Trump can still draw a crowd, but empty seats tell a story

It fell to Steve Bannon, far-right podcaster and political pugilist, to wake up the crowd with a jolt.

- David Smith

“Don’t fall for the primary stuff,” he urged in a fiery speech. “It’s not relevant. We don’t have time for on-the-job training [instead of] a man that gave us four years of peace and prosperity.”

What had been a low-energy Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) erupted in cheers. It did again when Bannon – who is facing four months in prison for contempt of Congress – said “Donald J Trump” would win both the Republican nomination and US presidency in 2024. Finally, here was someone who was speaking the language of CPAC.

But there was row upon row of empty seats in the convention centre’s ballroom. The “Make America Great Again” (Maga) movement, while vociferous as ever, appeared diminished in size. There was no doubt that the former president remained the big fish at the National Harbor in Maryland – but in a smaller pond.

CPAC bills itself as the biggest, most influential gathering of conservatives in the world. After a pandemic enforced move to Florida and Texas, it returned to the DC area last week. But the list of Republicans who decided to stay away was as striking as those who showed up.