At least officially, Donald Trump is not yet the Republican nominee for president, but you wouldn’t have known it from attending CPAC 2024. Just down the Potomac River from the Swamp they wish to reconquer, attendees of the yearly conservative conference/party were in a clear mood to get on to the rematch — and the vindication — they’ve spent years waiting for.
During the two days I observed the conference, there were speakers other than the former president, to be sure. The words emblazoned above and to each side of the stage might have been that CPAC is “where globalism goes to die,” but that sentiment was wounded by quite an international crowd. Among them were British MP Nigel Farage; a son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro; the leader of Spain’s Vox party; and a Hungarian whose accent amusingly had him speak on the dangers of the “vook.” Argentine President Javier Milei gave a lecture on neoclassical economics that was as informative as it was jarringly out of place. Of the Americans, a panel with former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop on legal issues was interesting.
But let us deal in reality for a second: The energy, the vibe, was all about our once and perhaps future president, Donald John Trump. Though he would not arrive until Saturday, the final day of the conference, the two most interesting speeches on Friday seemed to consider him alone their audience.
When New York Rep. Elise Stefanik took the stage, she seemed to have two goals: to defend the former president and to eviscerate his enemies as though they were university presidents. Her straightforward argument to be named Trump’s No. 2 focused primarily on loyalty. Stefanik reminded the audience it was she who removed former Rep. Liz Cheney from GOP leadership before Wyoming voters disposed of her themselves.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem also made a vice-presidential pitch that can generously be described as thinly veiled. She, however, took the interesting tack of telegraphing how she would message to voters in the general election. Intermixed with a stump speech about her conservative credentials, Noem talked about how she became the first woman elected governor of her state and her hopes that the win would inspire girls to achieve victories of their own. At CPAC this line felt conspicuously out of place, but it’s easy to see how it might play well in a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. (RELATED: Trump’s Leading VP Contender Makes Her Audition)
The main event on Saturday, however, was Trump’s appearance. The former president was slated to speak for a whole hour, longer than anyone else. It was clear that neither the audience nor the organizers would be interested in keeping him within this allotted time. And why would they? He was like a rock star on tour, and this was his crowd.
The delay between Trump’s introduction by Matt and Mercedes Schlapp and his entrance seemed to take forever. As the first song played throughout the room, everybody stood at attention, seeking to get a first glimpse as he took the stage. By the fourth song, most had once again taken their seats. Journalists began taking selfies out of boredom. As “Dancing Queen” blared, two of them even began a dance — a fairly good one to my untrained eye.
Then, you saw it: He was just a glimmer a long way away, but the clapping-and-walking motion was unmistakable. So was the crowd’s enthusiasm.
Many CPAC speakers were clearly (and understandably!) uncomfortable talking to such a large crowd. A few were used to it, mostly professional politicians, and acquitted themselves better. An honorable mention must go to Vivek Ramaswamy, the upstart presidential candidate who parlayed himself from obscurity. He knew how to build the crowd into a crescendo of applause as he hammered his main point, and it showed.
Trump, though, is in another league. To say that the Donald feeds on the energy of the audience is one thing, and you can nod along to the notion academically after watching him on television. But it takes being in the room with him to really appreciate. Trump clearly had an outline of what he wanted to discuss, but he spoke for just shy of two hours mostly off the cuff.
He hit all of the notes you would have expected him to. He slammed the civil and criminal cases brought against him as “bullshit.” He laced into “the Biden nightmare,” singling out his handling of immigration and the economy and warning that “the worst is yet to come” if the incumbent is reelected. In a genuinely hilarious moment, he mocked Joe Biden’s fitness for office by miming the president wandering around aimlessly, unable to find his way off the stage. He launched into multiple stories and tangents, assuring the audience that “nobody can ramble like this.”
His choice of anecdotes was well chosen: He described his fear during a dark plane descent into an Iraqi airfield to meet with his generals about the defeat of ISIS along with his negotiations with Mexico on his aptly named “remain in Mexico” policy. These stories were told with the typical Trumpian humor, but they also served to highlight his experience and accomplishments as commander-in-chief. He told the audience that, perhaps pivoting the general election, his success would be retribution enough. In contrasting himself with Biden and arguing why he should be given a second chance, his speech at CPAC has to be counted as a success.
After the final speaker Saturday night, I made my way to the watch party for the South Carolina primary results. Following the flow of the crowd, I approached the entrance but was stopped by a doorwoman. “Sorry, no media allowed,” she said. It was hard to be too annoyed because evidently there wasn’t much worth watching; 15 minutes later the polls closed, and the race was instantaneously called for Trump.
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