CPAC 2021 Cancels One Antisemitic Speaker, Platforms Dozens More
The 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) took place over the weekend of February 26. The three-day conference highlighted the Republican Party's firm commitment to continuing to propagate the claim that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump — the very conspiracy theory that led to the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
CPAC 2021 included multiple sessions attacking voting rights, ar session rehashing the lie about the Presidential election, a session attacking transgender people’s rights, a smattering of religious services, sessions about the menacing influece of China, workshops on protecting your neighborhood from anti-fascists, and a positively Orwellian presentation entitled "Peace Through Strength."
The theme of this year’s conference was “America UnCancelled,” a reference to the “cancel culture” that has become a new conservative talking point for avoiding any any measure of accountability or even criticism of someone’s words, actions, or behavior.
Ironically, the American Conservative Union, which organizes CPAC, did have to cancel one of the weekend’s planned speakers after news came out that he had posted a number of antisemitic tweets. Young Pharaoh was slated to speak on a panel discussion titled, “Please Check the Number and Dial Again: Doubt, Dysfunction, and the Price of Missed Opportunities.” The week before CPAC, Media Matters for America published information about Young Pharaoh’s tweets, which included statements such as “all the censorship & pedophilia on social media is being done by Israeli Jews.”
After Young Pharaoh’s comments were brought to light, CPAC removed him from the conference website, and announced that he would “no longer be participating” at the conference in a statement that could have applied to any number of confirmed speakers:
“We have just learned that someone we invited to CPAC has expressed reprehensible views that have no home with our conference or our organization. The individual will not be participating at our conference.”
CPAC’s statement about Young Pharaoh could very well have referred to any of the below speakers, who were, as promised, “uncancelled”:
Former President Donald Trump
Donald Trump was CPAC’s keynote speaker. Under his presidency, antisemitic hate crimes rose significantly, and far-right white nationalist and antisemitic movements grew in size and political power. His own multiple antisemitic statements include calling American Jews who vote for Democrats disloyal and repeatedly promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories about George Soros.
Donald Trump, Jr.
Donald Trump, Jr. spoke on the first day of CPAC. His history of antisemitism includes: helping to amplify a neo-Nazi on Twitter; comparing the 2016 DNC platform to the Nazi Party platform; making Holocaust jokes; helping to fundraise for antisemitic candidates; and legitimizing a QAnon harassment campaign targeting a gay, Jewish California State Senator, who received death threats as a result.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO)
Sen. Hawley was one of the loudest supporters in the U.S. Senate of the January 6 insurrection. In a now-infamous photo, he is pictured cheering on the crowd that would go on to storm the Capitol — a crowd that included neo-Nazis and white supremacists. During his CPAC speech, Hawley attempted to present himself and his audience as the inheritors of a rose-colored American legacy, saying “we’re proud of living in a country that liberated slaves, that liberated a continent that was under the thumb of Nazi dictatorship.” Despite praising the United States for fighting the Nazis, Hawley himself echoed Nazi rhetoric in a shockingly antisemitic speech at the 2019 National Conservatism Conference.
Kimberly Guilfoyle
The former Trump Campaign Senior Advisor and girlfriend of Donald Trump, Jr. also spoke on the first day of CPAC. She fundraised for an antisemitic candidate alongside Don Jr., and in 2019, she attended an event and posed for a photo with a neo-Nazi.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Fresh off of a highly-publicized trip to Cancun, Sen. Cruz spoke at CPAC on February 26. Just two minutes into his remarks, he inexplicably brought up and expressed support for Gina Carano, an actress who had been recently fired from The Mandalorian after making numerous antisemitic, transphobic, and racist tweets. Cruz also has a history of antisemitism, including dismissing a San Antonio city resolution to condemn antisemitic and anti-Asian racism as “nuts.”
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC)
Newly-elected Rep. Cawthorn fear-mongered, using red-baiting language tinged with antisemitism during his first-ever CPAC speech. He warned that Democrats were getting “near socialism” and would turn the country into a “communist ash heap.” Cawthorn has come under fire for posing for a photo at Hitler’s vacation home, and stating that he has attempted to convert Jews and Muslims to Christianity, and helping to incite the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ)
Rep. Gosar is, of all the members of the 117th Congress, perhaps the person most deeply connected to far-right and white supremacists movements. An official organizer with Stop the Steal, one of the organizations responsible for the January 6 insurrection, Gosar has a history of deploying antisemitic dog whistles and conspiracy theories, and has endorsed multiple white supremacists running for office. Gosar faced no consequences for his role in the insurrection, which only emboldened him; the day before speaking at CPAC, Gosar spoke at the second annual America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) — a white nationalist convening led by Holocaust-denier Nick Fuentes. Gosar met with Fuentes, posing for a picture with him, while still wearing his CPAC badge:
A photo of Gosar and Fuentes smiling together. The image is part of a tweet from Fuentes, captioned “Great meeting today with Congressman Gosar! America is truly uncancelled.”
Other 2021 CPAC speakers include: QAnon conspiracy theorist Rep. Lauren Boebert R-CO); Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN); Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL); Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ); Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH); former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has a history of using Jews to promote Islamophobia and protect Donald Trump from criticism; Chairman of the American Conservative Union, Matt Schlapp, who in 2019 called Jewish philanthropist George Soros the “architect of the destruction of western civilization”; Scott Presler, who once spoke at an event in Iowa alongside Holocaust-denier Nick Fuentes, and is an organizer with Stop the Steal, one of the groups responsible for the January 6 insurrection; former Georgia State Rep. Vernon Jones, who has been photographed associating with neo-Nazi Chester Doles on numerous occasions; and more.
While she did not speak at the event, Rep. Marjorie Taylor (R-GA), was in attendance, and posed for a photo with Kaitlin Bennett. Bennett, as Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists pointed out, is the spokesperson for Liberty Hangout, a white nationalist organization that has openly engaged in Holocaust denial: