Conservatives unite behind Trump at political action conference

“By tomorrow,” Conway pronounced Thursday, “this will be TPAC” – the T would be for Trump.

At CPAC, as in politics, everyone loves a winner.

The National Rifle Association’s Chris Cox introduced Vice President Mike Pence by asserting he knew Trump would win in November when Trump chose Pence to be his running mate. For his part, Pence compared Trump to President Ronald Reagan and credited Trump with naming “the strongest conservative Cabinet in my lifetime, bar none.”

“We’re in the promise-keeping business these days,” Pence said Thursday night, as he pledged an end to Obamacare, a beefed-up military and a commitment to “the sanctity of human life.”

At CPAC, winners love other winners. The big event of the day was a conversation with White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Chief Strategist Steve Bannon moderated by Matt Schlapp, chairman of American Conservative Union, which sponsor CPAC. Ignore the reports about extreme turf wars in which each top aide tries to eliminate the other, Priebus and Bannon told the enthusiastic audience; they’re unified in backing Trump.

The session gave the public the rare chance to hear Bannon — the rumpled former head of Breitbart news who speaks to Trump’s combative side — expound in public. A major goal of the Trump administration, he revealed, is “the deconstruction of the administrative state.”

When Priebus predicted that Trump’s relationship with the news media would get better, Bannon interrupted, “It’s going to get worse every day.” That’s because the “corporatist globalist media” are “adamantly opposed” to Trump’s “economic nationalist agenda,” he said.

Priebus turned to the audience with a unique appeal. “You all had different people you were for,” Priebus said as he recalled the prolonged GOP presidential primaries. But then you’d talk to your neighbors, friends and family, Priebus said, and they kept telling you they liked Trump.

Attendees Tom Shadrix of North Carolina, and Shane Comeaux of Lousiana both voted for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in their state’s primary. In the general election, they supported Trump. Shadrix said he thinks Trump will grow into the position.

Comeaux said he is not sure Trump is conservative, but “he’s definitely doing the things conservatives like” and “keeping his campaign promises.”

Hillsdale College president Larry Arnn confessed that Trump’s candidacy “presented certain challenges,” as Hillsdale doesn’t teach its students to behave as the GOP president has been known to behave. Maybe Trump talks about himself too much, Arnn added, but he is “fearless” – so much so that “I think the guy’s a conservative.”

Jim De Mint, president of the conservative think-tank, the Heritage Foundation, stepped onto the stage to the sound of Earth Wind and Fire. At the start of their “Conversation about the Constitution,” Cruz marveled to radio talk show host Mark Levin that neither is used to entering a stage to dance music.

Student groups weaved through clogged lobbies. “Last year was very difficult, especially for students,” said Elizabeth Berecen, 22, who was Texas Social Media Director for Students for Trump. Many college students were afraid to voice their support for Trump on campus but those students were welcome at CPAC.

“A lot of these people,” she added, “are going to be your friends for the next 20 years.”

“It’s right-wing Disneyland,” said Arthur Lindsay of Dallas as he stood in the mid-afternoon security line. Lindsay voted for Cruz in the primary and Libertarian Gary Johnson in November. This year, he noted, it seems as if the halls were filled with Trump voters. “I didn’t get the impression there were a lot last year.”

Indeed, CPAC’s 2016 straw poll gave Cruz the lead in the race for president with 40 percent of the vote and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio 30 percent. Trump came in third with 15 percent of the CPAC straw poll vote.

Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or at 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter.