What’s stranger than Elon Musk with a chainsaw?

CPAC, a conference that often predicts the future of the conservative movement, united much of the global right in DC, previewing what’s ahead

Elon Musk wore a Flavor Flav style chain, dark reflective shades and wielded a chainsaw from the stage at CPAC — and he wasn’t the strangest speaker there. 

CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, which began in 1974, held its annual conference in the Washington, D.C. area last week.  And from the stage came a consolidation of global conservative movements, extreme views, and an absolute desire to see rapid change regardless of opposition.

There was the range of convicted, now pardoned, January 6 defendants who whooped and cheered as President Trump spoke. Trump declared victory and blamed his predecessor on anything negative, in coarse language for a speech, saying “every single thing (Joe Biden) touched turned to shit.” Trump, who has been suggesting he might try to run again in 2028, had some supporters of this effort, who erected signs and passed out stickers at the conference. 

Speakers defended President Trump’s actions thus far in the administration, suggesting that he had the absolute right to barrel through any opposition without Congressional approval or oversight.  Speakers suggested Judges and Democrats didn't understand the Constitution.  There was an assertion, leveled by Mark Levin, that the President had the right to choose the press covering him, comparing current times to Abraham Lincoln shutting down 200 newspapers during the Civil War. 

And then there was Steve Bannon, also out of prison himself, saying he expects President Donald Trump to invite the January 6 choir to perform at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. Bannon’s remarks also included a hand gesture, which was widely speculated to mirror a Nazi salute. It got enough attention that France’s far right leader, Jordan Bardella, cancelled his appearance at the conference.  

Too much for France’s far right — that’s quite a standard.

Whatever else it was, though, CPAC is an important conference to watch if you're curious about the new White House and their way of thinking. They stacked the conference with their officials.  And from the ads on display to the speakers from the dais, it offered a fascinating window into how President Donald Trump and his followers are approaching a second term — and some clues about how far their mindset is traveling globally.

CPAC’s Midwestern Leader

I met Matt Schlapp, who leads the Conservative Political Action Conference, in 2020. We spoke together after the 2020 election, but before the January 6 attempted insurrection, to an audience in Kansas interested in having both perspectives in politics, and we were polite.  

Off stage he asked me if I was planning to go back into the administration. On stage, he said the election results weren’t confirmed. 

Our families both have roots in Wichita, Kan.  His mother served as a city council member in Wichita.  My parents went to the same Catholic high school where Schlapp would later graduate.  A big difference: My parents got pregnant while in high school. My mom got kicked out of the school for being pregnant.  My dad dropped out and went to public school, graduating with my mom, the two have been together since. 

Matt’s experience was different.  He would meet his wife, Mercedes Schlapp, something of a conservative powerhouse herself, while working in the Bush administration.  She’s the daughter of Cuban immigrants who escaped an oppressive regime; her father was imprisoned under Fidel Castro.  Matt and Mercedes worked together in the Bush White House and Matt talks about being evacuated from his office during 9/11, that being a formative experience. 

Matt Schlapp claims credit for suggesting the former Democrat and showman, Donald Trump, run for office. Schlapp also claims credit for inviting the likes of Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. to speak at the conference, later of course they would be confirmed for key cabinet positions.  And he claims the mantle of what’s to come next in the movement by previewing some of the speakers who in a far right election victories become leaders both here and abroad.  

Schlapp disdains cancel culture, he’s discussed his frustration of contracts canceled with his firm after he came under fire. He has faced allegations of sexual advancements towards two men, but he has vehemently denied the accusations. 

Like many in Trump’s orbit, Schlapp’s powered through allegations and continues to wield a lot of power.  At this year’s CPAC, the Catholic school kid from Wichita, Kan. had all the juice, uniting many of the far right leaders across the globe, with the right-wing movements here in the US. 

The Global Right 

At CPAC, there were broadsides and conspiratorial whispers about Democrats and a showcase of right-leaning leaders who seemed to model themselves, at least a bit, off of President Trump.

Ads that were broadcast throughout the conference accused the Central Intelligence Agency of being involved in mind manipulation, sought to paint Democrats as the enemy, and criticized many institutions including the AARP. 

Speakers included Argentina’s populist leader Javier Milei, who gifted the chainsaw to Musk and recently has come under fire for a crypto scam; he spoke in Spanish about the need for shrinking government — parroting Trump and Musk’s owning talking points. Poland’s Leader Andrzej Duda and Hungary’s authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán, who Trump has often gone out of his way to praise, praised Trump and drew parallels between their own approach and President Trump.

There was also a wide spectrum of characters from the President’s orbit: Trump himself, Vice President JD Vance, Elise Stefanik, who is Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Scavino, who started as Trump’s caddie, and now serves as White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Attorney General Pam Bondi and of course, the DOGE master himself, Elon Musk. 

Musk waved the gifted chainsaw around on stage.  The conference ended just before a Sunday election would cement Germany’s center right leader Friedrich Merz the victor, bolstered by the far right party AfD, that JD Vance and Elon Musk have come to defend.

One thing that struck me was unity on stage, despite many different perspectives. There was, by virtue of many of the speakers, a sense of a global movement, with Trump as its nominal figurehead. Another thing that hit me was how many of these newly empowered conservatives claimed to be victims —  victims of “cancel culture,” victims of the judicial branch, victims of the woke left ideology that has, by their telling, wrought America of its values.  It’s perhaps ironic, especially when you think about the many privileges of those both on stage and in the audience. 

Foreshadowing

If past CPACs are prologue, this year’s offers some important insights into what Trump and his allies’ priorities will be in the months ahead — and where they will push the envelope.

Musk’s chainsaw escapades showed a doubling down on cutting of government programs and DOGE’s aggressive efforts, despite recent backlash. Trump talked about his desire to forge a “lasting impact” and reshape government forever.

One of the CPAC speakers, conservative media host Mark Levin, also talked about the importance of being combative with the press. As if right on cue today, Trump’s press secretary declared that the White House — not the White House Correspondents’ Association which has traditionally handled access of our free press — would select who is in the pool to cover the President. 

There’s a real consolidation of the right-wing press, emboldening opinion journalists, even appointing some of them – including a former Secret Secret agent many of us in the Obama team worked with, Dan Bongino – to key posts in the administration.  Many of those influencers sat on that stage.  And Hogan Gidley, a Trump official, who I also know from joining him on television, praised this administration’s nominees for being “good on tv.”  I thought to myself if the US faces a true crisis, I’m not sure I’m most concerned that they’re good on TV.  

But the movement has consolidated oxygen, selectively opening up the floor to those they bring into the movement, and sets up a connectedness on the far right, even globally, that has taken more than 50 years to build.  

What struck me most, having worked in Democratic politics: I’m not sure that the same organization exists on the left.

For as much talk of those left-leaning donors like George Soros, there hasn’t been the absolutism and unity of all Democratic aligned organizations and leaders in the way there is on the right.  There hasn’t been a stage that has really opened up the mic and given the chance for future left leaders to shine.  And while Republicans are taking the lesson to barrel forward, Democrats are debating doing the exact same on the left.