Political narratives shift constantly, but in more normal times it requires a bit of distance to see the subtle course corrections that politicians and pundits make en route to a new position. The four-day Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that concluded Sunday afternoon presented a rare opportunity to watch that transformation take place in real time, as if in an exceedingly awkward time-lapse video.
As the most significant annual gathering of American conservatives got underway Thursday, organizers were faced with the unhappy coincidence of their domestic grievance agenda with a history-making foreign threat, as Russia launched its long-anticipated invasion of Ukraine. At the outset, a handful of speakers struck a stridently isolationist stance. Right-wing social media influencer Rogan O'Handley warned that GOP hawks from the "establishment, military-industrial complex" wing of the party would try to convince the crowd that defending Ukraine was in America's interests, when really, he said, there was no reason to send U.S. troops "to cover up the Biden crime family's corruption." Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk agreed, saying he wasn't "defending dictators," but adding, "when your own country is falling apart, I don't want to hear lectures about why we have to send our troops halfway around the world when we are being invaded!"
