This weekend, election deniers gathered in Dallas for the GOP’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), headlined by former president Trump and authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary. The conference featured numerous panels, booths, and keynote speakers — with no shortage of MAGA elected officials in attendance — attempting to victimize those who perpetrated the violent insurrection that culminated in the Jan. 6 attack. This year, CPAC was dedicated to Trump’s ongoing campaign to suppress votes and overturn election results, with an eye on the midterms and even the 2024 election.
Trump & His Allies Outlined Plans To Re-Shape Future Elections. Trump and his MAGA allies dedicated much of their CPAC programming to policies that would re-shape future elections and keep them in power regardless of legitimate election outcomes:
- Former president Donald Trump called for purging the federal government of “corrupt” civil servants and replacing them with MAGA loyalists. He proclaimed, “America is on the edge of an abyss. And our movement is the only force on Earth that can save it. […] American civilization will collapse.”
- MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell shared a call-to-action based on a conspiracy theory about voting machines, telling the crowd to vote for MAGA candidates like Kari Lake “and override the machines.” For her part, Arizona GOP nominee Kari Lake (who tried to ban voting machines earlier this year) said, “We need to fight like hell to take this country back,” echoing a phrase used by Trump on Jan. 6.
- Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs suggested defunding the FBI and Department of Justice amid investigations into his own involvement in Jan. 6.
Election Conspiracy Theories Dominated CPAC 2022. The conference hosted several panels discussing baseless claims of election fraud. “Election integrity” was the top issue for conference attendees who voted in the CPAC straw poll. One panelist falsely cited a forty-year dataset of voter fraud convictions as evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election. Mike Lindell alleged, “they stole the 2020 election.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who spearheaded the infamous 2020 Texas lawsuit that unsuccessfully attempted to overturn the election in the Supreme Court, told the crowd to “remain vigilant about election fraud.” Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) claimed, “they want to rig elections, institutionalize voter fraud, [and] we’re not going to allow it.” During his speech, Trump claimed, “The election was rigged and stolen, and now our country is being systematically destroyed. And everybody knows it. […] I ran twice and won twice.”
MAGA Republicans At CPAC Attempted To Define Criminals As Victims. The impact of the January 6th committee hearings was visible at CPAC this year. The main convention floor featured a booth decked out as a jail cell containing Ellipse rally planner Brandon Straka, who was wearing an orange jumpsuit. Fellow Jan. 6 planner Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene reportedly knelt beside Straka “to join him in prayer.” Numerous other far-right extremists who helped plan January 6th attended CPAC – including Jan. 6 convict Steve Bannon, who spoke at the conference. Two uniformed Proud Boys were spotted in the exhibition hall at CPAC, along with Ellipse rally planner Brandon Straka. Two members of Congress who requested pardons after the events of Jan. 6, Rep. Matt Gaetz, and Rep. Andy Biggs, were also in attendance.
Trump Tried To Discredit the January 6th Committee. Trump used his hour-long CPAC speech to rail against the January 6th committee. He said the attack on the Capitol was “a protest over a rigged and stolen election that nobody wants to look at.” He mocked Cassidy Hutchison’s testimony about the January 6th insurrection, and painted violent perpetrators as victims: “Look at all the people who are in prison or whose lives have been destroyed on January 6.” Trump’s rhetoric mirrored that of fellow headliner Viktor Orbán, who has spent his tenure dismantling his country’s democratic institutions in favor of authoritarian censorship.
