GOP Rift Grows as Trump Dumps CPAC to Campaign in ‘Witchita, Kanasas’

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Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:48 pm

Donald Trump has dumped CPAC – the ‘venerable’ Conservative Political Action Conference thrown by the American Conservative Union every year – in order to campaign in ‘Witchita, Kanasas,’ a place apparently somewhere in the Midwest, perhaps to be confused with Wichita, Kansas.

Yes, it turns out Trump will be at the Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center in Wichita at 9 am CST. Trump’s campaign just isn’t very good at spelling, proving it’s not just Twitter that stumps Trump.

This announcement (since corrected) did not escape the notice of observers:

Or CPAC itself, which tweeted that they were “Very disappointed @realDonaldTrump has decided at the last minute to drop out of #CPAC — his choice sends a clear message to conservatives.”

To be fair, Media Matters reports that conservatives told them CPAC is “not pro-Trump territory.” And you know how much Trump dislikes being disliked.

His thin skin would have boiled over, a form of torture Trump would probably prefer to reserve for is enemies.

Speaking of which, CPAC would have been a chance to Trump to explain why he is all for torture after all, that far from renouncing torture, he would embrace it: “As far as I’m concerned, waterboarding is absolutely fine but we should go much further.”

Maybe drawing and quartering came make a comeback.

Trump’s willingness to denounce CPAC if not torture did give Ted Cruz a chance to poke fun at Trump in the wake of his disastrous Fox debate encounter with Megyn Kelly: “He was told Megyn Kelly was going to be here,” Cruz joked when he heard.

Maybe not. But Stacey Dash will be there to make everybody uncomfortable again, like she did at the Oscars.

And Cruz himself will be speaking in Wichita, Kansas at 10 am, though he does still plan to attend CPAC. Cruz is the guy who needs to be there. It isn’t like this is a must-stop for Trump, who is already the predicted winner of today’s caucus.

Trump’s decision makes Marco Rubio happy, because as Politico reports, Rubio complained that allowing Trump to speak at CPAC was a tacit acknowledgment that Trump was a conservative after all.

It is a big deal, Trump giving in when faced with his flight or fight reflex. You have to wonder if he would avoid meeting Putin if he is this afraid of other Republicans. Anger isn’t any better as an excuse. Either way, Americans are seeing Trump at his worst on an almost daily basis now.

We are in an election year and CPAC is important to conservatives. For Democrats it is a rich source of comedy material, but conservatives living in the reality-free Fox News bubble, this is a big deal, a chance to talk about the non-existent problems they are campaigning against.

Someone else, somewhere else – in Kanasas – will have to listen to Trump go on about his man-parts and how Mitt Romney would have gone to his knees before all this Trump manliness. The CPAC audience has been spared.

Thanks be not to heaven, but to Trump’s petulance and/or fear. Don’t worry: CPAC will be plenty entertaining even without Trump.

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Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen's Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.

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