Summary
Thanks for joining us for an eventful day at CPAC, where Donald Trump’s takeover of the conservative movement was clear on stage and off.
Vice-president Mike Pence gave a well-received but hardly rousing speech, while senior White House aide Kellyanne Conway began the day explaining why she did not consider herself a feminist.
Drama was provided by Steve Bannon, seen by many as the power behind the throne and the engine of Trump’s ideology, which he described as “economic nationalism”. Bannon, who has spoken rarely in public, made some effort to appear to be working hand in glove with his White House colleague Reince Priebus, who comes from the establishment wing of the party.
But his fury at the media, which he calls the “opposition party”, was clearly evident. “If you think they’re going to give you your country back without a fight, you’re sadly mistaken,” he said of the media. “Every day is going to be a fight. That is the promise of Donald Trump.”
Trump himself will address the conference where he was until only recently considered an outsider tomorrow, along with NRA chief Wayne LaPierre and UK Brexit leader Nigel Farage. Join us then.
He says he and Trump need the conservative movement’s conviction, passion, and prayers.
He recalls his swearing in as vice-president, saying it was an especially meaningful moment “for this grandson of an Irish immigrant”, perhaps not seeing any link to his own administration’s anti-immigrant policies.
He closes the speech by telling them the best days are yet to come. “Let’s get to work.”
“The success of our movement, and more importantly the success of our country, depends more on you than it does on us,” he tells the audience.
“We gotta mobilise. We gotta march forward. As if it’s the most important time in the history of our movement – because it is!” he says.
Someone shouts “Yes! Small businesses!” when he mentions a proposal for helping them.
And he promises no state will ever be forced to adopt the Common Core education standards under Trump.
Pence says he is proud to stand with “the Jewish state of Israel”, perhaps hoping to put right some of the damage done by Trump’s reluctance to full-throatedly condemn antisemitic attacks.
Pence seems to have come to his peroration, and the crowd goes wild, but there is more.
He lists a number of policies Trump is pursuing, including “ending illegal immigration” and repealing Obamacare. “America’s Obamacare nightmare is about to end,” he says.
“Despite the best efforts of liberal activists around the country, Obamacare has failed and Obamacare must go ... Talk about your fake news, just think about all the things liberals told us about Obamacare.”
He lists some of the claims made for Obamacare and a few voices yell: “Fake news!” after each one.
With Trumpian vagueness, he promises Obamacare is “going to be replaced with something that actually works”.
The new system will work “in the best way” for each individual state.
He also mentions keeping provisions that mean people with “pre-existing conditions” can still get insurance, but that doesn’t get any applause.
There is much more enthusiasm for his pledge to “hunt down and destroy Isis”. That gets a standing ovation.
But the harder and most important work lies ahead, Pence says.
“Over at the White House, I like to say we’re in the promise-keeping business,” he says folksily.
He says when he was talking about staffing Trump’s administration, Trump told him: “Get me the best.”
Pence reels off a few names – Jeff Sessions, James “Mad Dog” Mattis, Ben Carson. The crowd likes them. The cabinet is “the A-team”, Pence says, perhaps inspired by Mattis’ nickname.
This is not a government of the elites, by the media, or for the establishment, he says. It’s government of the people, by the people and for the people.
“Last November the American people rose up,” he says.
“President Donald Trump is already delivering for the American people.”
He says Trump reminds him of Ronald Reagan, who inspired him to join the conservative movement many years ago.
He has given voice to the people’s aspirations in the same way, he says.
“President Trump won a historic victory all across the United States of America,” he says with Trumpish exaggeration. “President Donald Trump turned the blue wall red.”
He says this is his ninth CPAC, and reveals that this is the first time he has attended as vice-president of the United States.
He describes Trump as having “conviction, vision and courage”. Are they a little bit different? Pence is small town, Trump big city. Trump is larger than life, Pence is not.
Trump never quits, never backs down, and will never stop fighting until “we make America great again”.
Chants of USA! USA! break out briefly. Pence smiles. “Hello CPAC!” he yells with unusual showmanship.
Mike Pence takes the stage to a standing ovation and a roar from the crowd, most of whom are taking a picture of him and his wife with their phones.
Actor Robert Davi is warming up the crowd for Mike Pence, the final speaker.
He tricks the crowd by asking what slogan George HW Bush ran on in 1988.
“No new taxes!” they cry.
No, he says. That was 1992. In 1988 he called for “a kinder, gentler nation”.
In fact both slogans were from 1988.
Anyway ... He says this was the beginning of the end for America, because it ushered in the era of globalism only being brought to an end now by Donald Trump.
White House aides Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus seemed pretty relaxed in each other’s company earlier. But not that relaxed ...
Please tell me somebody else saw Priebus' reaction to Bannon trying to touch him. #CPAC2017 pic.twitter.com/oNXGEvgNhv
— Kyle Alvarado (@KJAlvarado124) February 23, 2017
Farage: Trump does it in his own remarkable way
Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party, has endorsed Steve Bannon’s attack on the media but declined to say whether he will meet the White House chief strategist during the conference.
“The truth of it is that too much of the establishment broadcast media in particular has effectively become wedded to this form of global social democracy that we’ve lived through for the last 20 years and I think there are genuinely questions about impartiality with a series of major broadcasters right across the west,” Farage told the Guardian.
“Trump does it in his own remarkable way but you know, public trust in these organisations has collapsed.”
Farage said he has known Bannon for “many years” but, when asked whether they had talked here, he replied cryptically: “I can’t remember.”
The Brexit leader also attended last year’s Republican national convention in Cleveland and joined Trump on the campaign trail. Trump tweeted that he would make a great British ambassador to the US.
Farage, who put money on a Trump victory, said: “I think it’s a wonderful refreshing change to see someone who’s been elected who’s absolutely intent on putting his platform into policy. That I like. Clearly there have been some frustrations. As a self-made man who’s done his own thing for the last 50 years, he’s not going to find that easy. He’s used to making big decisions and whether it goes well or badly, the buck stops with him. It’s tough.”
Asked about Trump’s travel bans, which led to chaos and protests at airports, Farage replied: “I just don’t get the hypocrisy of all you people. Sixteen countries ban Jews [actually Israelis] going into them, you don’t say a dicky bird. This man says for 90 days he’s going to put a temporary suspension on while he looks at the vetting rules – and by the way, America’s vetting rules are quite strict already, interestingly – working out whether it’s right or not, and it’s being portrayed amongst elements in the media and by many in western politics as if it’s some sort of road to fascism or something awful.
“I just frankly think it’s the most massively over the top reaction. Now obviously he’s got caught up in legal complexity; he’s going to come back and have another try.”
Farage also dismissed persistent allegations about the Trump campaign’s connections with Russia. “It’s been interfering in every election the world for the last hundred years, as indeed America has, so this is what goes on. It doesn’t mean it’s right or good; it’s the reality. Countries spy on each other, companies spy on each other. That’s the way it works.
“Now, the interesting thing is how does his policy apropos Russia take shape? What’s it going to be? And it’s clear there are differing views in the administration as to what the approach to Russia is, but what I do firmly think is that he will meet Putin and he will attempt to forge a better understanding between the west and Putin. Goodness me, absolutely right as far as I’m concerned.”
Spotted at #CPAC2017 pic.twitter.com/AYFpSl3tDQ
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) February 23, 2017
Richard Barrett, a 21-year-old student who identified himself as an early Trump supporter, said he felt vindicated by the pro-Trump tone that dominated CPAC’s opening day.
“I was here last year, and this convention was pretty anti-Trump,” Barrett said. “It was really funny, because everybody here was ‘Never Trump’; [they said] he’s never going to win the primary, it’s going to be Ted Cruz all the way.’
“And, well, here we are.”
Even those who did not initially back Trump’s candidacy had warmed up to his views, even if they often deviated from Republican orthodoxy.
Ryan Errotabere, a supporter of Cruz during the primary who stood in the CPAC corridor donning one of the Make America Great Again hats, said the term “conservatism” was often misused in the current political climate.
“So far his cabinet is very conservative. He’s ran his presidency fairly conservative right now,” Errotabere said.
“As of now, he’s been more conservative than a lot of members in Congress that call themselves conservatives.”
Errotabere did, however, disagree with Trump’s broad characterization of the media as being “fake news”.
“I think there’s areas of the media that are dishonest, but I’d be remiss if I said I don’t trust any news whatsoever,” he said.
“If it’s critical of Trump, it’s more [a question of] is it factual?”
Errotabere was nonetheless reticent to say Trump should tone down his attacks on the media — which have included referring to the press last week as “the enemy of the American people.” The coverage of Trump, he noted, had been overwhelmingly negative.
Barrett was more scathing in his assessment of the Fourth Estate and its rapport with the new administration.
“In the same way that leaks to the liberal media are a hurdle for President Trump, President Trump is a new hurdle for the liberal media,” he said.
“We’re going to double down. We’re going to fight through the ambush you set up. And we’re going to call it like it is.”
Updated
David Burgess, 62, who runs a nonprofit organisation in Seattle, said it was “too early too tell” how Trump was doing so far.
“There is obviously a lot of organised opposition. They need to deliver on their priorities and whether they can remains to be seen,” he said.
He thought the role of the alt right in conservatism was “overblown”.
“There’s a lot of political jockeying back and forth. Liberals like to label the right extremists and conservatives like the label the left extremists. Some of the ideas of the Trump people like Bannon may not be traditional, but I think the antisemitism charges are over the top. It’s political posturing; it’s the game they play.”
He said Trump and co “seem to enjoy prodding the media and the media takes the bait. The media would be better sticking to their jobs and reporting fairly. If you read headlines and watch CNN, you just can’t be outraged by every single thing. They need to take a pill, have a glass of wine and just do their jobs. If everyone stuck to their jobs, America would be a better place.”
Deborah Aldrich, 60, a political activist from Salt Lake City, said Trump was doing “great” so far.
“There may have been a few little hiccups at the beginning but he’s not a professional politician, he’s a successful businessman. He’s keeping the promises he made.”
She said she considered herself “in the middle of the road”.
“We are a party of inclusivity. We don’t want to discriminate against people. The alt-right doesn’t really have a platform here.”
She agreed with Bannon about the media. “It’s almost impossible to turn on MSNBC, CNN or the liberal media, or pick up a newspaper because most of them are liberal, and get an honest view. That’s why I went to many of Trump’s rallies: I wanted to see for myself the message he was giving, the people who were there.”
Joseph Enders, 22, a student from Chicago now living in New York, who was wearing a red USA baseball cap and a parody Bernie Sanders T-shirt that says, said Trump was “holding up on a lot of his campaign promises” and “doing a really good job”.
He added: “I keep up on the news, and not fake news ... I stand with Bannon because I stand for honest reporting. Where are all the Walter Cronkites?”
Of the alt right, he said: “It’s growing but I don’t think the race wing of it is growing. Nationalism is part of the alt right but doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing.”
Updated
George Longobardi of Marlboro, NJ, said he thought Trump was doing “a pretty good job so far”.
He said he thought the president was a “pragmatic person … a businessman”, rather than a conservative.
The wall between the US and Mexico would not necessarily be “a stone and brick wall”, he predicted, and he felt it would be paid for through “lowering taxes [that] will create more revenue for the government in the long run”; Trump would also save money through cutting waste, he felt.
Longobardi had been to CPAC last year for the first time, but this year “the spirit is different, the energy is different. People feel the country is back on the right track … And more well-attended this year. More people I guess here looking for jobs, too.”
What was his view of the alt right, the far right group which has become increasingly influential? “Well, they had a talk about it today and they said it was a hijacked slogan of the Republican conservative party,” said Longobardi. “I think that labels both ways, labels against Muslims or labels against conservatives, are wrong. You continue to do the right thing, all of that falls away.”
He added: “If they’re all back to work, if the areas are safer, if minority children get a better education, if all these things happen, all that fades away.”
He felt the Democrats were “doing themselves a disservice” by “screaming about everything”. “They need to pick their battles, for a real reason that they can win, not just to be obstructionist.”
He added: “The media has taken over from them now because they’ve left a vacuum. They’re doing nothing. They’re promoting nobody to run for president in four years … They have to get their act together and until they can the media is picking up the slack for them. All they do is cry and moan – not that I can blame them; they’re pretty disappointed.”
But he didn’t agree with White House aide Steve Bannon’s description of the media as “the opposition party”. “I do think the media does lean left of centre … He’s from a conservative background, Breitbart, so that’s his prejudice, that;s his bias. Do I believe all of it? No. But I do think, again, his point, they do lean left of centre.”
Emily Larsen, from Boise, Idaho, said she thought Donald Trump “has been doing a really good job of keeping his promises that he campaigned on – the perspective of whether or not that’s a good thing that’s something that I’m personally trying to come to a conclusion on.”
She said Trump should have consulted with Congress before implementing the travel ban. “I think it kind of showed a lack of communication between the executive and legislative branches with that.”
She had supported Florida senator Marco Rubio in the Republican primary and described herself as a “very moderate kind of Republican”. “I’m still coming to terms with the decision to have Trump as president … It’s kind of getting past that shock. If I were to say that there’s anything positive coming out of Trump’s presidency it’s that I think this is the most engaged this country’s ever been in politics, at least in recent history. People are coming out and they’re marching or they’re in support or against things. They’re paying attention and that’s been really awesome.”
A lot of Trump’s proposals – the wall with Mexico, for example – would lead to a lot of public spending. Did Larssen think he was a real conservative? “Based on the definition of conservative, not using the executive branch for every decision that you make, or being very careful about expansive government. At this point I haven’t necessarily seen that – I’ve seen more of a unitary approach.”
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Trump repeats nuclear expansion threat
Meanwhile Trump has given an interview to Reuters in which he has said he wants to expand the US nuclear arsenal to ensure it is “top of the pack”.
The president also told the news agency he felt the US had fallen behind in its atomic weapons capacity.
He complained about Russian deployment of a cruise missile in violation of an arms control treaty and said he would raise the issue with Russian president Vladimir Putin when and if they meet.
On another front, Trump said China could solve the national security challenge posed by North Korea “very easily if they want to”, ratcheting up pressure on Beijing to exert more influence to rein in Pyongyang’s increasingly bellicose actions.
Speaking from behind his desk in the Oval Office, Trump also declared himself “very angry” at North Korea’s ballistic missile tests and said accelerating a missile defense system for US allies Japan and South Korea was among many options available.
Trump made similar comments about nuclear weapons in December, when he tweeted: “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes,” and told MSNBC’s Morning Joe: “Let it be an arms race … We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.”
Then and now, the remarks flew in the face of 35 years of bipartisan US policy geared towards reducing the number of nuclear weapons around the world.
A 2013 US review found that the country already had a third more strategic weapons than were necessary to ensure nuclear deterrence.
Trump supports a border adjustment tax – won’t it just be passed on to consumers?
When a company choses to leave our country and shed American jobs there is a big cost to our workers, he says.
With that he calls it a day.
Does Steve Bannon really believe the media is the “opposition party”? Yes he does.
Will the administration hold people like former labor secretary nominee Andrew Puzder to account when they employ undocumented immigrants?
Spicer says they will. Puzder did the right thing when he found out.
Trump has said he has given permission for the US to sell two countries military equipment. Which countries? Spicer says they’ll reveal that at some point.
Updated
Where is the travel ban legal fight up to?
Spicer says it is being fought in “10 or so” courts and they continue to deal with it “in all of those venues”. And there is an “additional executive order” about to come out.
He repeats his pledge that they will “prevail” in court on the merits of the case.
Is Trump still committed to pulling out of the Paris climate change deal?
That’s a conversation he is having with secretary of state Rex Tillerson, Spicer says.
The media just got thrown out of the main hall so that it can be searched by law enforcement in preparation for Mike Pence’s speech here later, so I missed the last couple of questions.
What is the president’s thinking on Syria and the future of Bashar al-Assad?
Spicer refers that one to the State Department.
What about safe zones? Trump’s goal is to get commitments from other world leaders on that, Spicer says.
Does the administration have any plans to build a wall with Canada?
Spicer laughs. The southern border is more important but we are paying attention to the northern border too, he says.
What about Trump’s promises to fix America’s roads?
He is going to work with the Department of Transport on infrastructure projects and elements will be in his budget, Spicer says.
Is the president leaving transgender children open to bullying?
There are already anti-bullying laws, Spicer says.
You’re missing the point, Spicer says. It should be a state decision.
The court stopped this in August last year, he says, because the Obama administration did not have the authority. “It wasn’t properly drafted,” he says.
But are they sending a message?
Spicer denies it. Trump sent a message when he said Caitlyn Jenner could use whichever bathroom she liked at Trump Tower, he says. “The message shows he’s a guy with a heart.”
What is Ivanka Trump’s role in the administration? “She has a lot of expertise and wants to offer that, especially in the area of trying to help women.”
Spicer is asked about that last quote. “Then that’s what I said”, he says, but then says it will be up to the Department of Justice.
Spicer says “you will see greater enforcement of it” – suggesting the federal government may choose to enforce federal laws outlawing marijuana in states where it has been legalised.
A Skype caller from Arkansas asks about medical marijuana. Will Trump’s Department of Justice choose to enforce federal anti-marijuana laws in states where it has been legalised?
Spicer says the president understands the pain and suffering of people who use medical marijuana because they are sick or dying.
But there’s “a big difference between that and recreational marijuana”, he says, making the leap to the increased use of opioids.
Will people who have committed crimes as minor as traffic offences be deported?
If they are not here legally, they have committed a crime and might be deported, Spicer says. The people who have a criminal record or might endanger public safety will be first priority, he says.
Is the administration vetting Miguel Estrada as solicitor general before the travel ban case gets to the supreme court? Is the president “discouraged” about getting the nominees he wants for the cabinet?
Spicer won’t answer the first one. On the second, he says there are “a deep bench” of possible candidates for the cabinet. But he attacks the Democrats for putting cabinet nominees through the wringer during their Senate confirmation hearings. Some people look at that and say they don’t want to join the cabinet, he says.
How can Spicer criticise the way the Obama administration’s transgender bathrooms guidance was drawn up when the exact same criticisms have been made of the way the travel ban was introduced?
Spicer says they are “apples and oranges”.
Does Spicer agree that transgender rights is a federal civil rights issue?
The White House spokesman says the proper process was not followed by the Obama administration in introducing regulations introducing protections for transgender students that had allowed them to use bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity.
He won’t be drawn on whether it’s a civil rights issue. He says again that’s a states’ rights issue.
What is the president’s personal belief on the issue?
He thinks it’s a states’ rights issue, Spicer says.
Has Trump changed his mind on which bathrooms transgender people should use? He said Caitlyn Jenner could use the female bathroom in Trump Tower last year.
No, says Spicer. That’s consistent – because he believes it’s a states’ rights issue. Essentially he’s saying that what’s right for Trump Tower might not be right for North Carolina.
What year will Trump’s tax changes come into force?
Spicer gives a confusing answer.
A Skype caller asks about sanctuary cities and Trump’s recent widening of the number of undocumented people who will be targeted for deportation.
Spicer says the idea that states can decide not to follow certain laws is destructive of the rule of law. He claims large numbers of Americans object to sanctuary cities (cities where local law enforcement does not necessarily comply with federal immigration authorities to aid deportations).
Spicer is asked about the travel ban supposedly being brought in because of a national security emergency.
He says the administration is delaying issuing a new order to get it right and make sure it is “flawless” this time.
“We’re acting with appropriate haste and diligence,” he says.
Meanwhile at the White House, spokesman Sean Spicer has begun his daily briefing:
Here’s video of Bannon and Priebus speaking at CPAC:
Bannon: 'It's going to be a fight'
White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and chief of staff Reince Priebus put in a show of unity at CPAC. But although Priebus, a former party chair, listed Trump’s policy priorities and made it clear he was committed to trying to deliver them, it was the former Breitbart boss Bannon who seemed to truly live and breathe what he called Trump’s “economic nationalist agenda”.
Contradicting Priebus, Bannon said media coverage of the Trump administration would never improve, because the “corporatist, globalist” nature of the media meant it was intrinsically opposed to the new president’s policies.
And he told the press – which he referred to in the phrase he has made infamous as “the opposition party” – to get used to it. “The mainstream media better understand something – all those promises are going to be implemented,” he said. Trump, Bannon said, was “maniacally focused” on keeping his campaign promises.
His sense of triumph over the media was palpable – at one point he exulted in them “all crying and weeping” one election night – and his aggressive attitude to politics was also clear. “If you think they are going to give you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken,” Bannon said. “Every day it’s going to be a fight.”
Updated
Priebus says Bannon is extremely consistent and very loyal to Trump’s agenda. He is a presence that is very important to have in the White House. He says he cherishes his friendship.
Bannon says “I can run a little hot” sometimes. Priebus is “steady”, he says. His job is one of the toughest in the White House.
Schlapp says “the best thing we can do is to let these two guys get back to work”. They walk off to a brief standing ovation.
“If you think they are going to give you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken,” says Bannon. “Every day it’s going to be a fight.”
Schlapp asks whether the Trump movement can combine with existing conservative movements.
We have to, says Priebus.
We’re a nation with an economy and a culture and a reason for being, Bannon says. That is what unites us.
Trump and Pence are coming to CPAC to show his appreciation.
“We’re at the top of the first inning with this,” he says. “It’s going to take just as much fight and determination.” He says “we want you to have our back”.
And he tells the crowd to “hold us accountable for delivering on what we promised”.
Schlapp asks what the media keeps getting wrong about “the Trump phenomenon” and will it change.
Priebus says he hopes it will change. He says he became “conditioned” during the election to hearing about why Trump won’t succeed, despite the polling getting “better and better and better”.
He says people he knew kept telling him “Trump! Trump! Trump!”, which leads the crowd to start a brief chant. “Tomorrow,” Priebus promises them.
The country was hungry for something far bigger than one story and one issue, and it was President Trump that was the answer.
Bannon says he disagrees with Priebus. He says the media coverage will not improve, because the “corporatist, globalist media” are “adamantly opposed to Trump’s economic nationalist agenda”.
Every day, he says, Trump tells him he is going to stick to the issues he ran on.
“The mainstream media better understand something – all those promises are going to be implemented,” Bannon says.
Updated
Bannon says Trump is the best rally speaker since populist Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan.
Bannon says they could not outspend Hillary Clinton but the rallies and the speeches led to his victory.
He says Trump is “maniacally focused” on keeping his campaign promises.
Bannon says the way the “opposition party” (meaning the media) has portrayed the campaign and the White House is “always wrong”.
He says you saw the media “all crying and weeping that night” after the election.
Trump had the energy and vision to galvanise the coalition of the right, Bannon says.
Trump and his team never had a doubt he would win, he says.
Priebus says Trump laid out his vision four or five years ago at CPAC and it has not changed.
“We were starving for somebody real, somebody genuine,” Priebus says. He claims Trump has “put in the best cabinet in the history of cabinets”.
Trump hits his agenda every day, he says.
“He’s even leaving bathrooms alone,” says Schlapp. “That’s refreshing for people.”
“It’s a states issue,” says Priebus.
What is the biggest misconception about the Trump White House?
Priebus says the biggest misconception about the two of them is “everything that you’re reading”. They share an office suite and they spend all day together, he says.
When the party is together “similar to Steve and I”, it can’t be stopped, he says.
Trump brought this party and this movement together, says Priebus.
Moderator Matt Schlapp of the American Conservative Union starts by “thanking these two guys for what they’ve been doing”. Priebus, dressed in a dark suit and striped tie, thanks the crowd for voting for Trump. Bannon, in his usual more casual clothing, thanks CPAC for inviting him at last. Schlapp says they decided to invite everybody this year. It’s very chummy.
Updated
Next up are Steve Bannon, the White House chief strategist and former Breitbart boss, and Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff. The relationship between the upstart firebrand who the Democrats have called a white supremacist and the establishment former RNC chair in many ways symbolises the struggle for control of Trump’s agenda, and the way the two interact on stage will be fascinating to watch.
The interview ends with McEnany telling her: “This nation is so blessed to have you as secretary of education and President Trump could not have made a better choice.”
DeVos is now being interviewed. She is asked about Trump’s decision on the transgender guidelines, which interviewer Kayleigh McEnany defines as Trump hitting back at overreach by Barack Obama.
DeVos says of the statement she put out following Trump’s move: “The statement spoke for itself to a large extent,” and picks up McEnany’s point: “This issue was a very huge example of Obama overreach,” she says, saying the former president had a “top-down approach to issues better solved at a local level’.
She adds: “It’s our job to protect students and to do that to the fullest extent that we can.”
She says the education system is failing American children, attacking “the education establishment” rather than “good public school teachers”.
“Do you believe parents should be able to choose the best school for their child regardless of their zip code or family income?” she asks. Her prepared remarks contain the audience’s response:
(YES!)
Luckily for her the audience plays ball, allowing her to deliver her next line: “Me too. And so does President Trump.”
Turning to higher education, she says “the faculty, from adjunct professors to deans, tell you what to do, what to say, and more ominously, what to think. They say that if you voted for Donald Trump, you’re a threat to the university community. But the real threat is silencing the first amendment rights of people with whom you disagree.”
Updated
DeVos is given a standing ovation as she takes the stage. One woman shouts: “I love you!” She gets a big round of applause for claiming she is “perhaps the first person to tell Bernie Sanders to his face that there’s no such thing as a free lunch”.
Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, is up next. She is reported to have opposed Trump’s decision to rescind protections allowing transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity.
She released a statement on Wednesday night casting Trump’s move as returning decision-making on the issue to state and local level and saying: “I have dedicated my career to advocating for and fighting on behalf of students, and as secretary of education, I consider protecting all students, including LGBTQ students, not only a key priority for the department, but for every school in America.”
Her pre-released remarks suggest she will avoid this issue today, and instead hit back at the media, which criticised her for a disastrous Senate confirmation hearing that suggested she had a poor knowledge of the workings of her department. Most Democrats agreed, as well as two Republican senators, with the result that Mike Pence had to cast the first vice-presidential tie break vote for a cabinet nominee in history in order to get her confirmed.
A discussion about why young Americans seemed so interested in socialism - “FREE stuff vs FREE-dom: Millenials’ Love Affair with Bernie Sanders?” - could perhaps have done with hearing from a young American who was interested in socialism.
As it was, Mercedes Schlapp of the Washington Times, Representative Ron DeSantis of Florida, Greg Dolin of the ACU Foundation and Ana Quintana of the Heritage Foundation all asked each other why millennials could not see that socialism was a danger to themselves and the country, and it turned out none of them really knew the answer.
Only DeSantis briefly showed some insight into the people they were discussing, noting that young people in the US had never seen a booming American economy and suggesting that when they left college and found it hard to get a job they might not view capitalism as the world’s greatest economic system.
Tensions at CPAC were clear earlier as Dan Schneider, leader of the American Conservative Union, denounced the alt-right, the rebranding of the far right that has been accused of racism, Islamophobia and neo-Nazism.
“There is a sinister organization that is trying to worm its way into our ranks and we must not be duped,” Schneider told the audience. “Just a few years ago, this hate-filled leftwing fascist group hijacked the very term ‘alt-right’.
“That term, alt-right — it had been used for a long time in a very good and normal way, but this group has hijacked it. We must not allow them to be normalised. They are not part of us.”
Schneider added: “They are antisemites. They are racist. They are sexist. They hate the constitution. They hate free markets. They hate pluralism. They hate everything and despite everything we believe in.”
A short distance away, outside the main hall, prominent white nationalist Richard Spencer, wearing a general admission badge, told reporters that he “coined the term” alt-right and rejected Schneider’s criticism.
“He didn’t even do basic research on what the alt-right is and he denounced it,” Spencer complained.
“That’s pretty pathetic. If I was to give a speech denouncing Marx, I would be reading for months. He just called us names.”
Asked if he feels he now has an ally in the White House, Spencer said: “In terms of Donald Trump, I would say that it’s not so much that he’s alt-right, it’s that he’s a nationalist and a populist and so he’s connected to us on that basic level. He doesn’t articulate our ideas – he’s not an identarian – but his arrow points in our direction.”
The 38-year-old also praised Trump aides Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller but added: “I don’t have Trump on the phone every morning. It’s not anything like that. ‘Allies’ may be a little too strong a word.”
He said of the Trump administration so far: “The implementation has not been perfect but it’s certainly very high energy and I appreciate that.”
Spencer denied that he is a fascist or antisemite or had ever met the Ku Klux Klan but expressed opposition to interracial marriage and refused to take sides regarding the second world war. Challenged about a “Hail Trump” salute he gave last November, he said, using the German version of the first word: “‘Heil Trump!’ a moment of exuberance. It was an ironical statement.”
Spencer estimated he had been to CPAC seven times but now felt “less welcome”. He explained: “The fact they’re denouncing us in rather dumb ways on the main stage, that’s something new. There’s an old adage that is first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win, and I think we’re in the fighting stage. Hopefully it won’t be actually physical, it’ll just be with words.”
As Spencer talked to a large group of reporters, a delegate who gave his name as “Grizzly Joe”, wearing a stars and stripes shirt, confronted him angrily: “Fuck you, you don’t represent us. Get the fuck out of here. You don’t represent us. You’re a piece of shit. I hope everybody got that. You’re a fucking piece of shit. He’s a fucking white supremacist piece of shit.”
Spencer was reportedly escorted out by security soon after.
Earlier Ted Cruz claimed border agents had told him illegal crossings of the border had decreased by 50% since the election but that the mainstream media will not report it.
There is no data available to support this claim – in fact, the available statistics suggest the opposite.
The latest figures from Customs and Border Protection cover the period between October and December 2016 - the first fiscal quarter of 2017. They show the total number of migrants apprehended by Border Patrol was 136,670 people. This is significantly higher than the same period last year, when 102,588 people were apprehended.
If we compare December 2016 (the only complete month available since the election) - with December 2015, we also see that the total number of apprehensions has increased by 6,259 people.
It seems Cruz might want to double check his maths, especially if he wants to rid himself of the moniker Trump once gave him: “Lyin’ Ted”.
Wayne LaPierre of the NRA has released a new video hyping his speech here tomorrow and identifying his pro-gun organisation as Trump’s “most powerful ally”. “Already the forces that conspired to keep Donald Trump out of the White House are coming together to sabotage his administration,” Pierre says, over dystopian footage of violent protests, flag-burning, and Madonna saying she thought about blowing up the White House.
In a Trumpish touch, Cruz claims border agents have told him illegal crossings of the border have decreased by 50% since the election but that the mainstream media won’t report it. We’ll come back to that figure.
Asked about impeachment, Cruz says the Democrats are living in “an alternative universe”.
He claims to have been in an elevator with a liberal Democrat “who was just standing there in a complete stupor ... and that hasn’t changed!”
“They’re all like that,” responds his interviewer Mark Levin of the Conservative Review.
Ted Cruz at #cpac2017 pic.twitter.com/9Ud3dZ8pBp
— Paul Owen (@PaulTOwen) February 23, 2017
Cruz says there is a word for their base.
“Moscow?” suggests Levin (which seems a bit rich).
Cruz says he was going for “bat-crap crazy”.
He says the Democrats have taken the lesson from the election that Hillary Clinton was not leftwing enough. The audience laughs. He says they are heading towards the Sanders/Warren wing of the party.
Cruz says that Democrats are going to oppose everything but Republicans must not allow them to block the business of government (also a bit rich).
He thanks former Senate majority leader Harry Reid for changing congressional rules to make it harder to block nominees and therefore indirectly allowing Trump to elect a very conservative cabinet.
Levin says CPAC should get behind Keith Ellison (who backed Bernie Sanders last year) as the next DNC chair. The crowd seem to like that idea.
Ted Cruz is now on stage discussing the constitution. The Texas senator and former opponent of Donald Trump is attacking the court rulings that have blocked Trump’s travel ban, and a recent decision that ruled that the second amendment does not guarantee Americans the right to own “assault weapons”, which he calls “nuts”.
White nationalist leader Richard Spencer, who shouted “Hail, Trump! Hail, our people! Hail, victory!” at a meeting in December, has just been escorted out of CPAC by security, according to the Huffington Post’s Igor Bobic. He was the centre of a scrum of media for half an hour or so outside the convention hall beforehand. He has seen his rebranding of the far right – the “alt right” – move closer to the heart of power with the election of Donald Trump and elevation of Steve Bannon, whose Breitbart news website was an unofficial home for the political strand, which has been accused of racism, Islamophobia and neo-Nazism.
Richard Spencer being escorted out by security at CPAC pic.twitter.com/nShgyWLUUc
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) February 23, 2017
Updated
The exhibition hall downstairs has just opened. If you’d like Breitbart T-shirt advertising the construction of a BORDER WALL, a book about how the concept of male and female is in danger of being abolished, to sign up for a campaign to make English the official language of Texas, Michigan, Georgia or New Hampshire, a “snowflake coloring book” about Donald Trump, or free ultrasound pregnancy and STI testing by a group that describes itself as “providing abortion alternatives”, you’ve come to the right place.
Conway on feminism
Conway used that short session to set out some of her ideas about women’s equality, although she probably wouldn’t put it like that herself. She rejected the term “feminism”, saying it was perceived as “anti-men” and “pro-abortion”, and said she was raised as a strong, independent woman without anyone using the word feminist or discussing politics.
Her “I’ll have what he’s having” anecdote was a memorable call for equal pay, although it was clearly a call for each woman to fight for that equality individually rather than something that she felt could or should be achieved widely through legislation. She applied the same basic philosophy to the story of her mother, who she said got past the disadvantages life had given her by force of will - “she just figured it out” – rather than through any help the state or society might be able to offer.
Given the opportunity by Schlepp, Conway tried to humanise Trump, although some may doubt the ability to “absorb information” of a man who at times has seemed woefully underprepared to weigh in on complex political issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Her claim that CPAC was now becoming “TPAC” seemed somewhat backed up by cheers for her remarks about Trump not being a typical politician and intending to shake up the system.
Conway says that during her career she found it difficult to ask for the amount of money she felt she was worth. In 1996 there was an incident when she did not know what sum to name for her speaking fee. So, referring to a fellow male speaker, she said, “I’ll have what he’s having.”
“When in doubt just say, ‘I’ll have what he’s having,’” she says, to cheers. There is another standing ovation as she leaves the stage.
Schlepp asks how college students can “survive” in liberal institutions.
“Don’t live online, live in real time,” Conway advises. “Make sure people see something other than the top of your head.”
Join different clubs, start different clubs, write letters to the editor. Be willing to hear the word no more than you say it, she says.
She also thanks the “old timers like me” in the audience for “sticking with the conservative movement”.
Trump replaced the “fiction of electability” with the “revelation of electricity”, she says.
There are cheers when she says he is not a typical politician and that he is going to shake up the system.
What is Trump like in private?
Conway says he can be kind, generous, and humorous, and a family man.
“He’s a man who just absorbs information,” she says.
The “typical motivators” of a politician – “power, money and fame” – he had all that, she says, implying that doesn’t motivate him.
His biggest compliment is to say someone is “really high energy”, she says. “He works harder than anyone.”
How has Trump impacted the conservative movement? “I think by tomorrow this’ll be TPAC!” she says, to some laughter.
Schlapp starts by asking Conway about her early life and becoming the first successful female campaign manager for a major party and her current job as counsellor to the president. Conway says that is a blessing.
She says she was raised as a strong and independent woman “without anyone saying the word ‘feminist’ or having a political conversation”.
She says it is not widely understood what a great boss Donald Trump is to women. She says that during the election women looked past “the commonality of gender” to vote for him.
She says she is not comfortable calling herself a feminist because the term is “anti-male” and “pro-abortion”.
She talks about how her mother overcame disadvantages by relying on her “moxy” – “she just figured it out”.
She claims a lot of women “just have a problem with women in power”.
Schlepp says “conservative women and men in this room – we support you”, to applause.
Conway gets a short standing ovation as she arrives.
Good morning from the Gaylord Convention Center just south of Washington DC. In the main hall Welcome to the Jungle by Guns ‘n’ Roses and NRA ads have given way to the pledge of allegiance and a Jimi Hendrix-style electric guitar version of The Star-Spangled Banner. Attendees – most dressed smartly, with the odd “socialism sucks” T-shirt and historical reenactment outfit in the mix – are beginning to gather for the opening speaker, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, who will be interviewed by Mercedes Schlapp of the Washington Times.
Attendees begin to arrive at CPAC #CPAC2017 pic.twitter.com/DGufJKLHOI
— Paul Owen (@PaulTOwen) February 23, 2017
CPAC 2017 has kicked off! #CPAC2017 #CPAC pic.twitter.com/ZbNNZo8puK
— CPAC 2017 (@CPAC) February 23, 2017
Updated
When Donald Trump abruptly dropped out of a speaking slot at last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference amid threats of a walk-out and claims that he wasn’t a true conservative, his campaign put out a statement reassuring the annual rightwing grassroots gathering that he “looks forward to returning next year, hopefully as President of the United States”.
Trump will indeed be returning as president this year – and not alone. Like the Republican party and the Washington DC establishment before it, CPac has become subject to a hostile takeover. This bastion of libertarianism and small-government, free-trade conservatism will this week be forced to reckon with the nationalist populism that has now become the dominant force in rightwing politics in the US.
Perhaps no one besides Trump represents this strain of thought more clearly than Steve Bannon, the White House chief strategist and former Breitbart boss who will speak today alongside Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff. The relationship between the upstart firebrand who the Democrats have called a white supremacist and the establishment former RNC chair in many ways symbolises the struggle for control of Trump’s agenda, and the way the two interact on stage will be fascinating to watch.
Opening the day is another key Trump ally, adviser to the president Kellyanne Conway, who since last year has made a career out of touring the TV studios channelling her master’s voice – and his disregard for the truth. Her coining of the phrase “alternative facts” may come to be remembered as one of the key phrases of post-truth politics, but one senses that despite this and other controversies, Trump probably enjoys and respects her scrappy style and her constant willingness to stick her neck out for him (and his daughter’s businesses).
Later comes education secretary Betsy DeVos, whose performance at her confirmation hearing was judged so weak that Mike Pence was forced to use the vice-president’s Senate casting vote to confirm a cabinet nominee for the first time. Some of the issues that so exercised Democrats – such as her support for spending public money on private schools – will hardly worry this audience, but she may be keen to shift a perception that she has failed to master her brief.
Pence will round out the day – like Priebus a traditional conservative who is likely to use the opportunity to build bridges with his fellow rightwingers by emphasising the elements of Trump’s record so far they will appreciate – his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the supreme court, for example, or his executive order banning international NGOs from providing abortion services if they receive US funding.
In among all these Trump loyalists a former enemy has snuck in: Ted Cruz, who came first in the CPac “straw poll” of presidential candidates last year (Trump came third). Of course, Cruz eventually went on to endorse Trump, but not before being booed at the Republican convention for telling delegates to “vote your conscience” following a bad-tempered primary campaign in which the two men argued about each other’s wives and Trump infamously suggested Cruz’s father might have been involved in the assassination of JFK. The Texas senator is due to discuss the constitution today, and is likely to be more emollient, although any mention of the separation of powers or freedom of religion is bound to be interpreted as a dig at a president who has shown little appreciation for either.
Trump will address the conference tomorrow, and some in the crowd may remain to be convinced. As baffling as it may seem on the left, some traditional conservatives still fear their new president is a liberal in sheep’s clothing, who couldn’t care less about their values and ideology and is willing to spend massively and undermine free trade to meet his promises to rust belt voters who want to see manufacturing jobs return and immigration curtailed. Conservatives “don’t think he’d ever read their novel, their policy paper, their magazine article — or even listen to them for more than five minutes,” anti-tax activist Grover Norquist recently told the New York Times. But perhaps it’s more likely they will put aside their differences and make nice with the man who stunned both their party and the country. Nothing succeeds like success. More on that tomorrow.
Today’s full schedule is here, and below are some of the highlights:
- 9.10am: Kellyanne Conway interview
- 9.30am: Discussion: Fake Climate News Camouflaging an Anti-Capitalist Agenda – and What President Trump Plans To Do About It
- 9.30am: Wisconsin governor Scott Walker explains “How to Govern as a Conservative”
- 10.05 am: a panel of governors – Walker again, along with Matt Bevin of Kentucky, Sam Brownback of Kansas, and Doug Ducey of Arizona – explain how they are “reclaiming America’s promise”
- 11.10am: Ted Cruz discusses the constitution
- 11.10am: Discussion: Fake News and the Lame Stream Media
- Followed by: Book signing: Liberalism or How to Turn Good Men Into Whiners, Weenies and Wimps, by Burgess Owens
- 11.30am: Discussion: Always on Target: 2nd Amendment Activism Made Simple
- 11.40am: Discussion: FREE stuff vs FREE-dom: Millenials’ Love Affair with Bernie Sanders
- 12.50am: Betsy DeVos – interview
- 1.05pm: Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon
- 2.30pm: Discussion: The Popular Vote - Does it Matter & What You Can Do About It
- 4.40pm: Discussion: Black Lives Matter, so why does the Left not support Law Enforcement?
- 5pm: Discussion: Russia: A Friend or Foe
- 7.30pm: Mike Pence
