Trump Takes Over CPAC (photos)
By • February 26, 2018 0 1717
Those attending the Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC, should have little doubt that President Donald Trump has completely taken over the conservative movement, and by extension the Republican Party.
Just two years earlier, Trump pulled out of CPAC at the last minute, opting to campaign in Florida and Kansas instead. Social conservatives then had their doubts based on Trump’s past support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage; free-market conservatives didn’t like his protectionist talk; and fiscal conservatives doubted his commitment to small government. Tea Party members were threatening to walk out on his speech. In the 2016 CPAC straw poll, Trump polled third with only 15 percent of the vote, behind Ted Cruz with 40 percent and Marco Rubio with 30 percent.
What a difference a few years make. This year’s CPAC straw poll showed 93 percent of attendees approving of his job performance in the White House. With the exception of Ted Cruz, none of the other 2016 presidential contenders bothered to show up at this year’s confab, held Feb. 22 to 24 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.
Early on Friday, Feb. 23, the president delivered a 75-minute “greatest hits” speech, which resembled something one might hear at a campaign rally. It was notable not just for its length but for wildly veering off-script.
The speaker lineup for CPAC 2018 was packed with associates of the Trump administration, including Vice President Mike Pence and several members of the Cabinet. Even White House lawyer Don McGhan made a rare public appearance.
The National Rifle Association once again had a strong presence at CPAC. NRA spokespersons Dana Loesch and Wayne LaPierre strongly defended the Second Amendment on gun ownership, just one week after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that took the lives of 17 students and teachers. President Trump appeared to differ from their positions, speaking favorably of raising the age for rifle ownership and banning bump stocks, while endorsing the controversial idea of arming teachers in the classroom.
View Jeff Malet’s photos from CPAC 2018 by clicking on the photo icons below.
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- Dana Loesch defended the 2nd Amendment on gun ownership. Loesch is a talk radio host, author and national spokesperson for the National Rifle Association (NRA). Her remarks came a week after a school shooting in Parkland Florida took the lives of 17 students and teachers, and increased public pressure for stricter gun control. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Wayne LaPierre defended the 2nd Amendment on gun ownership. LaPierre is National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer. These were his first public remarks since a school shooting in Parkland Florida a week earlier took the lives of 17 students and teachers, and increased public pressure for stricter gun control. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Karen Pence introduces her husband, Vice President Mike Pence and greets him with a kiss (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- President Donald Trump reads “The Snake” which he interprets as an anti-immigrant poem (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- These colorful Donald Trump socks are worn by 12 year old Millie March of Burke Va. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- A women dressed as Hillary Clinton in a striped prison uniform wearing handcuffs appears at the Politically Correct Publishing booth (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Laura Ingraham hosts the television show, “The Ingraham Angle,” on the Fox News Channel. She also hosts the nationally syndicated radio show, “The Laura Ingraham Show”. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Ronna Romney McDaniel, current Chair of the Republican National Committee (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Dick Heller makes a personal appearance at CPAC. District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held, in a 5-4 decision, that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia for traditionally lawful purposes. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Far-right French politician Marion Marechal-Le Pen. Marion, age 28, is the granddaughter of National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, and niece of FN current Leader Marine Le Pen. In her remarks, she declared she is not offended by President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy, and spoke vehemently against Muslim immigration in France. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Defund Planned Parenthood bumper stickers (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Enjoying Trump’s speech. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Enjoying Trump’s speech. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- President Donald Trump went off script in a 75 minute speech to a receptive audience (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Looking at a reflection of himself on the television monitor, the president remarked, “what a nice picture that is, look at that, I love to watch that guy speak,” and then pretended to shape his hair. “I try like hell to hide that bald spot, folks” said Trump. “I work hard at it. Doesn’t look bad. Hey, we’re hanging in. We’re hanging in.” (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch’s book “Hands Off My Gun” is for sale at the CPAC bookstore (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Project Veritas’s James O’Keefe with his new book “American Pravda: My Fight for Truth in the Era of Fake News”
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- Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Grover Norquist is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- President Donald Trump went off script in a 75 minute speech to a receptive audience (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, introduces President Donald Trump. His wife Mercedes Schlapp has been White House Director of Strategic Communications since September 2017 (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Former White House advisor Sebastian Gorka (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy, speaks on the topic of Chinese “Cyber Attacks and Other Threats to the Homeland” (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Raymond Arroyo is a best selling author and news director and lead anchor of EWTN News, the news division of the Eternal Word Television Network. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Secretary of Energy Rick Perry (left) and Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke (center) appear in conversation with Bob Beauprez, former Congressman (R-Colo.) (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Joe Luppino-Esposito at the Right on Crime booth.Right on Crime is a national campaign of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, in partnership with the American Conservative Union Foundation and Prison Fellowship, that supports conservative solutions for reducing crime, restoring victims, reforming offenders, and lowering taxpayer costs. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Kellii Ward, Senate candidate from Arizona (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- The NRA booth was and always has been one of the largest at CPAC. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Bill Montgomery, co-founder of Turning Point USA, an American conservative or right-wing nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to educate students about “true free market values.” (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Congressional candidate from Nevada, Sharron Angle who ran unsuccessfully as the 2010 Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat in Nevada, garnering 45 percent of the vote. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Hats on sale. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- White House lawyer Don McGahn made a rare public speaking appearance at CPAC. McGahn spoke of Trump Administration achievements in appointing judges and reducing regulations. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Paul Teller, Special Assistant to the President (Legislative Affairs) Teller is the former Chief of Staff for Senator Ted Cruz and former Executive Director of the United States House of Representatives Republican Study Committee. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Latinas for Trump (photo by Jeff Malet)
