" is bad, China is bad, Democrats are bad and America First blah, blah, blah. What's starting to happen is some very serious infighting and calamity among important players and it includes the right-wing media apparatus as well as the political actors. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2023/03/06/cpac-brings-simmering-tensions-to-the-surface/

[hlthe2b]

1. Honestly, Guilfoyle exhibits everything stereotypically unpleasant about women of her ilk.

Maybe she reminds the "Oedipal" incels of their mothers? I should say no more except that I'm surprised Trump has managed not to blurt out what he really thinks (and I'd bet even HE sees it).

Decades ago--before Fox, before Trump, when she was with Newsom, I think she was quite literate, intelligent, and even personable. And yes, attractive--without needing a trowel to remove the makeup. Now? Well... And no, I doubt it is age that makes her so different. Hate and being surrounded by those who manifest that, however, does that to people.

[Caliman73]

5. Anger and hate are caustic...

I agree with your assessment of Guilfoyle. We have liberal women who have aged gracefully and beautifully. Anger and hate, which is what Conservative politics is all about these days, is hard on the body and the psyche. We aren't seeing a normal aging process with Guilfoyle. We are seeing someone who is burning up and burning out, either with the hate and resentment or with the conflict between what she used to be and what she has to be now to make a living in Conservative politics.

[nature-lover]

2. Was that for real?

[underpants]

3. "Stripper fascism" that's perfect

[lindysalsagal]

4. "Despite the reluctance of those who are running or planning to run in the GOP presidential primary

to take on Trump directly, it's only a matter of time before full-scale war breaks about among them. Trump has already declared war on on the GOP establishment which probably illustrates the current state of the GOP better than anything else."

If they can't "get-it-up" at cpap, then the party's over. Leave the money on the nightstand.

[Yavin4]

6. The GOP establishment thought they could control the fringe but they cannot.

Instead of compromising on common-sensical policies like the ACA and immigration reform, they made alliances with fringe political elements hoping to offset the emerging Democratic party coalition between suburban and urban voters.

This is backfiring on them as the fringe has taken over the party completely to the point where former star candidates like Nikki Haley have zero support.

[Caliman73]

7. This is what happens when you paint yourself into a corner.

Conservatism is not meant to be for everyone. By its nature it is exclusionary. There is only so much room at the tip of the Pyramid but in order to be a viable political party in a democracy, you have to have enough people to vote for you. Hence the coalition of people who hate. Fundamentalists Christians, the Wealthy, and White people with racial grievance. That is the conservative coalition. They now want something for their effort. They want the power they were promised. They want the patriarchal hierarchy, the Christian theocracy, and the White ethno-state.

Conservatives only ever meant to give one group, the Wealthy, what they really wanted. The other two groups have historically been strung along. Like I said however, eventually, they want reimbursement for the effort. Now the extremists have infiltrated the party and they cannot win without everyone in that coalition.

They have to put up or shut up. This is what people like Marjorie Greene and Lauren Boebert are in positions of power now, and why if the Conservative movement does not fully embrace Fascism, they will be swept away.