The Dire State of the Conservative Conference

By Scott Howard

Saturday, June 10, 2023

 

For a college conservative, political conferences are a boon of the modern era. The ability to travel across the country at little personal cost to learn from some of the brightest conservative minds of this generation is a true blessing. What is a college conservative like me to do, however, if these conferences take a New Right turn that he refuses to follow?

 

“The Republican Party was ruled by freaks, neocons, open-border zealots and fools. We’re never going back to the party of Paul Ryan, Karl Rove, and Jeb Bush,” Donald Trump declared in his address to the cheering crowd at CPAC this past March. The address, over an hour long, included a number of character attacks. Trump declared his enemies to be “lunatics and maniacs.” He pulled out “stormy-faced Daniels,” in a rant about his alleged paramour. He reamed out the Biden family as thoroughgoing criminals. The speech was also infused with self-praise and cultish declarations, including this astounding statement: “For those that had been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.” The message was simple: Trump promised to be more MAGA than ever.

 

To the outside observer, such a speech could be described in terms befitting a mental institution. At the very least, it’s a far cry from the kind of high-minded discussions of policies and ideas that should be the hallmark of political conferences. Alas, this kind of rambling, invective-filled address is commonplace at conservative conferences today. The keynote speeches are more Donald Trump than Ronald Reagan, with the crowd to match.

 

Another speaker at the CPAC conference in March was Kari Lake, notable for her disappointing loss in last year’s Arizona gubernatorial election. Her speech opened with gushing praise for Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO who has made a name for himself in the MAGA world for an array of election-fraud allegations (ones in recent memory that have cost him). Almost immediately, Lake began recounting her tales of electoral subterfuge, baselessly alleging that the election in Arizona had been stolen. (She has since begun musing that her “loss” was ordained by God to reveal the election-riggers in our midst.) She then turned to Steve Bannon, calling him a “modern-day George Washington” and, stranger still, a “patriotic stud muffin.” She railed against the “bastards” that presumably stole her election. Like Trump’s speech, Lake’s was chock-full of invective and conspiratorial thinking, foundational hallmarks of the Trump-era Republican conference.

 

A few bright spots remain at CPAC. Nikki Haley spoke at the conference as well, presenting herself as a fresh new face for the conservative movement. So did Mike Pompeo. The balance of CPAC, however, remains dominated by the MAGA crowd. After her speech, Haley faced heckling and accusations of being a “RINO” despite a staunchly conservative record as governor and U.N. ambassador.

 

If it were merely CPAC that had fallen prey to these people, one might maintain hope for conservative conferences broadly. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Turning Point USA, a conservative group that describes itself as the “largest and fastest growing youth organization in America,” has succumbed to similar trends. Last December, Turning Point hosted its annual AmericaFest conference and featured by-now familiar faces —Lake, Bannon, and Lindell. Also present were such intellectual heavyweights as House members Lauren Boebert (R., Colo.), who has made anti-Muslim comments toward her fellow representatives, and Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.), a showboater who voted for Donald Trump to become speaker of the House. Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk, the head of TPUSA, both spoke as well; their negative effects on young conservatives are well known. For the college conservative who rejects what MAGA stands for, TPUSA represents the worst that youth conservatism has to offer.

 

These examples are not the entirety of the conservative-conference world. The National Review Institute Ideas Summit last March was, as the name suggests, focused on concrete ideas and policy discussions rather than conspiratorial wishcasting. On the college level, organizations such as the Young America’s Foundation continue to provide serious events where young conservatives can have their voices heard and where ideas are taught and challenged. These events are laudable, but they stand as exceptions to today’s rule. Affairs such as those hosted by CPAC and Turning Point dwarf the above-mentioned events in terms of attendance and notoriety. This year’s CPAC convention, in a down year, numbered 2,200 in attendance. The NRI Ideas Summit enjoyed 500. On the college level, the number of people who attended AmericaFest 2022 was estimated at 10,000 people. In contrast, YAF’s 44th National Conservative Student Conference stood at around 400, plus a smattering of D.C.-area journalist attendees.

 

Though the numbers do not tell the whole story, the disparity between the two sides is unmistakable and suggests a deeper shift in the American-conservative psyche: a clear move away from serious conversation about ideas and policy and toward crackpot conspiracy theories. The Right has not only embraced losers, but crazy ones at that. The popularity of Kari Lake at these conferences, despite her having won no elections and no lawsuits, comes from her willingness to embrace electoral fantasies. The same holds true for folks like Mike Lindell, whose most consistent position is his outlandish conviction that the truth about 2020 is always just a few months away. In the past, these voices would have been relegated to the back of the auditorium. Today, the fringe elements on the right have taken control of the stages. The question now is how to challenge such voices and drive them offstage.

 

Ironically, the solution comes from the fringe itself. Over time, the center of power in these conferences shifted as the broader conservative movement shifted. Like any institution, these conferences respond to their constituents from the inside. The shift toward the conspiratorial fringe, then, can be undone in some cases. CPAC maintains some modicum of normalcy that can be re-enshrined with work. The college-conservative institutions like YAF that remain bastions of normal conservatism should be embraced and fortified against the mob. Another option that is always on the table is to build new institutions, in conservative fashion.

 

Conservative conferences, when done right, are among the best options available to college conservatives interested in learning more about the movement they belong to. Despite the current troubles besetting conferences, they remain invaluable tools. Rather than despairing at the lack of options, college conservatives (myself included) should work to retake and rebuild them.