CPAC is told that Vice-President Mike Pence is here. And then that today’s “closer” is Ben Shapiro.
Applause. Then: “Our first panel is going to be on fake news.”
Applause. Then: “Our first panel is going to be on fake news.”
Over a Michael Bay-ish score, the CPAC day starts with a video of TV people complaining about "fake news," TV people correcting errors, or Trump calling people "fake news."
The video includes a TV clip about how Trump gets an extra scoop of ice cream, which is real news.
The video includes a TV clip about how Trump gets an extra scoop of ice cream, which is real news.
Larry O'Connor, moderator of the panel, "An Affair to Remember: How the Far Left and the Mainstream Media Got in Bed Together," begins by calling CNN's Florida town hall “basically a Trotskyite show trial against the Second Amendment.”
Chris Loesch, husband of the NRA's Dana Loesch, says they had to flee the scene of the CNN town hall fast because it could've gotten "dangerous" for them.
(I'm going to be tweeting CPAC all day-ish - feel free to mute this thread rather than unfollowing me forever)
Turning Point USA's Candace Owens says media lies are helping Trump and the right-wing cause. She explains: "Fake news is the reason conservatives are winning right now. Because they cannot stop lying. They’re pathological.”
Candace Owens complains that CNN, during the campaign, kept showing Trump supporters who "barely speak English, had no teeth."
Lawrence Jones, of the group Campus Reform, urges conservatives to become citizen journalists. He talks about one of their own citizen-journalistic triumphs: how (if I have this right) they exposed a tutoring program that was giving discounts to non-white people.
Chris Loesch instructs people to turn around and wave goodbye to the "mainstream media": "Wave goodbye to ‘em!...We don’t need you anymore!"
Dozens of people stand up, turn around and wave to us.
Dozens of people stand up, turn around and wave to us.
After watching a "lens of liberty" video about an unreasonable Connecticut regulation restricting the sale of pickles, we have moved on to a pre-Trump-CPAC panel called "Do Not Pass Go! How Government is Killing Capitalism."
"Socialism sucks," moderator Dan Schneider says.
"Socialism sucks," moderator Dan Schneider says.
It is almost confusing hearing people calmly advocate some regular ol' small-government conservatism in this era. This used to be what CPAC was like.
And now Dana Loesch, who gets a partial standing ovation.
Dana Loesch says she'll say this slowly so the media can hear it: "Many in legacy media love. Mass. Shootings. You guys love it." "You love the ratings. Crying white mothers are ratings gold."
This is truly disgusting.
This is truly disgusting.
Loesch to reporters in the back with me: "You can write whatever you want about me...you can try to confront me...we're not going anywhere. I call BS."
Cheers.
"If it bleeds it leads, but it has to be the right people in the right communities at the right time," she says.
Cheers.
"If it bleeds it leads, but it has to be the right people in the right communities at the right time," she says.
Loesch says that she says "white mothers" because the media doesn't cover all the crying black mothers in Chicago.
This is actually fair media criticism if expressed less disgustingly and demagogue-ishly - of course "everyday" gun violence gets less attention, and it's an issue.
This is actually fair media criticism if expressed less disgustingly and demagogue-ishly - of course "everyday" gun violence gets less attention, and it's an issue.
Loesch is making an lengthy attack on errors by law enforcement agencies like the FBI, suggesting "we wouldn't have these problems" if people like James Comey didn't "politicize" the agency so much over Russia and such.
Fair point
After a lengthy attack on the media and law enforcement, Loesch says she'll be done soon: "I don't want to cut into the vice-president's time."
A CPAC standing ovation for the Loesch speech in which she said the media loves gun massacres.
And now NRA executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre, who last year at CPAC gave one of the most unhinged political speeches I've ever heard in America.
LaPierre says each and every member of the NRA mourns the 17 people killed in Florida. Then: "As usual, the opportunists wasted not one second to exploit tragedy for poltical gain. Saul Alinsky would've been proud."
LaPierre: The "elites" don't care about protecting students; "their goal is control," and they want to "eradicate all individual freedoms."
LaPierre: "Law succeeds only when law-abiding people obey them."
He's making a case that, like, laws in general are useless.
He's making a case that, like, laws in general are useless.
LaPierre says America obviously values its jewelry stores and NBA games more than its children, because they use armed security while schools do not. (Douglas, again, had an armed officer, as did many other mass shooting sites.)
LaPierre: "Evil walks among us, and God help us if we don't harden our schools."
LaPierre says the Democratic party is "infested with saboteurs" who "don't believe in America as we know it."
The NRA's rhetoric is really dark.
The NRA's rhetoric is really dark.
LaPierre: There's no bigger supporter of law enforcement than the NRA, but "even the FBI is not free of its own corruption and its own unethical agents."
He asks why "no one at the FBI stood up and called BS" on its "rogue leadership."
He asks why "no one at the FBI stood up and called BS" on its "rogue leadership."
LaPierre suggests that nobody at the FBI called out the FBI's corruption because we now live in a "socialistic society."
(He sometimes does not make sense.)
(He sometimes does not make sense.)
LaPierre says "socialists" are calling people "racist, misogynist, xenophobe and more" to try to "destroy their enemies."
Pence is scheduled to speak immediately following the two NRA officials and one session separated from Marion Maréchal-Le Pen.
LaPierre scoffs at the suggestion that people seeking to buy a gun should be interviewed first: "INTERVIEWED first? Who's going to conduct that interview? And what will they ask?"
LaPierre, getting more unhinged, says the "socialist state" wants to interrogate children about their parents' television viewing habits and child-spanking, "and then it's just a short hop to the systematic destruction of our most basic freedoms," like "family" and "patriotism."
LaPierre: "On college campuses, the Communist Manifesto is one of the most frequently assigned texts! Karl Marx..." A lot of his message is out of the 1950s.
LaPierre: Schools must be "the most hardened targets in our country."
LaPierre with quite a quote: "We are never talking about an armed resistance against the socialist corruption of our government."
He concludes: "To stop a bad guy with a gun, it takes a good guy with a gun."
Standing ovation.
He concludes: "To stop a bad guy with a gun, it takes a good guy with a gun."
Standing ovation.
One more LaPierre quote I wanted to double-check before tweeting: "Socialists...like only limited speech, controlled speech, controlled by them, through safe speech zones where they can CHAIN [or SHAME?] the outspoken or RIOT to shut 'em up."
Second Lady Karen Pence is introducing the vice-president. "We called him Rush Limbaugh on decaf," she says of Mike's career as an Indiana radio host.
The last of Karen Pence's five fun facts about Mike Pence: "He loves a good book. Especially The Good Book."
Pence says school safety is “our top national priority.”
Pence claims “2017 was the most consequential year in the history of the conservative movement."
Pence says he stands with Trump, and with conservatives, and, come to think of it, “We always stand for our flag and our national anthem as well!"
He gets a standing ovation and a U-S-A chant.
He gets a standing ovation and a U-S-A chant.
The biggest CPAC cheer so far is for Pence saying, "Make no mistake about it: we're gonna build that wall." A "build that wall" chant breaks out.
To vigorous applause, Pence is outlining Trump moves such as withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, appointing Gorsuch, reimposing the "Mexico City" ban on aid funding for groups that do abortion counseling, and recognizing Jerusalem.
Pence criticizes the media for "fawning" over Kim Jong Un's sister.
Pence says Nancy Pelosi is "out of touch" for saying the post-tax-cut bonuses some companies have given workers are "crumbs" compared to the windfalls the companies have received.
"IT'S NOT CRUMBBBS," some people yell.
"IT'S NOT CRUMBBBS," some people yell.
Pence asks conservatives to go back to their communities and "just tell them America is back."
Pence says not enough Americans are willing to be like Donald Trump yesterday and "listen with humility and respect."
Pence, speaking after Dana Loesch and Wayne LaPierre, says there is too much anger in America.
Pence is done. We are waiting on a panel featuring "Dr. Sebastian Gorka."
Gorka is warming up by being Gorka
This panel, a taping of a radio show, is very boring, but we're now into the Russia-investigation-bashing portion. Gorka is now claiming with no evidence that Clinton was able to “basically buy an illegal surveillance warrant against a member of the other candidate’s team.”
"Bonjour, CPAC," Le Pen begins.
"I want America First for the American people, Britain First for the British people, and France First for the French people," Le Pen says.
Britain First, of course, is the name of the British extreme-right party.
The crowd cheers.
Britain First, of course, is the name of the British extreme-right party.
The crowd cheers.
Le Pen is complaining about "Islamic lobbies." I didn't hear quote with her accent, but she says France is going from being "the eldest daughter of the Catholic Church" to the something something of Islam.
Le Pen, sounding like a Le Pen, quotes Mahler and says, "Tradition is not the worship of ashes but the preservation of fire." She finishes with some more words in French and applause for the France-America alliance. Moderate cheers.
Now there is a panel being moderated by Breitbart's Raheem Kassam and featuring John Bolton.
Breitbart's Kassam, on brand, claims “the sharia element” is “digging their talons in” not only in Europe but “right here in the United States."
The Hoover Institution's Erielle Davidson says Russia's goal "was to subvert and to create chaos.” Breitbart's Kassam interjects, “I thought you were talking about CNN for a moment.”
John Bolton, off-Trump-message but very on-brand: "No foreign power messes with American elections...I think we ought to retaliate for the Russian cyber attacks…I think the retaliation should not be proportionate, I think it should be decidedly disproportionate.”
“We need to convene a commission on radical Islamism," says Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. "And begin to shift the axis of discussion from CVE, which is combating violent extremism, to CVI, which is combating violent Islamism."
Don McGahn, White House counsel, is now being interviewed with Hannity-esque ferocity by Hillsdale College president Larry Arnn.
Back to CPAC. Ted Cruz, the one senator to appear here, is speaking against gun control.
Ted Cruz says it “makes perfect sense” for teachers to be armed, “a good thing,” as long as they aren’t forced to be armed.
Ted Cruz says Bill Clinton calling Obamacare "the craziest thing in the world" is one of the only times he ever agreed with Bill Clinton - then he adds, "Other than about Hillary."
Ted Cruz says CPAC attracts young liberty-loving people unhappy that their colleges are "run by a bunch of '60s hippies who are imposing some draconian speech code."
Cruz, who managed to deliver a stump speech even though he was sitting down and being interviewed, got a rousing ovation for his concluding cry for freedom from the controlling hand of government. Now: Betsy Devos.
"We are appreciative of the president for picking the best people possible to serve in his cabinet," Heritage Foundation president Kay Coles James tells Betsy DeVos.
I don't know enough about education policy to say anything useful about Betsy DeVos, but she seemed calm and normal. Now it's time for a panel titled "Kim Jong Un-iversity: How College Campuses are Turning into Reeducation Camps."
Words, phrases and names used by Charlie Kirk over like six minutes: trigger warnings, microaggressions, neo-Marxists, Antifa, oppression Olympics, optimal level of victimhood, Western Civilization, Ben Shapiro personal hero of mine, Jordan Peterson.
Grant Strobl, head of Young Americans for Freedom, is applauded as he explains how in 2016 he used a University of Michigan policy that allowed students to choose their own gender pronouns to make professors call him “His Majesty.”
Marcus Fotenos, former student body president at University of Colorado Boulder, says, "A lot of the professors, they're just punks at the end of the day. They're not teaching anything. They're moral cowards."
The room has filled up for today's CPAC climax, a Ben Shapiro speech.
He comes out to Turn Down For What. He gets a standing ovation.
He comes out to Turn Down For What. He gets a standing ovation.
Shapiro begins by praising Trump's accomplishments, including not letting Clinton be president.
Two separate "lock her up" chants begin, then converge into a room-wide chant.
Two separate "lock her up" chants begin, then converge into a room-wide chant.
After hailing Trump, Shapiro says Americans are sick of "postmodern garbage" in which people believe they have their own truth. The "left," he says, has "worked for decades" to destroy faith in truth.
Shapiro is speaking really fast and talking about Mao and okay now he's complaining about how Obama let minorities just claim they were victims of white privilege with no evidence
Shapiro says the media believes a man is a woman just because he declares he's a woman.
"Hint: he is not. He is a dude."
Applause.
"Hint: he is not. He is a dude."
Applause.
Shapiro says unspsecified people in the media are "vile human beings" for allegedly saying conservatives don't care about murdered children because they oppose gun control. For this stuff, he is getting bigger applause than Mike Pence.
Shapiro complains that Hollywood makes movies about rich white businessemen organizing terror attacks, never about Muslim terrorists. (???)
Shapiro: "You don't get to tell little boys that they can become little girls." He just loathes trans people.
Shapiro offers the day's very first criticism of Trump, saying it is "nonsense" that there were good people marching in Charlottesville. He gets applause for this too.
Shapiro says "we don't have to worry about charges about bigotry, racism, sexism, homophobia," because "facts" are not racist and such.
Ben Shapiro's core message is so confusing: 1) Trump is awesome; 2) The way to win is to always stand on the side of truth.
Shapiro has finished to a rousing standing ovation. I am signing off from CPAC you can unmute me.
You're right - not his "core" message. His core was proabbly about killing political correctness. But he began today with extended effusive praise of Trump, and then made a lengthy argumement that conservatives must always stand with truth.
