Matt and Mercedes Schlapp opened this year’s CPAC by celebrating: “Last year I said globalism was going to die,” Matt boomed, “and then it happened!” Then he turned to the audience and announced: “[I have a] message [for] the globalists, [be they] at the World Economic Forum or the EU,” adding, with a smile: “You can boo at any time!”
The real star of MAGA
While the first guest to appear onstage at the Gaylord Convention Center in Maryland was supposed to have been JD Vance, the Vice President was upstaged by a special announcement: “Elon Musk will be here at the CPAC stage!” The applause was significantly longer and louder than for the National Anthem or for Vance when he finally emerged. Musk hadn’t been in the program, but one thing was evident: The job of those who appeared on stage at CPAC was to heap praise onto Trump—and Musk.
After Mercedes Schlapp congratulated Vance on “the One Month Anniversary of the administration!” the VP was asked what stood out to him as the young administration’s most important actions. He named three areas: the Southern border, “Drill, baby, drill” and Elon Musk—a stunning decision given Musk’s illegal shellacking of the administrative state and independent federal agencies.
In case anyone thought that the presence of Musk, who is deeply unpopular, might be downplayed at CPAC, they were proven wrong again and again. From Vance’s high praise to former British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, begging for his and DOGE’s intervention in UK politics (“We want Elon and his army of Musk rats to examine the British Deep State!”) it was clear who the real star of MAGA was.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson even declared that Musk was doing Congress’ job in what appears to be a pretty blatant admission of the unconstitutionality of Musk’s actions. Musk, Johnson claimed, was doing what Congress previously couldn’t “because of the Deep State.” Johnson was one of many Republicans whose tenor seemed to be: Let Musk do what he wants, and Congress will codify it later. That sounds like a lot of things, but democracy is not the term that comes to mind. More on Musk later.
Doing the Kremlin’s bidding
Another big theme of CPAC’s first day was essentially taking a baseball bat to the transatlantic alliance—just in case there was any doubt left in anyone’s mind after Vance rocked the US-European relationship to its core earlier this month in Munich when he declared that democracy in Europe wasn’t threatened by external foes like Russia, but by “enemies from within.”
Few things were as popular at CPAC as the humiliation and mockery of the US’s European allies who dare to criticize Trump and oppose his policies. Describing Trump as a “businessman” and “dealmaker,” Vance announced that negotiations with Russia over the fate of Ukraine would include, as he had noted in an interview a couple of weeks earlier, “putting everything on the table.”
“Everything,” one can only assume, includes ceding Ukrainian territory to Russia, as Vance has previously implied, an exploitative ‘economic partnership,’ and perhaps assistance in the installation of a Russian puppet government. What it may not include, however, is Ukraine.
Mike Johnson was amongst those who called for swift elections in Ukraine, which also happens to be the Kremlin’s position. Currently under martial law, Ukraine’s elections were scheduled for 2024—though even Zelenskyy’s political opponents agree that elections shouldn’t be held during wartime. While Russia has held elections since the war began, not only are they the aggressor, but their elections were not free and fair. In calling for elections that would not only be vulnerable to Russian interference but also logistically impossible, and delegitimizing Zelenskyy (who holds the support of a majority of Ukrainians), Republican leaders are willingly doing the Kremlin’s bidding.
For an election to be held, martial law would need to be lifted; without a ceasefire this would only further threaten Ukraine’s sovereignty. Yet Vance portrayed the betrayal of Ukraine and genuflection to Putin as clever negotiating—a negotiation over the fate of a sovereign state that wasn’t even given a seat at the table.
Speaker Johnson also made clear that Ukraine wouldn’t be able to count on military aid from the US in the future. When asked by an anchor from Newsmax, a decidedly right-wing outlet, whether he saw another Ukraine funding bill in the next six months (to loud boos), Johnson simply said: “I don’t think there’s an appetite for that.” It was a crystal clear message to not only Ukraine, but Europe more broadly: You’re on your own. Johnson also took the chance to affirm his support for Elon Musk’s tweets pushing the Right’s variation on “the great replacement” conspiracy theory—the claim that Democrats encouraged illegal immigration to win voters—and was rewarded with a standing ovation.
What do you get for the billionaire who has everything? A chainsaw.
Nigel Farage, leader of the far-right Reform Party in the UK, once again tried to ingratiate himself with the world’s richest man after Musk had previously called for him to step down because Farage disagreed (at least publicly) with Musk’s support of UK neo-Nazi Tommy Robinson. However, Farage didn’t seem to want to give up on the prospect of receiving some of the millions Musk had previously dangled in front of his Reform Party. Musk, whose desire to meddle in European elections appears to have increased, has been a vocal supporter of Europe’s far-right parties like Reform in the UK and the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) in Germany.
Instead of Musk following Farage, as per the schedule, Pam Bondi and Ted Cruz took the stage to deafening applause to frame the ongoing purges at the FBI and Department of Justice as the restoration of these agencies’ independence.
No one got a reception like the man who appears to be functioning as an unelected co-president: Elon Musk. Entering the stage in a “Gothic MAGA” hat and sunglasses, Musk at times struggled to form sentences and seemed generally incoherent. “My mind is a storm. A Storm,” he mumbled, when Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt asked him what it was like “inside of the head of a genius.” Musk responded: “I grew up in South Africa. My morality was informed by America. America wanted to be the good guy. That’s what I believe in.” From the crowd a woman screamed, “We love you.”
As a special treat for the excited audience, Argentina’s right-wing president Javier Milei—who’s facing impeachment due to the collapse of a cryptocurrency he promoted—presented the world’s richest man with a gleaming chainsaw (which Musk gleefully shook above his head), a nod to what he is doing to the administrative state and federal agencies (despite lacking the legal or Constitutional authority to do so). “We’re trying to get good things done but have a good time as well. The Left wanted to make comedy illegal,” Musk declared, before yelling: “Legalize comedy!”
He proceeded to echo Vance’s wild claims that “in Europe you can be put in jail over a meme,” and claimed that the Biden government wanted to “maximize the amount of illegals in the country—every one is a voter, every one is a customer,” again echoing “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory. After mocking claims that he was helping Russia (“They say I’m Putin’s asset. He can’t afford me!”), Musk echoed Kremlin propaganda, insinuating that US military aid for Ukraine had been used as “bribery,” and claiming that, “these men are being sent into the meat grinder for money.”
Bannon’s wasn’t the only Nazi salute
It was a line that even his arch-nemesis Steve Bannon echoed happily when he took to the stage, despite the fact that just a couple of days earlier he’d called Musk a “parasitic illegal immigrant.”
“Zelenskyy got put in his place,” Bannon shouted to the delight of the audience. True to fascist form, Bannon was one of the most successful speakers at riling up the audience. His diatribe also gave chilling insight into how he sees Europe—not as an ally, but as an adversary: “You know why they fear you in Beijing, in Riyadh, in Berlin, in London,” he bellowed. “Because they know you won’t stop!”
Had there been any lingering questions, CPAC 2025 once again demonstrated that the Old Guard of the Republican Party is well and truly gone. Mitch McConnell, who was instrumental in orchestrating the Supreme Court majority that delivered MAGA its most important victories, was booed and mocked as a RINO (Republican in name only), just like Nikki Haley.
Bannon dredged up some of MAGA’s greatest hits. “It was a Fedsurrection,” he thundered, making clear that not only is this kind of talk acceptable within the GOP mainstream, but that this is the GOP mainstream. Of course, with insurrectionists being celebrated and pardoned this should come as little surprise. Bannon also said (apparently making it up), “I think the J6 choir is going to play the Kennedy Center,” adding: “I got an idea…we invite all the families [of the J6ers] they tried to destroy… and they get to sit in the boxes where the elites sit, right?” These elites, he proposed, would be taken to “the D.C. gulag for one night,” a fascist fantasy that delighted the audience.
One of several speakers who proposed that Trump should run for (an unconstitutional) third term, Bannon declared, “It was divine providence’s hand that let them steal [the] 2020 [election], cuz we had to see how depraved they were, how demonic they were.” Bannon urged the crowd, whom he referred to as “the tip of the tip of the spear,” to “Fight! Fight! Fight!” before throwing up a Nazi salute (which was met with cheers) and shouting, “Amen! God bless you! You’re amazing!”
It wasn’t the only Nazi salute on the CPAC stage—both Mexican actor Eduardo Verástegui and White supremacist Human Events editor Jack Posobiec also threw up one-armed salutes. There’s a simple rule in politics: If you’re at an event where a person shows a Hitler salute on stage and isn’t carried off by security—where that salute is in fact met with cheers—you are at a fascist rally.
The insurrectionists are in the building
Also deeply jarring was the presence of those Trump had pardoned for attacking the Capitol. In Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, the heads of two right-wing militias were present. Rhodes, who had received an 18-year jail sentence for seditious conspiracy before Trump pardoned him, wore a press lanyard around his neck, as he held court in the hallways of the Gaylord Convention Center.
At Principles First, a conservative anti-Trump rally across town, Michael Fanone, one of the police officers injured while defending the Capitol on January 6th, warned of the Proud Boys, Three Percenters, and Oath Keepers, referring to them as “Trump’s Brownshirt Militia.” The Proud Boys did indeed turn up at Principles First, harassing Fanone and other officers who spoke out about the events of January 6th, 2021. Later, the conference had to be evacuated due to a bomb threat.
Bannon was not the only speaker who invoked divine providence in the re-election of Donald Trump—his sentiments were echoed by a wide array of speakers—from Trump’s National Security Advisor Michael Waltz to right-wing pillow salesman (and conspiracist) Mike Lindell, and Miklós Szánthó whose organization hosts this year’s CPAC Hungary.
While three days of CPAC gives the impression that declining in relevance and attendance within the movement (the cool fascist kids attend Turning Point USA events now, apparently), it’s still able to draw some of its biggest voices for—and there is really no other way to put this—a hate-filled, gaudy, and openly fascist extravaganza. The insurrectionists haven’t just entered the building, they’re in charge of it.
