The Republican divide continues to deepen ahead of the Conservative Political Action Conference, with key Republicans publicly butting heads over the future of the party and Trump’s role in it. 

The Republican Party is divided, with some top Republicans openly clashing over Trump’s speaking slot and his role in the party. 

Rep. McCarthy when asked whether Trump should be speaking at CPAC: “Yes he should.”

Rep. Cheney when asked the same thing: “That’s up to CPAC … I don’t believe that he should be playing a role in the future of the party or the country.”

VICE News: “Al Cardenas, the former chair of the American Conservative Union (CPAC’s parent organization), told VICE News he expects Trump to issue ‘a laundry list of demands for loyalists’ and use his Sunday speech—the first public one since he left office—to air ‘a number of grievances.’ He warned that anyone who promoted Trump’s voter-fraud lie would further damage democracy. And he lamented the lack of ideological and racial diversity in this year’s CPAC lineup.”

Despite the wishes of many in his party, it’s still Trump’s party and he is going to dominate the conference.

Politico: “At least eight 2024 hopefuls will speak at CPAC, the conservative movement’s premier conference this weekend in Florida, giving Republicans their clearest look yet at who’s competing in the traditional GOP presidential lanes. But there’s only one lane that really matters: the one currently occupied by former President Donald Trump.”

Trump is still feuding with his former vice president, refusing to attend the conference if Pence also attended. 

Washington Examiner: “Former President Donald Trump told friends he would not appear at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida if Mike Pence, his always-loyal vice president, was also on the bill, according to people familiar with his conversations.”

And the conference speakers will continue peddling dangerous lies that damage our democracy — if they’re not having their appearances canceled first that is. 

CNN: “The upcoming annual Conservative Political Action Conference — where former President Donald Trump will make his first speech since leaving the White House on Sunday — booted a hip-hop artist and right-wing social media figure who was scheduled to appear over anti-Semitic tweets.”

CNN: “The speakers on the ‘protecting elections’ panels include Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks and Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin, both of whom, in the weeks leading up to the Capitol attack, echoed the lie that the election was stolen; Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly, who has uttered baseless fraud claims and unsuccessfully tried to get Pennsylvania’s results invalidated in court; and Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who joined Trump on the January 2 phone call during which Trump asked Georgia’s top elections official to ‘find’ him enough votes to overturn Biden’s victory in the state.”