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The Media Maligns of CPAC

The Media Maligns of CPAC

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is the latest target – victim, if you will – of the left-wing media’s unrelenting attack on all things Republican and conservative.  As any objective observer can readily see, the Big Seven (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, New York Times and Washington Post) have become unapologetic propaganda vehicles for the left-leaning Democratic Party.  And a plethora of others join them – mostly New York-based publications.

The mendacious attacks go far beyond their visceral hatred for former President Trump.  It is expanded to engulf virtually every Republican and conservative leader in America – and ultimately against every conservative organization and the millions of voters and supporters of Republican candidates.

The strategic objective is to literally wipe out the GOP as a political force and leave governance to the one-party rule of the elitist big government Democrats in Washington.  It is the foundation of what we now call the hate-driven “cancel culture.” 

Conservatism is no longer to be considered a legitimate governing philosophy. Rather, it’s a toxic political belief that is a danger to the nation –  a danger to be isolated and crushed.

The latest example is the media-wide coordinated attack on CPAC.

CPAC has been the gathering place of constitutional limited-government conservatives for almost 50 years. Many of the most important and respected political and philosophic minds of our times have been participants. That includes Reagan, William Buckley, Milton Friedman, Newt Gingrich, as well as a host of conservative governors, senators and congressmen.  CPAC attendees have also included a long list of grassroots organizations and activists.

I have periodically attended CPAC over the course of those nearly 50 years – occasionally as a speaker or panelist.   What I have never seen on stage or in the audience are those violent actors that today’s media reports describe. I have never seen any representative of a hate group – no neo-Nazis … no white supremacists.  Even in the hallway conversations, I never heard racist language of any sort.  No efforts to organize violence against the Republic or individuals with whom we strongly disagreed.  It is more a venue for intellectual dialogue, inspiration and motivation.

Is it possible that of the thousands who attend CPAC, there may be a nutcase or two? 

Of course.  Politics naturally attracts nutcases on the left and right.  Is it possible for the antagonistic media to find such an unrepresentative character? And provide them with the media megaphone, as if they represented the majority or even the average CPAC attendee?  Not only is it possible, but it is also one of their basic propaganda tools.  It is what they do.

Ever since the announcement that Trump would be speaking at CPAC, the media has gone into hyper propaganda mode to malign the organization, the attendees and all who may share a conservative philosophy.  The elitist media wallows in the sin of stereotyping.

Chris Hayes, on MSNBC, devoted a segment to what he dubbed “WACKO PAC.”  The entire line-up on MSNBC and CNN – from their biased hosts to those highly-paid parroting panelists – jumped aboard the propaganda bandwagon in terms of CPAC.  The reporting was completely alien to my own experience in the hundreds of exchanges I had with fellow participants in this year’s CPAC gathering.

The authoritarian left is using their political power — and their control of a major portion of the national media — to spread hatred against their political enemies – defined as anyone who disagrees with their left-wing big government agenda that relies on one-party authoritarian rule.

The mendacious attack on CPAC is just the latest example of the left’s effort to not only cancel dissent, but to crush it unmercifully.  They declare “the other side” to be the dangerous malcontents they concoct in their false narratives and bogus reporting.

This is the same tactic that Hitler used in Germany against the Jews, Blacks and others. He declared that the Aryan society is the only legitimate culture.  He also used the powerful and dangerous tool of propaganda to misinform and mis-motivate the German people.  America’s cancel culture is EXACTLY the same technique that the authoritarian left deploys.

The only difference between 1930s Germany and America today, is that those the left defines as “enemies of the state” are a much larger percentage of the population than the Jews in Germany.  Minimally, the left is attempting to suppress and subjugate half the American population – arguably even the majority. 

But we cannot take complete comfort from that reality.  We have seen in socialist states how a small ruling cabal CAN abuse the powers of government to oppress and suppress the majority.  In fact, we see it today in Russian, China, North Korea and other places where totalitarianism has taken hold.

The attack on CPAC is just one small skirmish in a much larger political and cultural war.  If America allows political correctness, identity politics and cancel culture to displace the constitutional values of free speech and assembly – among others — in their broadest definition, the Republic will surrender to one-party totalitarianism.  That IS the governance of the left.  Power to the people will reverse to power over the people.

So, there ‘tis.

About The Author

Larry Horist

So, there ‘tis… The opinions, perspectives and analyses of businessman, conservative writer and political strategist Larry Horist. Larry has an extensive background in economics and public policy. For more than 40 years, he ran his own Chicago based consulting firm. His clients included such conservative icons as Steve Forbes and Milton Friedman. He has served as a consultant to the Nixon White House and travelled the country as a spokesman for President Reagan’s economic reforms. Larry professional emphasis has been on civil rights and education. He was consultant to both the Chicago and the Detroit boards of education, the Educational Choice Foundation, the Chicago Teachers Academy and the Chicago Academy for the Performing Arts. Larry has testified as an expert witness before numerous legislative bodies, including the U. S. Congress, and has lectured at colleges and universities, including Harvard, Northwestern and DePaul. He served as Executive Director of the City Club of Chicago, where he led a successful two-year campaign to save the historic Chicago Theatre from the wrecking ball. Larry has been a guest on hundreds of public affairs talk shows, and hosted his own program, “Chicago In Sight,” on WIND radio. An award-winning debater, his insightful and sometimes controversial commentaries have appeared on the editorial pages of newspapers across the nation. He is praised by audiences for his style, substance and sense of humor. Larry retired from his consulting business to devote his time to writing. His books include a humorous look at collecting, “The Acrapulators’ Guide”, and a more serious history of the Democratic Party’s role in de facto institutional racism, “Who Put Blacks in That PLACE? -- The Long Sad History of the Democratic Party’s Oppression of Black Americans ... to This Day”. Larry currently lives in Boca Raton, Florida.

5 Comments

  1. Angelika

    “WHAT don’t they LIE about…??? ALL just Propaganda from chyna

  2. Terry Moore

    Excellent article, the LEFT needs some History lessons about the Nazi’s, especially because they ARE JUST like them in so many ways.

  3. Ben

    Larry, great article!
    I have to hand it to you conservatives, you never fail to find a way to be victimized. It’s really impressive.

    “What I have never seen on stage or in the audience are those violent actors that today’s media reports describe. I have never seen any representative of a hate group – no neo-Nazis … no white supremacists. “
    I just want to point out that the actual stage at CPAC was in the shape of an odal rune that was used as a badge for the Nazi party. Are you telling me that was an accident?

    With all this victimization, you may not have realized that the Republican Party has not represented the Majority of Americans since 1996. Maybe it’s time to amend your platform to align more with American voters. It is not the fault of the media trump’s party is so maligned by the general public, put simply, your ideas and actions do not match up with the majority of voters desires.
    Tis the minority

  4. Joseph S. Bruder

    So… the “Authoritarian Left” is “cancelling” the views of the right? This after the country endured and outlasted a President who attacked anyone who disagreed with him… the President who tried to throw out the will of the people and take over by coup-d’etat? The same CPAC who in lockstep repeats Trump’s “Big Lie” about actually winning the last election? And didn’t invite Pence (because he’s cancelled!) You’re worried about the cancel culture of the left, while Trumpists are total hypocrites on this issue, given how hard Republicans all worked to cancel people and organizations they don’t like, such as Colin Kaepernick, Black Lives Matter, Planned Parenthood, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. llhan Omar, and so on. The Republicans who censured Cheney and other Republicans because they voted to impeach a corrupt President, or even for supporting a Democrat as President. Fox is up in arms about Dr. Seuss getting cancelled by “the left” or “liberals”, or “progressives”, when it was a purely business decision by the publishers – maybe someone in the company who has a clue just happened to read those particular books and said “yikes! that’s pretty racist… maybe for the sake of future sales, we should discontinue the worst ones?”

    And talk about Nazis, what about the Nazi (and neo-Nazi) shape of the stage? Clearly the same as one of the Nazi SS insignias – it’s damned hard to miss, considering that neo-Nazis were carrying it on signs at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. There’s no way that was accidental. And a golden statue of Trump? That’s Hitler-esque cult status. Brownshirts (Trump’s unmarked military goons that he sent to beat up BLM protestors), attacks on minorities, gays – right out of Hitler’s playbook. It was Trump that labeled the press “enemies of the state”. It was Trump who repeated lies over and over expecting people to eventually believe them. Trump held his dangerous COVID-spreader Nuremburg-style rallies where he wound his little toys up and (eventually) pointed them at the Capitol – just like Hitler taking over the Reichstag (except, luckily, Trump is an idiot and fails at everything he does). What about the pedophile and Jewish space laser conspiracies peddled by Q-Anon (aka GQP)? It’s like Goebbels is standing next to Trump whispering in his ear. State legislatures where Republicans are in control have introduced around 400 bills to make voting more difficult for the poor and minorities that are (mostly) going to vote Democratic (and why wouldn’t they, when the GOP only really cares about the ultra-wealthy white male voters?)

    Don’t try to tell us “there may be one or two crazy people at the CPAC”… Every one of them cheered whenever Trump or the other speakers claimed that Trump really won. The same speakers that “claimed COVID health” reasons and skipped out on Congressional sessions to go to a white nationalist event also spoke at CPAC. In the CPAC straw poll, 68% want Trump to run again, while 55% picked him as their first choice. They booked speakers who were full-on Q-Anon supporters.

    You claim you never heard “racist language”, but Trump does it in every speech – clearly you’re not listening or just flat-out ignoring it. I guess you didn’t hear Trump talk about the “Chinese virus” or the “violent Mexican rapists” that are “invading” our country? Or the extreme violence of the (mostly peaceful) BLM protests, while the “good people” of the Oathkeepers or 3%-ers who brought their families in a “festive mood” to the Capitol on Jan 6th, but were attacked by those mean old (and not present) BLM supporters?

    Biden is quickly reversing the Trump policies, kicking out Trump appointees, fixing relations with the rest of the world, working on the COVID crisis that Trump left, and un-fucking-up the country. Trump lost. CPAC had a bunch of Trump cultists in attendance, but they are irrelevant now. Republicans are angry because Biden knows the Senate and won’t let McConnell do what he did to Obama, blocking everything just because it’s from Dems. Biden has already done more in his first 6 weeks to help Americans than Trump did in 4 years, and during the rest of his term you’ll realize how much time and money were wasted by the always-golf-playing ever-grifting white nationalist corrupt traitor Trump. He’ll be easy to find – wasting away in a federal prison somewhere.

    • Ben

      Joe, welcome friend!
      Larry gets a little uptight when to many of us progressive thinkers start posting on his page. Last time he switched multiple platforms to keep us from interrupting their echo chamber.
      But when his clicks dramatically fell off, he switched back. It’s nice to have an friend here.