The annual far-right conference CPAC is a ghost town, according to some photos of the conference space.
C-SPAN has been airing some of the panel discussions while showing crowd shots of the empty chairs. Reporters at the event have taken photos of not only the empty chairs, but the people who are on hand to watch the speeches are almost entirely elderly and white.
\u201cThe CPAC demographic in a nutshell.\n\nH/t @atrupar\u201d— The Intellectualist (@The Intellectualist) 1677776366
The exhibit hall has considerable amounts of space available for vendors that didn't sign up this year to attend, as the Huffington Post's S.V. Dáte tweeted.
\u201cIf anyone needs exhibit space through Saturday in suburban DC, you may want to check in with CPAC. \n\nThey seem to have a surplus.\u201d— S.V. D\u00e1te (@S.V. D\u00e1te) 1677785088
While the conference hall was fairly quiet, the "Make America Great Again" booth was hopping with Donald Trump Jr. sitting in front of a giant photo of the White House.
\u201cUnclear if they will be making a mock-up of the Fulton County courthouse or the US District court in DC in the coming months.\u201d— S.V. D\u00e1te (@S.V. D\u00e1te) 1677785088
\u201cThe crowd size at #CPAC2023 is\u2026not good \n\n(Matt Shlapp, @CPAC Gaylord, does not want you to see this)\u201d— Bad Fox Graphics (@Bad Fox Graphics) 1677774792
Insider's Bryan Metzger interviewed former White House Office of Personnel chief Johnny McEntee, who helped purge the government of so-called "Never Trumpers." He's among the exhibits that are in the hall to promote his right-wing dating app The Right Stuff. "We're having a hard enough time as it is right now," he said. They don't offer an option for same-sex relationships, which is a criticism he said they've heard "a lot."
There have been several GOP dating apps or dating websites that were attempted in the past like Donald Daters, Conservatives Only, Righter, Republican Singles and others.
\u201cChatted w/ Johnny McEntee of the right-wing dating app @daterightstuff at CPAC about why they don\u2019t yet allow same-sex pairings.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re having a hard enough time as it is right now.\u201d\n\nI pointed out that if anyone needs this, it\u2019s gay Republicans.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve heard that a lot.\u201d\u201d— bryan metzger (@bryan metzger) 1677780992
Alejandra Caraballo, who sometimes has bylines at Wired, noted that the Libs of TikTok founder, Chaya Raichik, once mocked the Washington Post reporter that outed her for speaking to an empty room. Caraballo noted the panel with Raichik seemed to have a lot of empty chairs as well.
\u201cChaya Raichik mocking Taylor Lorenz for speaking to an empty room versus Chaya Raichik speaking to an empty room at CPAC.\n\nTurns out that bots don't attend conferences.\u201d— Alejandra Caraballo (@Alejandra Caraballo) 1677784969
Media row seemed to be more hopping as Don Jr. began his show in the MAGA booth. As a Politico reporter pointed out, there was a woman painting a lion at one booth. She didn't clarify why.
\u201cScenes from CPAC radio row: Donald Trump Jr. prepping for his podcast, Steve Bannon and crew getting the crowd to chant about taking down the CCP, an assortment of right wing radio hosts and a woman painting a portrait of a lion to music\u201d— Meridith McGraw (@Meridith McGraw) 1677774546
