This year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) confirms both that the so-called “cult of Trump” seems to be dwindling and that the Republican party might be recovering from his presence.
The pictures from the event are jarring — many members maskless, screaming and taking pictures with the golden Trump statue (a bit on the nose, eh?). His followers remain present, as evidenced by this event, but many of them may not be as keen on his return as they seem.
A straw poll was taken at the event to gauge interest in candidacy, and despite the overwhelming support he was shown at the event, only 55% of attendees wanted him to run for the presidency again. This is quite the decrease from the straw poll taken in 2019, in which Trump held 82% of the votes; however, this is above average for the winner of these straw polls.
Ever since Trump lost the office of the presidency and lost communication to his followers through nearly every social media outlet, everyone has wondered how that power gap would be filled. As we have seen at this year’s CPAC, the idea of Trump has endured this test, but his followers seem to see him as less of a probable political figure anymore and more of a figurehead through which they would view the next conservative political leader.
This is further confirmed by the lack of outspoken anti-Trump conservatives invited to the event. Senator Mitch McConnell was left out of this year’s roster because of his denunciation of the Capitol riots, and similarly Senator Mitt Romney was not invited because of his vocal rebuke of Trump in general; he has not been invited since 2019.
We can see that Trump supporters remain among the higher ranks of the Republican party, but if this CPAC showed us anything, it is how Trump’s grip seems to be slipping from any form of power within the party.
