CPAC 2023 – live: Trump vows to stay in 2024 race if he faces charges as he argues ‘prosecutors get crazier’

Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to stay in the 2024 presidential race even if his indicted in any of the multiple criminal investigations bearing down on him.

The former president held a press conference on Saturday evening at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, in Maryland’s National Harbor, ahead of his remarks to the conference and shortly after it was announced that he was the winner of the annual event’s straw poll.

“I wouldn’t even think of leaving” the race, he told Newsmax’s James Rosen.

Mr Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency in late 2022, immediately following the midterm election contests which saw several of his chosen congressional candidates go down in flames.

“Every time the polls go up higher and higher, the prosecutors get crazier and crazier. We got to stop these guys saying ‘we have to stop Trump ... because we can't stop them at the ballot box,’” he said during his speech to CPAC attendees.

Key Points

• Donald Trump beats Ron DeSantis in 2024 CPAC straw poll

• The eight most bizarre lines from CPAC 2023

• Ronald Reagan’s son says late president would be ‘embarrassed’ for GOP because of Kari Lake

• CPAC veepstakes: Who does Trumpworld want to replace Mike Pence?

• Kari Lake baselessly claims ‘they stole an election in broad daylight'

Ronald Reagan’s son says late president would be ‘embarrassed’ for GOP because of Kari Lake

09:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Ronald Reagan’s son has said that the former president would be “embarrassed” for the GOP because of Kari Lake, the 2022 nominee for governor in Arizona who lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs.

Michael Reagan was adopted by Mr Reagan and his first wife Jane Wyman.

“My father would be embarrassed for the Republican Party knowing the Kari Lake is speaking at the Ronald Reagan Dinner tonite @CPAC #embarrassing. Put Lake on the Ticket in 24 would be guarantee win for Biden,” he tweeted on Friday night.

While speaking at CPAC on Friday night, Kari Lake repeated her baseless claims that the 2020 elections were stolen from her and Mr Trump.

“There’s no hiding it. There’s no sugarcoating it. They stole that election. The entire world saw that crime was committed in broad daylight on November 8. They sabotaged Election Day,” she said.

Read more:

Ronald Reagan’s son says he would be ‘embarrassed’ for GOP because of Kari Lake

Trump wins huge majority in CPAC 2024 straw poll as Ron DeSantis trails in distant second

08:00 , John Bowden

Donald Trump was the overwhelming winner of the CPAC 2024 straw poll on Saturday, taking 62 per cent of the vote at the gathering of his loyalists on the Potomac.

The result was a predictable certain; the three-day Trumpfest was little more than a gathering of Trump campaign and former administration personnel and many attendees were draped in Trump campain attire, official or otherwise.

The former president’s team immediately blasted out the results of the straw poll to their supporters, writing that Mr Trump had “dominated” the field.

Read more:

Trump wins huge majority in CPAC 2024 straw poll as DeSantis trails in distant second

Kari Lake spins tale of attempted bribery to drop out of politics

07:00 , Eric Garcia

Failed Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake said at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday that someone showed up at her door and bribed her to get out of politics.

Ms Lake spoke at CPAC on Saturday afternoon after she delivered the Ronald Reagan dinner on Friday evening. She said it happened right before she headed to Washington.

“They came to my door and they tried to bribe me out of getting out of politics,” she told the crowd. “I’m telling you this because this is how disgusting politics is. A mom who runs for office and they’re afraid of me?”

Read more:

Kari Lake spins tale of attempted bribery to drop out of politics

CPAC speaker sparks alarm with call for trans people to be ‘eradicated’

06:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Michael Knowles of the Daily Wire sparked alarm on Saturday with his anti-trans rhetoric during his speech at CPAC.

“If [transgenderism] is false, then for the good of society, transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely,” he said.

John Knefel of Media Matters called it “eliminationist, genocidal rhetoric”.

Christopher Mathias of HuffPost said it was “a straight-up eliminationist anti-trans tirade”.

Adam Vary of Variety urged people to “pay attention. This is genocidal. That is not hyperbole or alarmist; this rhetoric is calling for the eradication of a group of people for who they are”.

Read more:

CPAC speaker sparks alarm with call for trans people to be ‘eradicated’

We asked conservatives at CPAC what ‘woke’ means. Their replies were revealing

05:00 , Eric Garcia

The fact is that conservatives don’t like the concept of “woke” these days.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the potential Republican presidential candidate, has repeatedly said that his state is where “woke goes to die”. Former president Donald Trump has talked about generals being too “woke”.

Mr DeSantis did not attend the Conservative Political Action Conference just outside Washington this week. But plenty of others focused on “wokeness”.

Presidential hopeful Nikki Haley said that “I’m running for president to renew an America that’s proud and strong, not weak and woke.” Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama held a talk on the first full day of the conference entitled “Sacking the Woke Playbook”.

Read more:

We asked conservatives at CPAC what ‘woke’ means. Their replies were revealing

VIDEO: Trump says ‘federal government should take over control of Washington DC'

04:15 , Gustaf Kilander

VIDEO: The five most bizarre lines from CPAC 2023

03:30 , The Independent

VIDEO: Donald Trump vows to stay in 2024 race if he faces criminal charges

02:45 , The Independent

Former Director of National Intelligence says removal of Nord Stream 2 pipeline sanctions was ‘huge signal’ to Putin

02:00 , Gustaf Kilander

In an interview with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 communications director Jennifer Palmieri, former Trump Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell said that the removal of Nord Stream 2 pipeline sanctions to “please” then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel was a “huge signal” to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Republican members of Congress say they may shut down government

01:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Boebert goes after ‘woke initiatives’ in the military

00:30 , Gustaf Kilander

In concluding remarks, Trump bashes street crime

00:19 , Gustaf Kilander

As Mr Trump ended his speech on Saturday night, he said, “we will cross the finish line. We will dismantle the deep state we will demolish woke tyranny and we will restore the American Republic to all of its radiant glory.”

“With God's help and your support. We will make America powerful again. We want to have a powerful country. We need to have a powerful country,” he added.

“We will make America wealthy again. We will make America strong again ... We will make America proud again,” he said.

In conclusion, the former president and 2024 candidate, said, “we will make America safe again, not like our streets of the cities which are a disgrace for the entire world to watch, and we will make America great again”.

‘We will keep men out of women’s sports,’ Trump says

00:11 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Trump said that if he were to become president again, he would “revoke every Biden policy promoting the chemical castration and sexual utilization of our youth”.

He added that he would ask “Congress to send me a bill prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states”.

To cheers from the CPAC audience, he said, “we will keep men out of women's sports”.

Trump says he’ll get rid of ‘Marxist diversity, equity and inclusion czars'

00:01 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Trump said that on day one of his presidency, he’ll “revoke Joe Biden's crazy Executive Order installing Marxist diversity, equity, and inclusion czars in every federal agency and I will immediately terminate all staffers hired to implement this horrible agenda”.

“I will urge Congress to create a Restitution Fund for Americans who have been unjustly discriminated against by these Biden policies. They're so unfair, they're so un-American ... and we will ban all racial discrimination by the government,” he said.

Stefanik says ‘Biden’s corrupt DOJ and FBI’ is ‘fully weaponized'

00:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump says ‘federal government should take control’ of Washington, DC

Saturday 4 March 2023 23:58 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Trump claimed that the “federal government should take over control and management of Washington, DC”.

“Foreign leaders come in to see us. We want them to do what we want them to do. And they drive through these terrible disgusting streets where their streets are much better, much better maintained, much nicer, and they see camps in almost all our once beautiful parks,” he said.

Trump claims he ‘built hundreds of miles of’ border wall

Saturday 4 March 2023 23:55 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Trump boasted of his supposed border wall efforts on Saturday night, saying that “I built hundreds of miles of wall and completed that task as promised”.

“And then I began to add even more in areas that seem to be allowing a lot of people that come in so we're going to do another 200 miles of wall and it could have been done and completed in three weeks,” he said. “But the Biden administration said they weren't going to do it.”

“And in fact, the wall was sitting there waiting to be installed ... and Biden ... took it away,” he claimed.

‘We can’t keep spending hundreds of billions of dollars protecting people that don’t even like us'

Saturday 4 March 2023 23:49 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump claims he will ‘solve’ Russia-Ukraine war in less than a day before he’s back in White House

Saturday 4 March 2023 23:48 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Trump said that “before I even arrive at the Oval Office, I will have the disastrous war between Russia and Ukraine settled – it will be settled quickly”.

“I will get the problem solved and I will get it solved in rapid order. And it will take no longer than one day. I know exactly what to say to each of them,” he claimed. “I got along very well with Putin even though I'm the one that ended his pipeline.”

Trump baselessly calls the Biden administration ‘the most corrupt in American history'

Saturday 4 March 2023 23:39 , Gustaf Kilander

‘This Mama Bear is going to tear them to shreds,’ Kari Lake says

Saturday 4 March 2023 23:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump says he was ‘the only’ president who served when Russia didn’t ‘take over a country'

Saturday 4 March 2023 23:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Trump claimed on Saturday night that he was “the only president where Russia didn't take over a country during my term”.

“I got along with Vladimir Putin very well. I said ‘Vladimir, don't do it’,” he said.

“‘Don't take over any countries because you know, Moscow will be hit very hard,’ as I told him,” Mr Trump added. “He probably didn't believe it.”

“But with Bush, they invaded Georgia,” he added. “With Obama, they took Crimea, with Biden they're trying to take everything and he won't even know they took it.”

Trump claims his call with Georgia election official was ‘more perfect’ than Ukraine call

Saturday 4 March 2023 23:22 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump claims there was ‘no affair’ with Stormy Daniels

Saturday 4 March 2023 23:21 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump says prosecutors get ‘crazier’ as his polls ‘go up’

Saturday 4 March 2023 23:17 , Gustaf Kilander

The former president told the CPAC audience on Saturday night that “we're leading every Republican by massive numbers and very importantly, perhaps more importantly, we're leading Biden by a lot. And we lead Kamala by a lot”.

“And every time the polls go up higher and higher, the prosecutors get crazier and crazier. We got to stop these guys saying ‘we have to stop Trump now, we got to stop him now because we can't stop them at the ballot box’,” he added.

“You know, they tried that in 2016. How did that work out? Not too good,” he added. “We have no choice. If we don't do this our country will be lost forever. People are tired of RINOs and globalists, they want to see America first. That's what they want.”

Donald Trump vows to stay in 2024 race if he faces criminal charges

Saturday 4 March 2023 23:06 , John Bowden

Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to stay in the 2024 presidential race even if his indicted in any of the multiple criminal investigations bearing down on him.

The former president held a press conference on Saturday evening at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, in Maryland’s National Harbor, ahead of his remarks to the conference and shortly after it was announced that he was the winner of the annual event’s straw poll.

“I wouldn’t even think of leaving” the race, he told Newsmax’s James Rosen.

Mr Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency in late 2022, immediately following the midterm election contests which saw several of his chosen congressional candidates go down in flames.

Read more:

Donald Trump vows to stay in 2024 race if he faces criminal charges

Stephen Miller says ‘most important thing’ is ‘to shut down the border'

Saturday 4 March 2023 23:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Former Trump speechwriter and advisor Stephen Miller said on Saturday that “the most important thing we can do in the next 2 years is support our representatives as they fight, in the House of Representatives, to shut down the border”.

Trump complains about US support for Ukraine

Saturday 4 March 2023 23:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Trump complained about the level of US support for Ukraine on Saturday night.

He said, “if you look at Ukraine, and we all feel so badly about it, but why is it NATO putting up dollar for dollar with us?”

“We put up $140bn and they put up just a tiny fraction of that. And you know we all want to see success but it's far more important to them than it is to us, because of that location,” he added.

Trump calls out Republicans who wants to cut Medicare and social security

Saturday 4 March 2023 22:52 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Trump called out the Republicans who want to cut Medicare and social security.

“We're not going back to people that want to destroy our great social security system,” he said on Saturday night. “Even some in our own party, I wonder who that might be?”

“They want to raise the minimum age of social security to 70, 75 or even 80 in some cases, and then ... to cut Medicare to a level that it will no longer be recognizable,” he added.

Trump claims he’ll ‘demolish the deep state'

Saturday 4 March 2023 22:48 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Trump said he and his allies “will demolish the deep state, we will expel the warmongers, we will drive out the globalist, we will route the fake news media, and beat the Democrats”.

Trump says he has ‘been engaged in an epic struggle to rescue our country from the people who hate it'

Saturday 4 March 2023 22:47 , Gustaf Kilander

Speaking on Saturday night, Mr Trump said the “most important battle in our lives is taking place right now”.

“I have been engaged in an epic struggle to rescue our country from the people who hate it and want to absolutely destroy it,” he said.

“The sinister forces trying to kill America have done everything they can to stop me, to silence you and to turn this nation into a socialist dumping ground for criminals, junkies, Marxists, thugs, radicals, and dangerous refugees that no other country wants,” he added.

“If those opposing us succeed our once beautiful USA will be a failed country that no one will even recognize – a lawless open-borders crime and filthy communist nightmare,” he said.

General says Russia needs to be beaten to focus on China

Saturday 4 March 2023 22:40 , Gustaf Kilander

General Keith Kellogg told the CPAC audience that the US should attempt to end the war in Ukraine to allow more focus to be placed on China.

He didn’t say that US troops should fight in Ukraine.

Trump begins CPAC speech by thanking other Republicans

Saturday 4 March 2023 22:38 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump opened his CPAC speech by thanking a number of other Republicans attending the conference.

He said former presidential physician and Texas Congressman Ronny Jackson told him “I would live 200 years” if “I didn’t eat junk food”.

The former president also thanked Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and many others.

Kari Lake spins tale of attempted bribery to drop out of politics

Saturday 4 March 2023 22:20 , Eric Garcia

ailed Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake said at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday that someone showed up at her door and bribed her to get out of politics.

Ms Lake spoke at CPAC on Saturday afternoon after she delivered the Ronald Reagan dinner on Friday evening. She said it happened right before she headed to Washington.

“They came to my door and they tried to bribe me out of getting out of politics,” she told the crowd. “I’m telling you this because this is how disgusting politics is. A mom who runs for office and they’re afraid of me?”

Read more:

Kari Lake spins tale of attempted bribery to drop out of politics

Trump wins huge majority in CPAC 2024 straw poll as Ron DeSantis trails in distant second

Saturday 4 March 2023 22:17 , John Bowden

Donald Trump was the overwhelming winner of the CPAC straw poll on Saturday, taking 62 per cent of the vote at the gathering of his loyalists on the Potomac.

The result was a predictable certain; the three-day Trumpfest was little more than a gathering of Trump campaign and former administration personnel and many attendees were draped in Trump campain attire, official or otherwise.

The appearance of his only announced challenger, Nikki Haley, even drew chants of Mr Trump’s name.

Florida Gov Ron DeSantis was in a distant second place, taking 20 per cent of the voters.

Read more:

Trump wins huge majority in CPAC 2024 straw poll as DeSantis trails in distant second

The eight most bizarre lines from CPAC 2023

Saturday 4 March 2023 22:00 , Alex Woodward and Gustaf Kilander

Criticism of President Joe Biden’s administration, the Chinese surveillance balloon, attacks on transgender Americans and “wokeness” were recurrent themes at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, a four-day gathering for right-wing activists and Republican officials from across the US.

These are some of the most bizarre and downright horrifying lines from the conference:

The eight most bizarre lines from CPAC 2023

Stefanik says taxpayers paid for FBI to pay Twitter to interfere in 2020 election

Saturday 4 March 2023 21:40 , Gustaf Kilander

New York Republican Representative and House GOP Conference chair Elise Stefanik told the CPAC audience on Saturday that the FBI conducted “illegal suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, shamelessly using millions of taxpayer dollars … We the American people unknowingly picked up the tab for the FBI to pay Twitter to interfere in the 2020 election on behalf of Joe Biden”.

VIDEO: Kari Lake claims she was bribed not to run for office

Saturday 4 March 2023 21:20 , The Independent

Ronald Reagan’s son says late president would be ‘embarrassed’ for GOP because of Kari Lake

Saturday 4 March 2023 21:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Ronald Reagan’s son has said that the former president would be “embarrassed” for the GOP because of Kari Lake, the 2022 nominee for governor in Arizona who lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs.

Michael Reagan was adopted by Mr Reagan and his first wife Jane Wyman.

“My father would be embarrassed for the Republican Party knowing the Kari Lake is speaking at the Ronald Reagan Dinner tonite @CPAC #embarrassing. Put Lake on the Ticket in 24 would be guarantee win for Biden,” he tweeted on Friday night.

While speaking at CPAC on Friday night, Kari Lake repeated her baseless claims that the 2020 elections were stolen from her and Mr Trump.

“There’s no hiding it. There’s no sugarcoating it. They stole that election. The entire world saw that crime was committed in broad daylight on November 8. They sabotaged Election Day,” she said.

Read more:

Ronald Reagan’s son says he would be ‘embarrassed’ for GOP because of Kari Lake

Trump asks court to block Pence’s grand jury testimony in probe of 2020 election interference

Saturday 4 March 2023 20:40 , Bevan Hurley

Donald Trump has sought to block Mike Pence from testifying before a grand jury as part of a criminal investigation into 2020 election interference, according to a report.

Mr Trump submitted a secret court filing asserting executive privilege over conversations with his former vice president about efforts to overturn his defeat in the presidential election, CNN reported, citing confidential sources.

The Justice Department is trying to compel Mr Pence to provide evidence to the grand jury, after he indicated he would fight a subpoena issued by special counsel Jack Smith.

The criminal probe is investigating the events on and leading up to January 6th, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capital in an attempt to prevent Joe Biden’s election victory from being certified.

Read more:

Trump asks court to block Pence’s grand jury testimony in election interference probe

House GOP Conference chair Elise Stefanik blasts China during CPAC speech

Saturday 4 March 2023 20:31 , Gustaf Kilander

New York Republican Representative and House GOP Conference chair Elise Stefanik told the CPAC audience on Saturday that “House Republicans established the select committee on Communist China to expose and combat this grave threat across our country”.

“We launched the Select Subcommittee on the COVID pandemic to continue to dig into what we all knew was the truth three years ago, we were viciously smeared by the mainstream media for saying and what Fauci lied under oath about that COVID came from a Communist Chinese lab,” she added.

CPAC veepstakes: Who does Trumpworld want to replace Mike Pence?

Saturday 4 March 2023 20:20 , John Bowden and Eric Garcia

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) concluded on Saturday with a speech from former President Donald Trump, still considered the heavy favourite (especially by this crowd) for the 2024 GOP nomination.

But while Republicans attending the three-day Trumpfest at Maryland’s National Harbor were certain of who should be at the top of the ticket — even breaking out into chants of “Trump! Trump!” during a speech by his competitor, Nikki Haley — they were far less certain about who the former president should pick as his running mate should he secure his party’s nomination.

It’s a unique question for the once-president. He obviously cannot run again with his former vice president, Mike Pence, who is mulling his own 2024 bid and has publicly broken with his ex-boss on Mr Trump’s most important issue: The certainty of their shared 2020 defeat to Joe Biden. The former president also has far fewer ties with the GOP establishment than he had the last go around or even was able to forge in 2016, meaning that his hypothetical pick for several reasons could likely end up being someone with much stronger ties to the GOP’s far-right activist base.

Read more:

CPAC veepstakes: Who does Trumpworld want to replace Mike Pence?

Kari Lake baselessly claims ‘they stole an election in broad daylight'

Saturday 4 March 2023 20:19 , Gustaf Kilander

Kari Lake returned to the stage on Saturday after her Friday night speech.

“Did you hear what happened in Arizona? They stole an election in broad daylight,” she claimed, once again sharing her baseless election conspiracy.

“This Mama Bear is going to tear them to shreds,” she said.

Boebert makes baseless infrastructure claim and rails against ‘woke’ initiatives

Saturday 4 March 2023 19:58 , Gustaf Kilander

Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert appeared on the CPAC stage on Saturday claiming that only ten per cent of the bipartisan infrastructure law was spent on infrastructure, a claim that has been debunked.

“Stop confusing our babies with your groomer gender [ideology]. Shame on you!” she shouted.

Mike Lindell claims 10 million votes stolen in Brazilian election

Saturday 4 March 2023 19:41 , Gustaf Kilander

MyPillow CEO and election denier Mike Lindell started his speech by claiming that ten million votes were stolen in the Brazilian election last year, without providing any evidence.

“What do you think I'm gonna talk about?” he asked the audience in jest before starting to share his conspiracy theories.

“We need to melt down the machines and turn them into prison bars,” he said. “We have succumbed to the machines.”

CPAC speaker sparks alarm with call for trans people to be ‘eradicated’

Saturday 4 March 2023 19:40 , Gustaf Kilander

Michael Knowles of the Daily Wire sparked alarm on Saturday with his anti-trans rhetoric during his speech at CPAC.

“If [transgenderism] is false, then for the good of society, transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely,” he said.

John Knefel of Media Matters called it “eliminationist, genocidal rhetoric”.

Christopher Mathias of HuffPost said it was “a straight-up eliminationist anti-trans tirade”.

Adam Vary of Variety urged people to “pay attention. This is genocidal. That is not hyperbole or alarmist; this rhetoric is calling for the eradication of a group of people for who they are”.

Read more:

CPAC speaker sparks alarm with call for trans people to be ‘eradicated’

Bolsonaro brags about being ‘last president’ to recognize 2020 US election results

Saturday 4 March 2023 19:37 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Bolsonaro bragged about being the “last president” to recognize the 2020 US election results.

‘My relationship with President Donald Trump was simply exceptional’

Saturday 4 March 2023 19:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Bolsonaro said that “my relationship with President Donald Trump was simply exceptional”.

He went on to speak of internal US migration from states “run by the left” to those “run by the centre or the right”.

Bolsonaro’s anti-vaccine mandates comments prompts standing ovation

Saturday 4 March 2023 19:27 , Gustaf Kilander

Bolsonaro appears to doubt 2022 Brazilian election results

Saturday 4 March 2023 19:26 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Bolsonaro appeared to sow doubt in relation to his 2022 election loss, claiming to have had more support last year than he did when he won in 2018 but that the results still showed “the opposite”.

Bolsonaro draws applause with anti-vax rhetoric

Saturday 4 March 2023 19:22 , Gustaf Kilander

Jair Bolsonaro drew huge applause as he railed against vaccines, saying that he never “forced anyone in Brazil to get vaccinated”.

While he said he was the most “attacked” politician by “big media,” he drew lukewarm applause when he spoke in support of press freedom.

Stephen Miller says immigration is ‘next great threat to our sovereignty'

Saturday 4 March 2023 19:20 , Gustaf Kilander

Stephen Miller, a former advisor to Mr Trump, appeared on the CPAC stage on Saturday claiming that Democrats will allow illegal immigrants to vote.

He called it “the next great threat to our sovereignty”.

“We’re probably well over 20 million illegal aliens at this point,” he said.

“CPAC says it’s against white nationalists like Nick Fuentes but gives this guy a platform?” Kristen Doerer of Right Wing Watch tweeted.

According to Hatewatch, “in the run-up to the 2016 election, White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller promoted white nationalist literature, pushed racist immigration stories and obsessed over the loss of Confederate symbols after Dylann Roof’s murderous rampage,” leaked emails revealed.

Bolsonaro gets ‘rockstar entrance'

Saturday 4 March 2023 19:19 , Gustaf Kilander

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro takes stage at CPAC

Saturday 4 March 2023 19:18 , Gustaf Kilander

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is speaking at CPAC, saying that he grew up poor and never expected to reach the presidency.

His son Eduardo Bolsonaro appeared during a panel earlier in the day.

“It’s not easy being a politician,” he said via a translator.

Tulsi Gabbard claims Biden admin ‘are trying to tell us pedophilia is normal’

Saturday 4 March 2023 19:06 , Gustaf Kilander

Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic House Representative and presidential candidate said during a speech at CPAC that the Biden admin “are trying to tell us paedophilia is normal because minor-attracted people are acceptable”.

She drew applause from the crowd when she said “I am no longer a Democrat” and she called Hillary Clinton “the queen of warmongers”.

She went on to claim that Democrats are “betraying Dr King’s dream” and that “they’ve become the racists they claim to hate”.

CPAC offers a platform for an avalanche of anti-trans attacks

Saturday 4 March 2023 19:00 , Alex Woodward

In speech after speech and panel after panel, the guests on the stage at one of the biggest platforms for right-wing activists and Republican officials lobbed casual attacks against transgender Americans, made jokes at their expense, or threatened to strip them of their healthcare and remove them from public life.

The guests at 2023’s Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, revived familiar right-wing tropes aimed at “safe spaces” and “wokeness” and “socialist” Democratic lawmakers, but prominent GOP elected officials and right-wing media personalities repeatedly returned to their alarmist visions of children in danger from LGBT+ people and gender-affirming care.

Their claims run parallel to a wave of legislation targeting LGBT+ Americans, particularly young trans people, and proposed federal legislation that would restrict that care nationally under threat of felony prosecutions.

Far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene told the conference that she plans to introduce a bill she is calling the Protect Children’s Innocence Act that would make it a felony to perform “anything to do with gender-affirming care” for minors.

Read more:

CPAC offers a platform for an avalanche of anti-trans attacks

VIDEO: Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles calls for transgender people to be ‘eradicated’

Saturday 4 March 2023 18:40 , The Independent

CPAC speaker calls Trump a ‘crime victim'

Saturday 4 March 2023 18:20 , Gustaf Kilander

Son of former Brazilian president takes stage at CPAC

Saturday 4 March 2023 18:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Kari Lake compares Hillary Clinton to George Soros: ‘They’re starting to look alike’

Saturday 4 March 2023 17:40 , Gustaf Kilander

Kari Lake compared Hillary Clinton, 75, to George Soros, 92, on Friday night.

“I’m not trying to be mean here,” Ms Lake said. “Has anybody noticed that she’s looking more and more like George Soros?”

“I know they think alike, but they’re starting to look alike – it’s like an old married couple, they’re starting to look alike,” she added.

“We stand with our patriots, past and present, with George Washington, we stand with JFK, Ronald Reagan, Steve Bannon, [and] we stand with Donald J Trump,” she said, according to the Daily Mail.

The Anti-Defamation League wrote in a blog post in 2020 that conspiracy theories about Mr Soros are a “gateway to antisemitism”.

Daily Wire speaker sparks alarm with ‘genocidal’ anti-trans rhetoric

Saturday 4 March 2023 17:20 , Gustaf Kilander

Michael Knowles of the Daily Wire sparked alarm on Saturday with his anti-trans rhetoric.

“Transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely,” he said.

John Knefel of Media Matters called it “eliminationist, genocidal rhetoric”.

Adam Vary of Variety urged people to “pay attention. This is genocidal. That is not hyperbole or alarmist; this rhetoric is calling for the eradication of a group of people for who they are”.

“‘Transgenderism’ is people. He’s talking about eradicating people. When newspapers print scare stories about kids transitioning too early, when podcast hosts whine about girls’ sports, when politicians snark about the definition of ‘woman,’ this is what they’re talking around,” Raphael Bob-Waksberg said.

“It would be great if non-trans people would start paying attention to this, because the quiet part is getting shouted at this point,” Jaclyn Moore added. “If only there was a word for when they want to ‘eradicate’ a kind of people. A word trans people have said these people were talking about but people called us hyperbolic. Hmmm I guess my vocabulary just isn’t good enough.”

‘I’m the most dangerous politician in the world,’ Kari Lake says

Saturday 4 March 2023 17:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Ms Lake bizarrely claimed that globalists “are trying to kill us to try to get rid of us”.

“I’m not just the most dangerous politician in America when it comes to globalism — I’m the most dangerous politician in the world,” she said, according to the Washington Examiner.

Kari Lake repeats false election claims: ‘There’s no sugarcoating it. They stole that election"

Saturday 4 March 2023 16:40 , Gustaf Kilander

Kari Lake repeated her baseless claims that the 2020 elections were stolen from her and Mr Trump.

“There’s no hiding it. There’s no sugarcoating it. They stole that election. The entire world saw that crime was committed in broad daylight on November 8. They sabotaged Election Day,” she said at CPAC on Friday night.

Ms Lake lost to Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, who took office earlier this year, by a narrow margin of 50.3 per cent to 49.7 per cent.

‘Transgenderism must be eradicated from public life,’ speaker says in ‘genocidal’ tirade

Saturday 4 March 2023 16:20 , Gustaf Kilander

Michael Knowles of the Daily Wire took to the stage on Saturday with an anti-trans tirade.

“Transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely,” he said.

John Knefel of Media Matters called it “eliminationist, genocidal rhetoric”.

Kari Lake claims Joe Biden has ‘blood on his hands'

Saturday 4 March 2023 16:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Referencing the American Revolution, Ms Lake said the US was founded after a fight between “globalists vs the colonists” and that “we still have that DNA from our founding fathers”.

She claimed that President Joe Biden has “blood on his hands for this young generation” because of the situation at the border.

She went on to claim that Mr Trump could have created a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia in “24 hours”.

Kari Lake says Trump is ‘exactly what we need right now'

Saturday 4 March 2023 15:42 , Gustaf Kilander

The 2022 GOP nominee for governor in Arizona, Kari Lake, praised former President Donald Trump and continued to make her baseless claims about her election defeat.

Ms Lake, a former TV anchor, lauded Mr Trump for being a “bull in a China shop” and she claimed that there’s a fight between “globalists vs we the people,” according to the Washington Examiner.

Speaking at the Ronald Reagan Dinner at CPAC on Friday night, she said “Donald Trump not only warned us about it, he started to dismantle that entrenched globalist machine”.

“That man was a bull in a China shop. And I missed that man so much. That’s exactly what we need right now,” she said.

Antivaxx CPAC doctor speaks of most ‘massive psyops propaganda campaign in the history of the Western world’

Saturday 4 March 2023 15:24 , Gustaf Kilander

Former Physician to the President Ronny Jackson, now a Texas GOP congressman, appeared on a panel alongside Robert Malone, a doctor with a history of controversial statements on Covid-19.

Dr Jackson pushed the new Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, to which he was appointed by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Dr Malone claimed that “we have been subjected to the most massive psyops propaganda campaign in the history of the Western world”.

He added that “this is just the beginning. This is just the start of ... a multi-pronged strategy to subvert the United States by people who do not believe in an independent nation state who believe in a one-world order, a world government that's not elected and it's up to us to stop that”.

He said that the “vaccine-injured” must be “compensated”.

Dr Jackson claimed that hearings would show that “the left” and “the White House” misled the American people, without providing evidence.

CPAC offers a platform for an avalanche of anti-trans attacks

Saturday 4 March 2023 13:00 , Alex Woodward

CPAC guests revived familiar right-wing tropes aimed at “safe spaces” and “wokeness” and “socialist” Democratic lawmakers, but prominent GOP elected officials and right-wing media personalities repeatedly returned to their alarmist visions of children in danger from LGBT+ people and gender-affirming care.

Their claims run parallel to a wave of legislation targeting LGBT+ Americans, particularly young trans people, and proposed federal legislation that would restrict that care nationally under threat of felony prosecutions.

They baselessly insist that something is dangerously wrong with the ways in which children and their families navigate a nuanced and personal process, unmoored from science and guidance from a legion of medical professionals and expert organisations.

CPAC offers a platform for an avalanche of anti-trans attacks

CPAC’s sea of empty seats: Trumpworld celebs address half-empty ballroom as mainstream Republicans shy away

Saturday 4 March 2023 12:00 , Alex Woodward

Attendance issues at CPAC can be blamed on the hard-right tilt that the GOP base underwent during the rise and subsequent presidency of Donald Trump.

Republicans aligned with their party’s leaders on Capitol Hill were wholly absent from the convention centre; the event instead was home to far-right figures and a cast of circuslike characters wearing costumes which would appear more at home at one of the former president’s raucous campaign events.

Trumpworld celebs address half-empty CPAC as mainstream Republicans shy away

Trump and ‘J6 Prison Choir’ release a song together as Capitol rioters get a platform at CPAC

Saturday 4 March 2023 11:00 , Alex Woodward

The former president has repeatedly praised the mob that stormed the halls of Congress on Jan 6, an attack fuelled by his baseless narrative that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

He has vowed to issue mass pardons for Capitol riot defendants, and now he has joined them on a song released on streaming platforms.

A group of defendants naming themselves the J6 Prison Choir released a track titled “Justice for All” on 3 March that features their rendition of the national anthem while the former president recites the Pledge of Allegiance.

Trump and ‘J6 Prison Choir’ release a song together as rioters get a platform at CPAC

Don Jr attacks stroke survivor John Fetterman: ‘Pennsylvania managed to elect a vegetable’

Saturday 4 March 2023 10:00 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump Jr gave a short speech to the CPAC main stage around noon on the second day of the conference, taking a break from the podcast tapings he had been relentlessly recording out in a media corridor.

The former president’s oldest son dismissed the idea that he was being ableist against Democratic Senator John Fetterman, who survived a strike, and joined Republicans who have suggested that he is somehow being forced to serve by staffers whom he employs.

Don Jr goes on Fetterman rant at CPAC: ‘Pennsylvania managed to elect a vegetable’

‘Mike Pompeo calls for courage from conservatives, but is still afraid to say Trump’s name'

Saturday 4 March 2023 09:00 , Alex Woodward

The Independent’s Richard Hall writes:

Pompeo calls for courage from conservatives, but is still afraid to say Trump’s name

We asked conservatives at CPAC what ‘woke’ means. Their replies were revealing

Saturday 4 March 2023 08:00 , Alex Woodward

Black Americans largely adopted the term “woke” going back as late as the 1940s as a phrase meant to be aware of racism around them and became a staple of African American Vernacular English.

The term has been wholly co-opted by the right. But CPAC attendees struggled to define it means in interviews with The Independent, while speaker after speaker raged against a right-wing “woke” boogeyman from the stage.

We asked conservatives at CPAC what ‘woke’ means. Their replies were revealing

Nigel Farage backs Boris Johnson for saying ‘f*** the Americans’

Saturday 4 March 2023 07:00 , Alex Woodward

In a brief interview with The Independent at CPAC, Nigel Farage said that Boris Johnson saying “f*** the Americans” is “just Boris being Boris.”

Nigel Farage weighs in on Boris saying ‘f*** the Americans’

ICYMI: Marjorie Taylor Greene prompts CPAC crowd to boo Zelensky

Saturday 4 March 2023 06:00 , Alex Woodward

Far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green goaded CPAC’s audience into booing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

She falsely claimed that Zelensky wanted “our sons and daughters to go die in Ukraine,” prompting boos from the audience.

Footage of Zelensky discussing “sons and daughters” fighting in Europe have been taken wildly out of context as right-wing opponents of Ukraine aid use his remarks to justify their lack of support.

Marjorie Taylor Greene prompts CPAC crowd to boo Zelensky

Nick Fuentes got kicked out of CPAC but not before getting a photo with Mike Lindell

Saturday 4 March 2023 05:00 , Alex Woodward

White nationalist and virulent antisemite Nick Fuentes took a photograph with election-denying conspiracy theorist and pillow salesman Mike Lindell before he was kicked out, according to a photo on his Telegram account.

In the photo, Lindell flashes a smile and a thumbs up next to Fuentes, who is wearing black sunglasses and raising a fist.

Moments later, he was kicked out for his “hateful, racist rhetoric” that are not consistent” with CPAC’s mission, according to a statement from CPAC chief Matt Schlapp.

He said CPAC is “concerned about the rise in antisemitic rhetoric (or Jew hatred) in our country and around the globe”.

On his Telegram account, Fuentes announced he would also be postponing a fourth edition of his competing America First Political Action Conference, which in previous years hosted far-right members of Congress Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“Our venue for the rally got cancelled and they bounced us from the hotel,” he wrote. “This is a big part of why I postponed AFPAC IV – we get no play here in DC.”

In response to Schlapp’s statement, Fuentes wrote that “CPAC is reserved for sexual gropers and groomers, not groypers,” referring to allegations facing Schlapp and Fuentes’ far-right Christian nationalist group.

America’s Frontline Doctors, the Covid denialist organisation sponsoring CPAC

Saturday 4 March 2023 04:00 , Alex Woodward

One of the chief sponsors of this year’s CPAC is an organisation that public health experts and critics warn is merely a platform to promote pseudoscientific Covid-19 cures like using horse dewormer, foster anti-vaccine sentiment, and abuse donor funds.

Its founder, Simone Gold, also addressed a panel at the conference with other people who pleaded guilty to crimes related to the Capitol riot on January 6. Gold pleaded guilty to knowingly and unlawfully “entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds” and was sentenced to 60 days in prison and a $9,500 fine for entering the Capitol on January 6, which she said she regretted.

What is America’s Frontline Doctors, the Covid denial organisation sponsoring CPAC?

Pompeo tells CPAC not to look to ‘celebrity’ candidates with ‘fragile egos’ in rebuke to Trump

Saturday 4 March 2023 03:00 , Alex Woodward

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared to criticise Donald Trump for his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election and his former administration’s lack of fiscal discipline in remarks to a half-full ballroom at CPAC on Friday.

He acknowledged that the Republican Party has failed to achieve victories in multiple election cycles in the years since Trump won the presidency, telling attendees that the GOP had “lost three elections in a row”.

The former secretary of state’s remark drew no reaction from a crowd that had heard multiple Trumpworld figures repeat the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, including during a bombastic address by Kimberly Guilfoyle, the ex-Fox News presenter who is engaged to Donald Trump Jr.

Pompeo tells CPAC not to look to ‘celebrity’ candidates with ‘fragile egos’

‘Nigel Farage came to CPAC to save America from itself. Because that’s what freedom looks like!'

Saturday 4 March 2023 01:00 , Alex Woodward

The Indepenent’s Holly Baxter writes:

Nigel Farage came to CPAC so he can save America from Americans

CPAC’s sea of empty seats: Trumpworld celebs address half-empty ballroom as mainstream Republicans shy away

Saturday 4 March 2023 00:00 , Alex Woodward

What could have been a massive “big tent” gathering of Washington Republicans and their nationwide grassroots allies instead appeared to be more of a muted affair to celebrate Donald Trump and his dominant but still incomplete segment of the Republican Party.

The split was evident in the crowd sizes at the event on Friday, when many big-name speakers including Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump Jr and others were slated to speak. All of the above spoke to half-empty ballrooms which struggled to reach the same tenor and excitement of your average Trump rally.

John Bowden reports from inside CPAC:

Trumpworld celebs address half-empty CPAC as mainstream Republicans shy away

CPAC offers a platform for an avalanche of anti-trans attacks

Friday 3 March 2023 23:15 , Alex Woodward

Nearly every panel and speech included alarmist visions of American children threatened by gender-affirming care, with no plans for supporting young people whose health is at risk by waves of legislation.

CPAC offers a platform for an avalanche of anti-trans attacks

Full story: Nikki Haley declares ‘wokeness is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic’ as she bashes Don Lemon

Friday 3 March 2023 22:54 , Alex Woodward

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley made an appeal to potential voters at CPAC on Friday as she declared a war on “wokeness” while reigniting her conflict with CNN’s Don Lemon.

Nikki Haley declares ‘wokeness is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic’

Don Jr ranted at ‘woke’ bank after his business account abruptly shuttered.

Friday 3 March 2023 22:00 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump Jr ranted on social media on the stage at CPAC that a bank account associated with his new aggregation company was closed

But PNC bank told The Independent on Friday that the account for the app’s parent company ROCDIGITAL, LLC had been reopened.

Don Jr rants at ‘woke’ bank after his business account abruptly shuttered

Nigel Farage rages at lockdowns, calls Trudeau a ‘loser’, praises far-right leaders and Elon Musk

Friday 3 March 2023 21:48 , Alex Woodward

Closing out Friday’s speaking events, Nigel Farage summed up CPAC grievances and heroes, from raging at Covid-19 “lockdowns” in the UK to heaping praise on far-right European leaders as well as Twitter CEO Elon Musk, whom Farage hopes will bring “balance” to what conservatives believe is a Big Tech conspiracy against them.

“When laws become enemies of men, men become enemies of laws,” he said of “lockdowns,” the likes of which were not seen in the US during the pandemic. “If any government ever tries to take away my liberties like that again I am going to be a rebel.”

We asked conservatives at CPAC what ‘woke’ means. Their replies were revealing

Friday 3 March 2023 21:45 , Alex Woodward

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the potential Republican presidential candidate, has repeatedly said that his state is where “woke goes to die”. Former president Donald Trump has talked about generals being too “woke”.

Speakers and panelists at CPAC, too, spent the last two days raging at “wokeness” from the stage.

But The Independent’s Eric Garcia reports that many conservatives at the conference have struggled to define what that even means.

We asked conservatives at CPAC what ‘woke’ means. Their replies were revealing

Steve Bannon screams from CPAC stage to urge support for Donald Trump

Friday 3 March 2023 21:32 , Alex Woodward

Former Trump aide and far-right activist Steve Bannon screamed his support for Donald Trump during his speaking slot at CPAC on Friday afternoon.

He said the arrival of Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley as GOP presidential candidates is “fine” but “we don’t have time for on the job training” after “a man who gave us four years of peace and prosperity.”

“Show us what Mitch McConnell has given us. What the Murdochs, a bunch of foreigners have given us,” he said, yelling.

Bannon, who has his own platform through Real America’s Voice, one of CPAC’s sponsors, repeatedly took aim at Fox News and network leadership that privately lambasted the former president’s bogus election claims, uncovered in the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit against the company.

“Note to Fox senior management: When Donald J Trump talks it’s newsworthy,” Bannon said.

Trump is “not simply the leader of a politiical party” but “the leader of the most powerful political movement in American history,” he said.

Full story: Trump and ‘J6 Prison Choir’ release a song together as Capitol rioters get a platform at CPAC

Friday 3 March 2023 21:30 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump has vowed to issue mass pardons for Capitol riot defendants, and now he has joined them on a song released on streaming platforms.

A group of defendants naming themselves the J6 Prison Choir released a track titled “Justice for All” on 3 March that features their rendition of the national anthem while the former president recites the Pledge of Allegiance.

Trump and ‘J6 Prison Choir’ release a song together as rioters get a platform at CPAC

‘Mike Pompeo calls for courage from conservatives, but is still afraid to say Trump’s name'

Friday 3 March 2023 21:00 , Alex Woodward

The Independent’s Richard Hall writes:

Pompeo calls for courage from conservatives, but is still afraid to say Trump’s name

Trump wants to open a contest to building 10 ‘freedom cities' on federal land

Friday 3 March 2023 20:47 , Alex Woodward

A vast majority of American land owned by the federal government is administered by agencies under the Department of Interior, most of which is used for conservation efforts, wildlife preservation and national parks.

Trump, a real estate developer whose business empire has been criminally prosecuted, wants to build “freedom cities” on government-owned land.

In a video released by his campaign, he said he plans to open a contest for proposals to build 10 such cities on federal lands and “reignite American imagination.”

“But today, our country has lost its boldness. Under my leadership, we will get it back in a very big way,” he said in the video. “If you look at just three years ago, what we were doing was unthinkable, how good it was, how great it was for our country. Our objective will be a quantum leap in the American standard of living.”

His campaign asserts that the cities would roughly be the size of Washington DC and could be built using less than one tenth of one percent of the hundreds of million of acres of “empty” government land. The campaign noted that would not include national parks.

Nick Fuentes posed with Mike Lindell at CPAC before he was kicked out

Friday 3 March 2023 20:06 , Alex Woodward

White nationalist and virulent antisemite Nick Fuentes took a photograph with election-denying conspiracy theorist and pillow salesman Mike Lindell before he was kicked out, according to a photo on his Telegram account.

In the photo, Lindell flashes a smile and a thumbs up next to Fuentes, who is wearing black sunglasses and raising a fist.

Trump and the ‘J6 Prison Choir’ release a song together as Capitol riot defendants get a platform at CPAC

Friday 3 March 2023 19:28 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump has repeatedly praised the mob that stormed the halls of Congress, fuelled by the former president’s baseless narrative that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

He has vowed to issue mass pardons for Capitol riot defendants, and now he has joined them on a song released on streaming platforms.

A group of defendants naming themselves “J6 Prison Choir” released a track titled “Justice for All” that features their rendition of the national anthem while the former president recites the Pledge of Allegiance.

Mr Trump recorded his portion at Mar-a-Lago, while the J6 Prison Choir recorded their vocals by prison phone, according to Forbes, which first reported the track.

Meanwhile, a CPAC panel titled “True Stories of January 6: The Prosecuted Speak” provided a platform to a group of people who joined the Capitol riots.

CPAC’s main ballroom appears mostly empty during high-profile remarks

Friday 3 March 2023 19:14 , Alex Woodward

The ballroom at CPAC – where the stars of the conference have been addressing what is one of the largest and most closely watched stages in right-wing politics – has been mostly empty over the last two days

The crowd for Mike Pompeo appeared smaller than the press box.

A sparsely occupied room stared back at Kimberly Guilfyole during her remarks.

Kimberly Guilfoyle met by half empty auditorium at CPAC

Pompeo tells CPAC to steer clear of ‘celebrity leaders’ who ‘refuse to acknowledge reality’

Friday 3 March 2023 19:00 , Alex Woodward

Without mentioning Trump, Mike Pompeo told the CPAC audience to avoid “celebrity leaders” with “fragile egos” who ignore reality, accusing “the left” of embracing those officials.

“We can’t become the left, following celebrity leaders with their own brand of identity politics. Those with fragile egos who refuse to acknowledge reality,” he said.

He also told the crowd to face the reality that Republicans “lost three elections in a row” and lost the popular vote in seven of the eight last elections, which Trump refuses to ackowledge.

Trump secretary of state Mike Pompeo takes the stage at CPAC

Friday 3 March 2023 18:41 , Alex Woodward

Former secretary of state during the Trump administration Mike Pompeo entered the half-full ballroom at CPAC with some relatively sobering reality to the supportive crowd in front of him: Republicans “lost three elections in a row” and lost the popular vote in seven of the eight last elections.

Earlier on Friday, Kimberly Guilfoyle falsely claimed that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump. Nobody in the crowd appeared to push back against Pompeo.

Nikki Haley goes after Biden administration, ‘wokeness’ and ‘socialist’ Democrats

Friday 3 March 2023 18:19 , Alex Woodward

2024 contender Nikki Haley said the thrust of her presidential campaign is her attempt to “stop America’s downward spiral towards socialism” with an agenda to make America “strong and proud not weak and woke.”

“The Democratic party is now a socialist party,” she said, pointing to Bernie Sanders, who is not Democrat, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has overwhelmingly won election to her New York district three times.

She condemned the Biden administration with a false claim that troops are forced to take “gender pronoun classes”; US military policy provides instruction for respecting trans service members.

“That disgusts me,” Ms Haley said.

“This woke self-loathing has swept our country,” she added. “Wokeness is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic hands down.”

2024 GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley takes the stage at CPAC

Friday 3 March 2023 18:04 , Alex Woodward

Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and a 2024 candidate for the Republican nomination for president, is taking the stage at CPAC, where panelists and speakers appear resolutely devoted to Trump and his Make America Great Again agenda.

Don Jr attacks John Fetterman at CPAC: ‘Pennsylvania managed to elect a vegetable’

Friday 3 March 2023 17:55 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump Jr targeted Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman in his remarks at CPAC, accusing the state’s voters of electing a “vegetable” after he was hospitalised with a stroke before entering office.

Fetterman defeated his father’s propped-up celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz in November elections.

Don Jr goes on Fetterman rant at CPAC: ‘Pennsylvania managed to elect a vegetable’

CPAC booted Nick Fuentes because ‘hateful racist rhetoric’ not welcome at conference despite ongoing anti-trans comments

Friday 3 March 2023 17:35 , Alex Woodward

White nationalist, virulent antisemite and Kate West campaign booster Nick Fuentes was kicked out of CPAC on Thursday, a decision confirmed by CPAC chief Matt Schlapp in a statement on Friday morning.

Schlapp said that Fuentes’s “hateful, racist rhetoric and actions are not consistent” with CPAC’s mission.

Meanwhile, speaker after speaker at the right-wing conference in Maryland joked about trans people and expressed their support for stripping healthcare and support for trans youth.

He said CPAC is “concerned about the rise in antisemitic rhetoric (or Jew hatred) in our country and around the globe”.

On his Telegram account, Fuentes announced he would also be postponing a fourth edition of his competing America First Political Action Conference, which in previous years hosted far-right members of Congress Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“Our venue for the rally got cancelled and they bounced us from the hotel,” he wrote. “This is a big part of why I postponed AFPAC IV— we get no play here in DC.”

In response to Schlapp’s statemen, he wrote that “CPAC is reserved for sexual gropers and groomers, not groypers,” referring to Fuentes’ far-right Christian nationalist group.

Full story: Marjorie Taylor Greene prompts CPAC crowd to boo Zelensky

Friday 3 March 2023 17:30 , Alex Woodward

Far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green goaded CPAC’s audience into booing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

She falsely claimed that Zelensky wanted “our sons and daughters to go die in Ukraine,” prompting boos from the audience.

Footage of Zelensky discussing “sons and daughters” fighting in Europe have been taken wildly out of context as right-wing opponents of Ukraine aid use his remarks to justify their lack of support.

Marjorie Taylor Greene prompts CPAC crowd to boo Zelensky

Trump Jr rages at CPAC after bank dumps his news company

Friday 3 March 2023 17:24 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump Jr raged at a decision from PNC Bank to stop doing business with his news aggegation app in CPAC remarks fuming at “canceled” conservatives.

The former president’s oldest son discussed his announcement during his wide-ranging, rambling remarks after he claimed on Thursday PNC Bank told him it will no longer be working with his news aggregation app.

“The Left doesn’t think you should be able to exist, much less thrive, in society,” he said on Twitter. “It should be illegal to discriminate based on political affiliation.”

He castigated the bank as “woke”.

Click here to read the full blog on The Independent's website