WATCH: Don Jr., Nikki Haley, and Other Stars Draw Paltry Crowds at CPAC

Isaac SchorrMar 3rd, 2023, 3:44 pm
 

C-SPAN

It’s been a rough 2023 for the Conservative Political Action Conference, which was plagued by scandal well before it even started.

In January, the chairman of the American Conservative Union (CPAC’s parent organization), Matt Schlapp was accused of groping a staffer for Herschel Walker‘s campaign. Then as this weekend’s conference approached, it became clear that a number of heavyweights, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), were going to sit it out, perhaps signaling that it was no longer the pivotal political conclave it once was. Fox News has also distanced itself from the event, according to reports.

Now, with the conference underway, it appears that attendance has suffered as a result of all the negative press and lack of key sponsors — like Fox News streaming service Fox Nation.

Journalists on the convention floor report that the crowds for most speakers are meager. The political action committee backing Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency tried to use this to its advantage, making light of the number of people who showed up to hear his competitor and former ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, speaking on Friday.

But the turnout for his son, Donald Trump Jr.’s speech was equally unimpressive.

 

As were the crowds for Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Ted Cruz’s (R-TX)  tag-team effort and other addresses on Thursday. According to MSNBC’s Vaughn Hillyard, there’s been “more of a sparse crowd” there than in years past. Hillyard also reported that the composition of the attendees of CPAC 2023 were, by a large majority, superfans of Trump.

The paltry crowd sizes for speakers, including Mike Pompeo, are being mocked on social media, but it appears that they might just be attributable to a general lack of enthusiasm for the conference, rather than the individual politicos attending.

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