The 24sight Pod - Episode 1: The Rise and Fall of CPAC

Hello, friends, and welcome to the first episode of the 24sight podcast! We’re very excited for this and have a very revealing episode for our launch, peering behind the curtain of CPAC, which for decades was the biggest and most important conservative political conference in the country but has lost ground as former President Donald Trump took over the Republican Party and swamped the conservative movement.

24sight’s

Tom LoBianco

spoke with former CPAC communications director Ian Walters and The Independent White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg. We recorded this Thursday live from the hotel bar at CPAC (halfway through the taping an attendee unfurled a banner of Trump’s mugshot, garnering some wows from the few dozen people gathered there.) The bar scene has often been referred to as the equivalent of the Star Wars cantina, with an ecclectic mix of politics super fans — but even that has died down in recent years.

Is this a marker of the energy for Trump and the Republicans heading into the general election?

For the launch of our podcast, we’re making this free to all subscribers. However future episodes will be released to paying subscribers first and then released broadly to free subscribers a few days later. Your support pays to keep us and our families fed and allows us to do things like pay for car repairs to make it big political conferences so we can come back with critical news and intelligence about the shape of the race for the White House.

You can also find our reporting on the lawsuit regarding sexual assault allegations against CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp (he and his team have roundly denied any wrongdoing) here.

Thanks, and enjoy!

Pilar and Tom

Chapters:

-CPAC 2024 is “vibeless” - on empty halls and a low energy confab

-CPAC was created to bring Ronald Regan to a national audience … Young conservatives used to come to CPAC to hook up and party? This time, not as much

-CPAC created Trump?

-The CPAC straw poll goes running mate - and potential VPs didn’t feel the need to send staff and supporters to swarm the conference

-Do non-MAGA conservatives have a spot at the CPAC table?

-Supreme Court justices won’t protect Trump

-Americans have a larger desire to be entertained vs. having a sound government - “very much lacking in this year’s CPAC is provocativeness and spontaneity.”

-Ian Walters on upcoming deposition in Matt Schlapp sexual assault lawsuit. “I’m certainly following all of it, as I’m compelled to. I’m rooting for you guys, I love your news site: 24sight”