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       Trump claims 10 million illegal immigrants are ‘bum-rushing’ the US

       High-profile Republicans are converging in Orlando, Florida for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference this week, with former President Donald Trump headlining the event.

       The conservative confab attracts a who’s who of GOP luminaries. Typically held just outside of Washington DC, this year’s conference is being held in Orlando, Florida, likely due to its proximity to the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach.

       High-profile speakers this year include Donald Trump Jr, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Sen Ted Cruz, Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, Nigel Farage, and Rep Jim Jordan.

       Mr Cruz was in Florida on Wednesday visiting Mr Trump and predicting a “red wave” of Republican victories in the fall.

       The conference gets underway on Thursday morning, with early breakout sessions focusing on school board battles, social media and a panel titled “Don Lemon is a dinosaur: The new way to get your news”.

       Recommended CPAC 2022: Everything we know about this year’s conference, who’s speaking and how to watch 2020 Democratic hopeful Tulsi Gabbard joins speaking roster at conservative CPAC event Right-wing radio host accuses Trump’s Truth Social of censorship for putting warning on his post about killing public officials

       Key Points Republicans prepare to gather as they criticise Biden over Ukraine Speaker list includes leaders, rising stars and far-right agitators Donald Trump scheduled to address conference on Saturday

       Show latest update 1645723357 Charlie Kirk call for ‘political extinction event’ for the ‘woke left'

       Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, takes to the stage praising Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

       After decrying the 2020 election, he joins other speakers in hitting all of the key topics: the media, school boards, and vaccines.

       He then calls for a “political extinction event” for the “woke left”.

       Continuing, he says the southern border is more important than the Ukrainian border, calling on fellow speakers to call it an invasion.

       Big cheers from the crowd.

       He calls for clear priorities of making it easier to buy a home, get married, and have children, to make more people conservatives.

       Mr Kirk adds that it was wrong to prioritise older generations over younger generations.

       Oliver O'Connell 24 February 2022 17:22

       1645722615 ‘Ugly’ Democrats

       If conservatives are worried about being called racists when they run for office, according to this earlier panel, Democrats should be worried about being called “ugly” and having their meme skills criticised.

       Oliver O'Connell 24 February 2022 17:10

       1645721650 Are you ready to be called a racist?

       The next panel is catchily titled “Are you ready to be called a racist: The courage to run for office”.

       It is hosted by The Leadership Institute's Stephen Rowe and Matthew Hurt — the institute trains conservatives for office.

       They are joined by Heather Sellers, who ran to be on her local school board and served for six years in Montgomery County.

       The message of the panel is to encourage more conservatives to run for office at all levels.

       Oliver O'Connell 24 February 2022 16:54

       1645720952 Audio problems

       Scott Shepard, a fellow at the National Center as well as the deputy director of the National Center’s Free Enterprise Project, spoke about “Fighting Woke Inc” through consumer and shareholder activism.

       Unfortunately an audio issue on the live stream meant a large of his speech was silent for those not in the room.

       Oliver O'Connell 24 February 2022 16:42

       1645720257 CPAC has only just begun and it’s already disgraced itself

       Andrew Feinberg writes:

       I’ve reported from CPAC a number of times, and this year organisers have made some strange and unwise choices — especially considering the invasion in Ukraine.

       CPAC has only just begun and it’s already disgraced itself | Andrew Feinberg I’ve reported from CPAC a number of times, and this year organizers have made some strange and unwise choices — especially considering the invasion in Ukraine

       Oliver O'Connell 24 February 2022 16:30

       1645719897 Project Veritas hires CNN whistleblower Patrick Davis

       James O’Keefe of Project Veritas spoke about his organisation’s surreptitious recordings of CNN employees in light of the Jeff Zucker scandal at the network.

       As a big surprise for the audience, Mr O’Keefe brings out 25-year CNN veteran field operations manager Patrick Davis as a “very special guest”.

       Mr Davis is joining Project Veritas as Executive Director. He was previously at the centre of one of the organisation’s whistleblowing operations.

       Oliver O'Connell 24 February 2022 16:24

       1645718757 How will Russia’s Ukraine invasion play out at CPAC? Rubio walks the line

       With Donald Trump already catching flak for essentially praising Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as “smart”, certain other Republicans speaking at CPAC find themselves with a difficult line to walk.

       In a particularly tricky spot is Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is running for re-election this year. Historically no friend of Mr Trump’s, he nonetheless toed the line for most of the ex-president’s tenure. But in recent days, the noted foreign policy hawk has been extolling the virtues of Ukrainian resistance and condemning Russia’s actions, putting him increasingly at odds with the “mainstream” Republican position.

       Andrew Naughtie 24 February 2022 16:05

       1645717680 Tea Party Patriots founder defends Joe Rogan and anti-vaxx doctors

       In the most overt anti-Covid mandate speech yet, Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin defended Joe Rogan and anti-vaxx doctors.

       She called to “end the lockdowns” and “stop the medical mandates”.

       Oliver O'Connell 24 February 2022 15:48

       1645716308 Speaking of Gettr

       Kaelan Dorr of Gettr is now presenting on censorship while heavily plugging his platform’s 5 million users. He describes it as “the fastest growing social media company in the world”.

       Truth Social is number on the App Store charts. Gettr does not appear to be in the top 200.

       Another “Let’s Go Brandon” mention.

       Oliver O'Connell 24 February 2022 15:25

       1645716057 CPAC chairman: No changes to agenda in light of Russia invading Ukraine

       American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp on Thursday said there would not be any changes to the programme at the group’s annual conference as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

       In an interview just before the start of the ACU’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference, Mr Schlapp told The Independent the conference would go on as planned.

       Andrew Feinberg reports from Florida.

       CPAC agenda not changing despite Russia invading Ukraine Mr Schlapp says the conference already has a sufficient foreign policy programme because of the ‘very prominent’ ex-Trump administration officials who are set to speak

       Oliver O'Connell 24 February 2022 15:20

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