Putin is rarely mentioned at CPAC

The speakers at the pro-Trump Conservative Political Action Conference this week are in a tough spot. I am sure many of them condemn the Putin invasion of Ukraine, but they can’t do that publicly without invoking the ire of their leader Donald Trump. It appears that their strategy is to just not talk about Putin and focus their attention on Justin Trudeau.

Here is Marc Caputo and Peter Nicholas at NBC News:

The annual gathering of the Republican Party’s most conservative members this week took place 9,000 miles from Kyiv, Ukraine, but for some, the distance wasn’t enough. 

Speaker after speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) elided or downplayed references to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine days ago launched a war that drew widespread condemnation from the international community for costing innocent lives with no justification.

As Moscow launched missiles at Ukraine, CPAC speakers were firing away at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his country’s public health restrictions. The agenda had one breakout session devoted to China, but none on Russia, and China was more frequently invoked as a bigger problem for the United States.

The Republicans who did bring up Russia used the opportunity to test-drive a message that blamed President Joe Biden for the conflict, another potential line of attack against Democrats who face an uphill battle in midterm contests to defend their slim majorities in Congress. But that message could be complicated by former President Donald Trump and his acolytes heaping compliments on Putin. 

Read the rest here.

Today’s CPAC schedule includes:

• Madison Cawthorn (“Lock Downs and Mandates: Now Do You Understand Why We Should Have a 2nd Amendment”)
• Marjorie Taylor Greene (“They Can’t Shut Us Up”)
• Ronna McDaniel
• Rick Scott
• Mark Levin
• Jim Jordan
• John Kennedy
• Todd Starnes (“Fire Fauci”)
• JD Vance (“Why the Working Class Hates the Democrats”)
• Sebastian Gorka (“Fire Fauci”)
• Matt Gaetz (“Fire Fauci”)
• Devin Nunes (“Lock Her Up , FOR REAL”)

Trump will speak at 7:00pm.

In case your still around on Sunday, you can watch these speakers:

• Lauren Boebert (“The Moron in Chief”)
• Larry Kudlow
• Dr. Oz (“The Government is Dangerous to Your Health”)
• Jim Lankford (“FAANGs Kill”)
• Pam Bondi (“Sorry Stacey, you are not the Governor”)
• David Perdue (“Power Play”)
• Donald Trump Jr.
• Lee Greenwood

RECOMMENDED READING

Bad history has consequences Putin’s Holy War and the Americans Who Like It “They made a desert and called it peace” American Evangelicals and Ukraine