CPAC, The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2025, was like no other. And it was my 24th time to attend as media.
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2025, held in National Harbor, Maryland, from February 20 to 22, was a pivotal gathering for conservative activists and leaders. The conference had a celebratory tone to it, highlighting the achievements of the Trump administration as well as the current state of the conservative movement both domestically and internationally.
As much as it was a pro-Trump celebration, it was marked by a sense of relief that the Biden/Obama/Clinton/Harris era was over. At least for now. People understand that we have not reached Francis Fukuyama’s “End of History,” but the rapid pace of the destruction of the U.S. occurring under Joe Biden has stopped for the time being.
The mood at CPAC 2025 was predominantly triumphant and energized. Attendees expressed unwavering support for President Trump’s policies and the broader MAGA agenda. The presence of international figures, like former British Prime Minister Liz Truss and Argentinian President Javier Milei, and the participation of unconventional allies like Elon Musk added a festive and unconventional flair to the proceedings.
Several speakers at CPAC made the point that it is providential that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump, as I believe a large majority of the CPAC attendees agree with. But whether or not it was providence, the point is clear.
If Trump had officially won in 2020 and stayed in office, he would have been up against the same machine that attempted to drive him out of office, by any means necessary. He would have been hobbled by the opposition, and even by his supposed allies, many of whom were not.
So instead, in the years in between Trump’s time as president, we saw the full weight of the Left in action. Certainly one of Trump’s biggest disasters in his first term was the choice of Christopher Wray as FBI Director, who, among other things, hid the Hunter Biden laptop story though he was in possession of the laptop and knew before the infamous letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials that the claim that the disclosure of Hunter’s emails “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation” was a lie.
Also, what was unable to be dealt with in the 60 days or so between the 2020 presidential election and the January 6, 2021, certification of the electoral votes, became much more clear when the evidence of election fraud and rigging had a chance to be reckoned with, examined in books and inquiries without a deadline and the pressure of getting the evidence before a court that would actually weigh the evidence and the arguments of both sides.
It became apparent that there was a confluence of events and situations that gave Joe Biden the victory. Election laws and procedures were rewritten because of Covid; votes could come in weeks after Election Day and still be counted; signatures weren’t required in some cases, and in other cases weren’t properly compared; vote counts stopped in the middle of the night on Election Day, and when they resumed, there had been a major shift in the count, in favor of the Democrats.
We also saw the unprecedented lawfare and weaponization unlike ever before by the corrupt Biden/Merrick Garland Department of Justice, working with state and local officials like Letitia James, Alvin Bragg and Fani Willis, packaging bizarre conspiracy theories, and criminal theories, to create felonies out of what were at most misdemeanors and arguably violations of election laws.
Bottom line: CPAC was a celebration of Donald Trump’s triumphant return to the presidency after he came very close to being assassinated, imprisoned and/or bankrupted. He stood in the breach and beat them all. The Democrats of course had the media backing their every move.
CPAC was also a look forward to ways the country could be healed and set back on a path toward freedom, prosperity and looking out for America’s interests.
The final day of CPAC always includes the straw poll for who the favorite next-up candidate is for this group. This year it was JD Vance, with 61%.
Trump closed out the 3-day event with an 80-minute speech, which you can watch here.
Here were a few of his comments:
“As of Jan. 20, 2025, the dark days of the high taxes, crushing regulations, rampant inflation, flagrant corruption, government weaponization and total incompetence — those days are over,” he said. “But we cannot stop now! We are going to push forward every single day!
“In the immortal words of that great American hero, Capt. John Paul Jones, ‘I have not yet begun to fight!” he said.
“And neither have you!” a smiling Trump added while the crowd later chanted “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
“So for the next four years, we are going to stand strong, we are going to work hard. We are going to fight, fight, fight and win, win, win!”
Among my favorite speeches at the 2025 CPAC were ones by Richard Grenell, Nigel Farage, Gordon Chang, and Tom Homan.
Here are all of the speeches and panel discussions from this year’s CPAC. I believe they are worth your time:
The views expressed in CCNS member articles are not necessarily the views or positions of the entire CCNS. They are the views of the authors, who are members of the CCNS.
