Before you even ask, I am not here to talk about the Castle Point Anime Convention. Rather, I am here to share my awesome experience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Having watched clips from CPAC on TV and various places around the Internet, I had a little bit of an idea of what to expect going down to Maryland, but it was so much better than I imagined. Although I missed the first day, which included some of my favorite conservative voices, such as Ben Shapiro and Senator Ted Cruz, I was still blown away by those I got to hear on the other two days of the conference alongside my fellow Stevens College Republicans.
My first full day of CPAC didn’t start off the best, considering that if we wanted to get seats we had to wake up by 5 a.m. and leave the hotel soon after. By the time I made it into the main room where the CPAC stage was, it was just before 7 a.m., and no one would even start speaking for another hour. I guess I can’t complain too much since I didn’t have to stand all the way in the back of the room with the other attendees packed in like sardines. After the long and boring hour, I was able to hear from people like Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, and Fox News host Laura Ingraham. I particularly enjoyed Ingraham’s speech because she opened my mind to a lot of different conservative perspectives.
After, Ingraham was supposed to interview one of my favorite members of Congress, Representative Jim Jordan from Ohio, but he got bumped to a later time because the President had arrived and was ready to go. I never thought that I would get so excited seeing him walk out on stage, but the energy in the room was just so contagious. President Trump managed to be very serious but also very relaxed during his speech. He started off with a couple of jokes poking fun at his hair to get the audience ready for his hour and 20 minute long speech. But, about 10 minutes in, a protestor jumped up screaming something that no one could understand because he was quickly silenced by shouts of “USA! USA! USA!” and, of course, the Secret Service taking him out of the room. After that, the speech went off without a hitch, and, for once, the President managed to keep his foot out of his mouth.
The rest of the day was just as, if not more, exciting. I got to hear some really interesting panels and meet some amazing people. The group decided it was time to check out “media row” with the hopes of getting interviewed like one of our members did last year. Although none of us were able to get a live TV interview, I’m sure that we will appear in the background of numerous news reports and YouTube videos. I was able to score an interview with a student newspaper from Boston, so I’ll have to keep an eye out for that. While on media row, I got the chance to meet Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, as well as other conservative stars like Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Candance Owens, and Sheriff David Clark.
After attending media row, we went down to the main floor to check out all of the booths set up for different conservative organizations. It was interesting having the chance to meet people who were so passionate about politics and do all of the behind-the-scenes work. That concluded my first day at CPAC, which left me even more excited for the following day.
The second day, I got up bright and early, leaving behind everyone in my club to get the chance to hear my favorite radio host Mark Levin speak. I have listened to him since I was really young, so this was the man that I could say helped to drive my conservative political views. I was so excited to see him that I really couldn’t put into words how I felt getting to shake his hand as he passed me on media row. That single moment made the entire trip worth it. Of course, I can’t leave out all of the other awesome speakers from that day and those who I meet on media row.
The last speaker I got to see was Rick Harrison from the show Pawn Stars. I love history, so naturally, I loved his show from a young age. When he opened with, “My name is Rick Harrison and this is… well my speech for CPAC,” the audience lost it, not expecting to hear that rendition of his famous line. He was very straightforward and candid, which was refreshing to hear. He was definitely one of the best parts of this trip.
Leaving the conference, I felt surprisingly motivated to spread the conservative message in order to preserve our great country. So, I guess you could say I had a great time at CPAC, and I can’t wait to go back as a conference veteran, knowing the ins and outs and exactly what I want to do with my time there.
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