'Bashing, chatter and gossip': CPAC 2023 promises a cloud of scandal and division for conservatives

The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will open again this week in Maryland, and this year's meet-up will convene under a cloud of scandal involving its founder along with deep divisions among the attendees about the future of the Republican Party, the conservative movement and the 2024 presidential election.

According to a report from the Guardian's David Smith, one of the biggest questions this year will be about founder Matt Schlapp amid allegations that he sexually assaulted a male stafferwho worked on Herschel Walker's U.S. Senate campaign.

As Smith notes, it will be an unavoidable topic, subject to "gossip and chatter" among the conservative activists who will be attending.

Noting that Schlapp is the "public face" of CPAC, he added, "Schlapp strenuously denies the allegation. Last month he tweeted a statement from lawyer Charlie Spies that said: 'The complaint is false, and the Schlapp family is suffering unbearable pain and stress due to the false allegation from an anonymous individual.'"

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Despite that, the gossip likely remains as the conference begins with a battle over who the attendees will support for the GOP's 2024 presidential nomination, with camps lining up behind Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).

According to Smith, "The lineup of CPAC speakers announced so far suggests that the Schlapps remain firmly in Trump’s camp as he campaigns to win back the presidency in 2024," before adding, "Then there is Trump’s son, Don Jr, his fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle – infamous for hollering 'The best is yet to come!' at the 2020 Republican national convention – and the main event: a speech by Trump himself that will be akin to an indoor campaign rally. It is a chorus that will try to make the case that reports of Trump losing his grip on the Republican base after seven years have been greatly exaggerated. But the 76-year-old celebrity businessman, whose electability has been questioned after last year’s midterms, will not have it all his own way."

With Smith noting that DeSantis will not be in attendance, Kurt Bardella, a former CPAC attendee who has since parted ways with the Republican Party to become a Democratic activist, said CPAC has been headed down the road to extremism for years.

“CPAC at one point in time thought of itself as the establishment conservative cattle call for presidential candidates and now it’s become completely overrun by the extremists and the fringe who are the new establishment of the Republican party," he explained. "There was a time where someone with the last name Cheney would be welcomed as a hero at an event like CPAC. Now someone with the last name Cheney is considered an enemy of the Republican party.”

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