The Conservative Political Action Conference is holding a second event in Dallas, Texas, this weekend, with a headline speech from former President Donald Trump on Sunday afternoon.
CPAC is adding a summer event to its annual conference that usually takes place each February.
Matt Schlapp, head of the American Conservative Union, which runs CPAC, told The Post that “to not have Donald Trump at CPAC would be disgraceful.”
Schlapp went on to say that the former president has been leading the fight on the border, and against big tech. On Wednesday, Trump announced a class-action lawsuit against Facebook, Google and Twitter, alleging the mammoth tech companies have violated his First Amendment rights.
“They want to cancel him,” Schlapp said, “but as Trump has said, they want to cancel all of us.”
The three-day event will feature a wide range of conservative figures in addition to Trump, including Dr. Ben Carson, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and many other GOP members of Congress such as Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.
The theme of the conference is “America UnCancelled.”
Panels include, “How to Save your School Board,” “Can Cancel Culture be Cancelled” and “Leadership Justice and Jobs in the Age of Wokeism.”
CPAC has met since 1974 and is widely considered the most important gathering of conservative politicians and thinkers in the country. This event will be the first time it has met in the state of Texas.
Schlapp says the choice of Dallas is part of an “experiment in holding a national CPAC in friendly territory.” Traditionally the event has been held in or near deep-blue Washington, DC. This February it took place in Orlando, Fla., in part because of COVID restrictions in the nation’s capital. It remains to be seen whether the signature event will remain outside the Acela corridor going forward.