Brandon Straka speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) USA 2026 at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, in Grapevine, Texas, U.S. March 27, 2026. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare
Brandon Straka, a Jan. 6 participant who was sentenced to three years of probation, slammed the "leader worship" of President Donald Trump.
During a Friday speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, Straka began by advising that "the right is not all right." He noted that while he was being prosecuted for his actions on Jan. 6, only then-Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) would return his calls.
"This is not an easy moment for our movement," he told the crowd. "There's frustration, there's division, and there's a growing sense that something doesn't feel right. That the right is not all right."
According to Straka, the MAGA movement "has been split."
"This divide is ideological, it's tribal, it's fanatical, it's doctrinal, it's irrationally emotional," he explained. "Marjorie was one of the only elected members of Congress to visit J6ers in prison... And now a directive has gone out that Marjorie Taylor Greene is a traitor. And if you want to be a part of the in-crowd, it is mandatory that you must hate her too."
"When did we become the left?" the right-wing activist asked. "When did we decide that not only must we cancel those we disagree with, but we must control the people around us with intimidation, demanding that they think the way we think and join the cancel mob to or be branded themselves? And when did we allow some of the most toxic, nasty, and vicious people on the planet to become the spokespeople for MAGA and the arbiters of purity tests, deciding who is and isn't worthy enough to continue to call themselves MAGA?"
Straka wondered when MAGA decided "it was off limits to question our own government."
"If you call yourself a patriot, but you believe that it is your obligation to only praise and only worship your president, then you must not be a patriot of this country, because leader worship is how citizens behave in nations that aren't free," he asserted. "You can love your president, and you should. But it is your duty and your obligation as a free citizen of the United States of America to challenge and question your government every day, regardless of who the president of the United States is."
"In fact, the most unpatriotic thing you can ever do is go with the flow and give your unquestioning loyalty to the government and demand that others around you do the same," he added. "I know many of you out there agree. Everything seems, at times, very fake and gay. And I strive to be authentic and gay. I think we should all strive to be authentic and gay every day."