Takeaways from CPAC 2026 : NPR

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks Friday during a discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC.

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Republican faithful gather Saturday in Dallas for the final day of the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, the annual event known for high-profile appearances by the MAGA movement’s most prominent figures. And although President Trump’s program celebrations have been front and center, this year the president himself was absent from the programming.

Instead of closing the multi-day conference with a rally-style speech like in previous years, Trump skipped CPAC this year for the first time in a decade.

His absence comes at a tense moment in his second term. As of Saturday, it was a month since the United States began its strikes against Iran — a move that caused divisions within the president’s historically loyal base.

Here are some takeaways from the conference so far.

War in Iran threatens CPAC

Even though polls show that most Americans may be against the war, CPAC remains Trump’s show.

“I think a lot of people feel more confident [Trump] “just a long-time politician who wants to follow his party’s rules,” said Jeff Hadley, who came from Raleigh, North Carolina, to attend CPAC.

While some prominent conservatives like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly have been vocal critics of the war, Hadley’s view is currently consistent with many Republicans. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that nearly eight in ten Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of the war.

However, pulling back the curtain, this support drops significantly when considering only young Republicans and conservative-leaning independents – two groups with whom Trump has made gains in 2024.

“I feel betrayed because he promised there would be no new wars,” said Joseph Bolick, 30, an Army and Marine Corps veteran from Tyler, Texas, who has voted for Trump since 2016 and now says he no longer supports him.

“Why aren’t we helping the Americans? The economy is suffering,” he added. “Why can’t we focus on our own people instead of foreign governments?”

One of the few speakers to criticize the war from the stage was former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz.

“A ground invasion of Iran will make our country poorer and less secure,” Gaetz said. “It will lead to higher gasoline and food prices, and I’m not sure we’ll end up killing more terrorists than we create.”

Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz told a CPAC audience that a ground invasion of Iran would make the United States “poorer and less secure.”

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Midterm discussions have largely taken a back seat

CPAC has long been seen as a destination for conservative voters to network and organize, and for grassroots voices within the GOP to rally their base.

But this year, fewer candidates considered it a campaign stop. Only a handful of Senate and House candidates spoke at the event.

Among those who spoke was former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, a candidate for the North Carolina Senate. His message? The midterm elections will be crucial in deciding the direction of Trump’s remaining time in office, because if Democrats take back the House or Senate, they will block the Republican Party’s agenda.

“We will absolutely ensure that Donald Trump gets a four-year term, not a two-year term,” he said. “We cannot let the left win this election cycle and rob us of this agenda we fight for every day.”

CPAC saw a lot of new faces this year

Many conservative firebrands were absent from the lineup — from top Trump surrogates like Vice President JD Vance to MAGA media figures like Carlson and Kelly. All three have appeared at various CPAC events over the past few years.

Although there were a few familiar faces — including former Trump adviser Steve Bannon — CPAC’s programming this year focused more on newer names in the conservative movement, even if they are less central figures in Trump’s traditional orbit.

Trump-themed merchandise is featured during CPAC.

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The last word of the evening on Thursday went to Nick Shirley, the 23-year-old content creator who went viral for alleging fraud at Minneapolis daycares run by Somali immigrants.

Other prominent interventions have been given to conservative activists around the world, such as former British Prime Minister Liz Struss and Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Their appearances reflected CPAC’s growing ambitions to publicize MAGA conservatism abroad.

That said, even though the speaker list was different, much of the program still revolved around Trump’s top policy priorities and leaned heavily on culture war issues and concerns about illegal immigration.

MAGA without Trump?

Near the start of the show Friday, CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp led a discussion titled “Can’t We All Get Along,” in which he argued that conservatives should recognize and embrace differences of opinion.

“How boring would CPAC be if it was just: unity, agreement, vanilla, right?” he said. “We wouldn’t want that.”

“One of the reasons why, essentially, there is this collaboration and this coalition that stays together is that people have embraced Trump and Trumpism,” Schlapp added.

But as 2028 draws closer, Trump’s absence from CPAC this year reminds us that he may be the one figure who brings much of the party together, and when he’s not there, it’s not clear who fills that role.