Opinion: CPAC's dangerous embrace of Trump
Opinion by Dean Obeidallah
What happens when you incite an insurrection to prevent the congressional certification of the 2020 election results? Turns out you get invited to speak at a high-profile gathering of GOP elected officials and conservative activists. As outrageous as that appears, this is exactly what we're seeing with the American Conservative Union's invitation to Donald Trump to speak at this week's annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando.
To be clear, I'm not urging CPAC to cancel Trump's speech. Rather, my hope is that all Americans will use the event to reflect on the dangerous developments for our democracy from the right. First, the majority of GOP members of Congress refused to hold Trump accountable for his two months of nonstop lies about the 2020 election and his incitement of the January 6 attack -- as we saw with only 17 of the 261 Republicans in the Senate and House voting to impeach or convict Trump.
Now CPAC, which bills itself as "the largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world," is going a step further by celebrating the man who spewed the "Big Lie" and who encouraged people to storm our Capitol. Indeed, countless insurrectionists stated point blank they attacked the Capitol to "Stop the Steal" for Trump, with some proudly declaring during the deadly insurrection, "Trump sent us," and that they were following his directions.
Notably, Vice President Mike Pence -- who rejected Trump's calls not to certify President Joe Biden's electoral win -- is reported to have declined an invitation to speak at the gathering.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/opinion-cpac-s-dangerous-embrace-of-trump/ar-BB1dSUVl?li=BB141NW3&ocid=DELLDHP
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