Former CPAC chair: 'The Republican party really no longer stands for any kind of principles'

It’s fitting that this year’s CPAC conference is being held in Orlando, a land of make-believe where thousands of folks travel each year to gawk at a surly, splotchy whale flailing around with no real purpose other than to wow a small cross-section of Americans who’ve grown bored with taunting the three-legged goat at their local petting zoo.

I mean, one of the speakers is a high-profile member of a right-wing Japanese cult that believes its leader is the reincarnated spirit of an alien from Venus who created all life on Earth millions of years ago. Sure, that’s still less bonkers than believing Donald Trump was a good president, but it gives you some idea of the kinds of people they’re letting in these days.

I mean, larval-stage Brundlefly would have given a better speech than Ted Cruz did Friday, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t welcomed with open arms. (Okay, with icy stares, sneering contempt, and the bemused expressions of weary, forlorn souls who are more or less resigned to getting odd, clammy hugs from Batboy’s less photogenic uncle, but he was there. That says a lot.)

But while you’re sure to find an enthusiastic cohort of EverTrumpers in Orlando this weekend, what you won’t find much of is reality—as evidenced by the conference’s seven panel discussions on the “stolen” 2020 election.