Revealed: Undercover reporter documents most outrageous moments at CPAC
This year, Conservative Political Action Conference director Matt Schlapp — who is currently fighting a blizzard of litigation over alleged sexual misconduct — didn't allow "left-wing media" to have press credentials, saying that if any such reporters wanted in, they would have to shell out for a ticket and be treated like ordinary attendees.
Stephanie Mencimer of Mother Jones did just that — and got some remarkable undercover moments.
Already this year's CPAC has been notable for its relatively thin attendance and for bizarre displays like the January 6 pinball machine. But what Mencimer really found notable was what people were willing to say to her when they didn't realize she was a reporter.
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"The general admission pass did not turn out to be the liberal own that Steve Bannon and the CPAC boss seemed to think it would be," wrote Mencimer. "For instance, without my official press badge, people have been nice! No one has hissed 'fake news' at me in the bathroom line. Rather than turn their backs and march away upon my approach, conference attendees have chatted me up unprompted. Admittedly, it felt a bit uncomfortable, and I usually disclosed that I was a reporter. But sometimes, they’d already let fly the unfiltered crazy stuff they would never have said on the record."
For instance, she said, one such moment happened when she was listening to a speech by Chris Miller, a businessman running for governor of West Virginia.
"Like virtually every other speaker at the event, Miller devoted several of his allotted five minutes to railing against transgender healthcare," she wrote. "'Woke doctors are literally making boys into girls,' he declared. 'They’re practicing mutilation, not medicine. They should be in prison.' At that point, a burly man in a giant black cowboy hat sitting next to me leaned over conspiratorially and proclaimed, 'I think we should hang them all! I really do.' And he laughed like we were in on the same joke. I confess that I was too cowardly to tell him I was with the left-wing fake news."
"Later, during a speech by ... Governor Kristi Noem, I was sitting next to a woman in full-on MAGA gear," Mencimer continued. "When Noem declared, 'There are some people who love America, and there are some people who hate America,' my neighbor gave me a small heart attack. 'Get the F--- OUT!' she yelled furiously, ready to rumble. 'Get the F--- OUT!' Meanwhile, the old man in the camo Trump hat next to her had somehow fallen asleep."
Ultimately, Mencimer concluded, "the experience of covering CPAC outside the pen has been so enlightening that even if he decides next year to give me official credentials, I might just buy a ticket and sit with the rabble."