How American Conservatives Replaced Some Heroes with Trump – Texas Monthly

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Don Huffines paid a lot of money to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, but he was on stage like someone who, hit just outside the stage by a falling piano, was suffering from temporary global amnesia. “Let me ask you one thing: why are we here?” he asked his audience. “What is a conservative?” What gesture What, for that matter, is a meeting?

We know what CPAC is, at least. This is the place where, for decades, conservatives of the American movement have gathered to hammer out what a conservative means. As grassroots conservatism gained popularity and power, the CPAC – a production of the American Conservative Union, founded shortly after the defeat of presidential candidate Barry Goldwater in the 1964 campaign – provided a place for neocons, paleocons. , Christian conservatives, right libertarians, hawks, Randians, economist napkins, and what you meet, drunk, and find out what they both have.

For many years, the CPAC was held within the Beltway, near the center of power. During Trump’s presidency, it moved to Florida, and it started to multiply. The American Conservative Union began holding spinoff CPACs in foreign countries: Japan, Australia, Brazil, South Korea. This week, they held one in an unknown country: Texas. At the sprawling Hilton Anatole northwest of downtown Dallas, many thousands of attendees gathered to consider the movement’s past, present, and future, attend panels and listen to speakers.

Huffines ’campaign for governor of Texas was a sponsor for the convention. Apparently in return, he was awarded a nearly ten -minute speaking space on Saturday morning, when the room was nearly half full. “Have you ever met a Republican who didn’t say he was conservative? No. They said they were all conservative,” the former state senator said. “And guess what? Almost all of them are liars. They are liars!”

Leader among the liars was Governor Greg Abbott, Huffines declared. Whatever the “conservative”, Abbott is not that. He must be replaced. “Patriots, take your rusty swords of freedom. Remove the cover of it from your sticky scabbard! Help me break the chains of government. Wake up! “He said, spreading his arms wide for emphasis.” Wake the sleeping sheep from their slumber! “The applause was polite. The next day, he held a social ice cream for activists in the Morocco room. on top.

The history of American conservatism is inextricably bound up with Texas history. But there is tension here, as well as nationally, between ideological conservatization and the personality-driven appeal of Trumpism. In 2016 Ted Cruz, who was then mostly still loved by many ideological conservatives in Texas, exploded like a bug in Donald Trump’s windshield. The discomfort with that never completely disappeared, even though almost all conservatives had learned to like Donald in their own ways. What is left to the right? Is Texas still leading the movement?

Probably not. The most remarkable thing about CPAC Texas, the second and second American CPAC of the year-CPAC 2: Tokyo Drift-is that it’s not here. Abbott was the most notable in his absence, which Huffines makes sure to note. The governor has an intelligence alibi: the special session began last Thursday. On the other hand, he decides when the session will start. Was it a coincidence that he created a scheduling process between the conference and the Legislature? When the first CPAC of the year took place in Florida in February, Governor Ron DeSantis, a favorite in 2024 and rival of Abbott, had one of the most high-profile speaking spaces. His speech received good reviews.

Abbott is the most powerful and popular elected Republican in Texas, an ambitious man who wants to be considered in the same category of presidential opponents as DeSantis. The CPAC is one of the best opportunities he can speak directly to conservative activists outside of a party convention. But it seems clear why Abbott is missing the conference: he won’t be accepted here. When Huffines tries his lines of attack on Abbott-that he sees Dr. Anthony Fauci, for example – the audience registered its approval of loud boos and cheers. Former Florida congressman and recently departed Texas GOP chairman Allen West, another key opponent of Abbott, is also here, working with the crowd and appearing at a private event with Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, who is currently in trouble for paying for sex with a minor (he denies the charges). “I look at this audience, there’s some white people there,” West consoles the majority. “But, you know, I don’t feel a bit oppressed. I don’t seem to be a victim.”

The state’s most powerful Republican in attendance was Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who helped open the conference along with American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp. But even so, their exchange centered on the fact that the main CPAC moved to Florida, not Texas. Schlapp jokingly apologizes. Patrick offers. “This would be the perfect place for CPAC to move and establish their headquarters right here in Texas!” he says. Schlapp said he will need to consult with his board.

Land commissioner George P. Bush, who is currently running against indicted Attorney General Ken Paxton, is a convention advocate like Huffines, but he does not speak out. He, too, is likely to be booed. (Paxton speaks to the crowd. He talks about his personal exchange with Trump.) Agriculture commissioner Sid Miller, disliked by a surprising number of Texas Republicans, was present, as well. a number of Texas congressmen, including Michael Burgess and Louie Gohmert. It’s about politicians in Texas.

Senator Ted Cruz was also not in attendance. If Cruz ever plans to run in 2024, he certainly wants to consider him. This year, neither Cruz nor Abbott nor any other Texan registering in the CPAC straw polls of presidential candidates. Trump was the clear winner, getting 70 percent support from attendees, with 21 percent supporting DeSantis. If Trump doesn’t run in 2024, 68 percent say they will support DeSantis, with 5 percent supporting Trump’s former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, and 4 percent in favor of Donald Trump Jr. (In the polls, Trump Sr. registered 98 percent approval.) The message is clear: right now the center of gravity of American conservatism sits in Florida, somewhere between the governor’s mansion and Mar- a-Lago. Texas feels complementary, even to CPAC Texas.

There was another notable disadvantage to the conference: the story of conservatism itself. Since the first meeting in 1974, the CPAC has been a place where conservativeism has taken shape, and its shared history has always been a key part of what unites the various factions. Conservatism in its most basic sense, after all, is about preserving an inherited past.

Barbara Walsted posed a photo with a cutout of former president Donald Trump during the CPAC in Dallas. Brandon Bell / Getty

On Saturday afternoon, Glenn Beck, the group’s most vulnerable, unveiled a blackboard of his trademark and a wealth of artifacts from American history – the FDR wheelchair, Jesse Owens ’Olympic torch, a rifle derived from Native Americans – to convey his grand narrative of the country’s story, which he said the left struggles with not recognizing. The “critical race theory” was the hot topic of the entire conference, and the “1619 Project” was repeatedly criticized. But there was almost no conversation about the history of the conservative movement before 2016, and over the days it has become stranger and unknown. Ronald Reagan, who was a godly presence in the movement late into 2012, received a few brief mentions and a quick spot in a video montage that fills time on the floor. Bushes, instrumental figure in conservatism both in Texas and across the country, receives fewer mentions, if any. (I heard nothing from the floor.)

On Saturday afternoon, a panel with an outrageous title sat on the main stage: “Buckley, Reagan, Trump: Now What? The Future of Conservatism.” That was William F. Buckley, of course, the august founder of National Review. Finally, someone – Florida representative Greg Steube and the two activists – will get to the bottom of things. But Reagan doesn’t come out at all. Buckley, the moderator, once mentioned when he asked if Buckley’s axiom, conservatives should “stand on the history of shouting‘ stop, ’” was outdated. Yes, the panelists said. Conservatives have to go on the offensive, they argue. Nothing else has been said about the movement’s past – nor can it be said about the movement’s future. Only at present, led by the male speaker at the end of the conference, does he have a 98 percent approval rating. Trump’s speech was the only time the hall would soon be full.

Perhaps only egghead liberals care about Buckley today. But the absence of heroes before our Year Zero, 2016, is evidence of a gesture to stay away. What will conservatism look like after Trump leaves the scene? If the crowd in Dallas is any indication, it could be a very long time from now.

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