Trump shows he holds stranglehold on GOP, media in CPAC barnburner
By Joe Concha, Opinion Contributor — 02/28/21 07:30 PM EST Ahead of his CPAC speech in Orlando, pundits from across the media spectrum were asked if they could predict what former President Trump would say or do in his first public appearance since Inauguration Day. But trying to predict anything regarding Trump is like trying to predict when and where an earthquake is going to strike. There is no roadmap.
But as we witnessed on Sunday afternoon, the political death of the 45th president has been grossly exaggerated. The atmosphere at CPAC just five weeks after the Democratic president was inaugurated and a majority in the Senate recaptured was surprisingly jubilant and relaxed.
On some level, the GOP is most comfortable making noise in the minority, where a perpetual Festivus reigns via a daily deluge of grievances about everything Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, Swalwell, AOC and the gift that keeps on giving, cancel culture.
For his part, this was also a position that Trump may enjoy most in morphing back into 2015-2016 Trump, throwing darts at everything he believes is wrong with the swamp, a Democratic Party drifting hopelessly leftward and an absentee president in Biden. He also put to rest any prospect of a new and alternate MAGA/Patriot Party.
"We have the Republican Party," Trump told an enthusiastic CPAC crowd "I am not starting a new party... We're not interested in that."
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https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/540927-trump-shows-he-holds-stranglehold-on-gop-media-in-cpac-barnburner
