WASHINGTON—Donald Trump is “the only choice for America,” declared Joseph Verderber Jr., after hearing the former president speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) outside Washington this past weekend.
Verderber and his brother, John, were literally flag-waving patriots at CPAC. That gathering, by all accounts, was heavily weighted toward Trump, perhaps even more so this year than in the past. Whether that popularity is reflected outside the CPAC sphere remains to be seen.
Some attendees, particularly the college-age crowd, think Trump’s brash style has divided the Republican Party and is unlikely to draw crossover votes from Democrats and Independents.
But most CPAC attendees at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center seemed to align with Verderber’s stance.
Verderber is a New Yorker who had been apolitical for his entire adult life until tragedy struck. His nephew, Joseph L. Verderber, 24, died of a fentanyl overdose in 2016.
Then Verderber saw how adamant Trump was about stopping the drug from flowing from China and Mexico into the United States. That prompted Verderber to get involved in politics. Now he’s all in. And he’s fighting especially hard for Trump because “this current regime has a wide open border,” potentially leading to more fentanyl deaths.
A still-undeclared challenger to Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, would probably make a good president someday, Verderber conceded. But “now is not the right time” for DeSantis or anyone else who is inexperienced with the inner workings of “the D.C. Swamp,” Verderber said.
Verderber thinks that only Trump has the nerve and the knowledge to clean it out. “The Swamp is done,” Verderber declared. “Watching that is gonna be fun.”
And he is convinced that Trump is the right candidate to bring the party together under his “America First” policies and to win back the White House for the GOP in 2024.
Straw Poll Landslide
The CPAC straw poll reflected that same type of confidence in Trump, with 62 percent of the votes cast for him, trouncing DeSantis, who drew 20 percent.DeSantis skipped the conference, causing a stir. Instead, he participated in a fundraiser in Florida.
All other potential candidates registered in the single digits, including a trio of declared challengers, all of whom spoke on the CPAC stage: Perry Johnson, a Michigan businessman (5 percent); Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor (3 percent); and Vivek Ramaswamy, entrepreneur and author (1 percent).
Post-CPAC, Ramaswamy gave a Fox Business interview on March 6, claiming that a consultant contacted his campaign and said, “Hey, we can get you up to No. 2 on there (in the CPAC straw poll) if you pay one hundred thousand dollars.”
CPAC organizers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Ramaswamy’s statement.
The conference, which ran March 1–4, also was criticized for seemingly drawing fewer attendees. Fake photos began making the rounds online, showing a sea of empty chairs, purporting to show the lack of interest in Trump’s speech. But chairs, carpeting and other fixtures in the photos did not resemble the venue where Trump spoke on March 4.
About 15 minutes before Trump took the stage, an Epoch Times reporter took a photograph showing that about a half-dozen back rows were unoccupied; the rest of the ballroom, which holds about 5,000 people, seemed to be filled.
CPAC organizers said those rows were later filled. CPAC spokeswoman Megan Powers said, “Despite the Biden inflation economy, it was a full house in the ballroom during President Trump’s speech, which did not even include those watching online.”
Powers also disputed reports that attendance was abysmal. “It is typical that the fake news is making up fake ticket sales to portray CPAC as a failure. We had to stop ticket sales on Friday (March 3) because we were at capacity,” Powers said in a text to The Epoch Times. “Numbers were on par with where we were the last time we were in DC in 2020.” Powers gave no specific figures, but organizers did say that a record number of participants, more than 2,000, voted in the straw poll.
Immigrants Love Trump
Interviews with CPAC attendees revealed mostly unwavering enthusiasm for Trump; those who admitted only lukewarm support or opposition seemed to be few and far between, except among the younger crowd. And even most of them said they would grudgingly support Trump if he becomes the nominee.Quite a few immigrants said they support Trump for fiercely defending the freedoms that attracted them to this country. They think some Americans don’t understand what is at stake because they have never known what living under an oppressive regime is like. But they say President Joe Biden’s administration has given them a taste of that, with vaccine mandates and other heavy-handed intrusions on personal liberty.
Stephanie Liu, a Chinese-American wearing a red hat with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, says Trump has worked hard to fend off the threat of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Liu also said Trump’s strength inspires her and others to be courageous, despite worries over the CCP seeking out those who speak out against communism.
She thinks many other Americans cannot comprehend the tyranny of such a regime.
Liu is concerned that the United States seems to be taking steps in that direction. A prime example: The people who have been locked up for more than two years without bail after they were arrested on various charges stemming from the Save America rally to support President Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, Liu said.
“Don’t forget the J-6ers!” Liu exclaimed to passersby at CPAC.
Although some people did smash windows and confront police at the U.S. Capitol, most people were peaceful at the massive protest against irregularities in the 2020 presidential election.
Images of an angry mob of “insurrectionists” dominated much of the news coverage that has been aired for the past two years, said Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson.
But footage showing officers calmly escorting people into the building has been hidden from the American public by Democrats who wanted to construct an anti-Trump narrative, he said. That was revealed after Republicans took the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and released thousands of hours of video exclusively to Carlson’s team.
Four days before that footage aired, Liu told The Epoch Times at CPAC that she strongly objects to U.S. citizens being held without bail.
“This is un-American,” she said. “How can America have political prisoners?”
Liu, of New York, is part of a group that for months has held a nightly vigil outside the jail, singing patriotic songs to lift the prisoners’ spirits.
And, about 35 people from that group are now chipping in about $100 apiece per month to rent a home where relatives of the prisoners and other supporters can stay for free, she said.
“We are people who take action.”
Dozens of people swarmed around Liu at CPAC during her impassioned live interview with Trump surrogate and political commentator Steve Bannon.
The group began chanting, “Take down the CCP!” Liu smiled, saying the response encouraged her.
Bannon helped start a political movement called the New Federal State of China, a lobbying group that seeks to overthrow the CCP.
Some Young Voters Favor DeSantis
In a spacious atrium, away from the hubbub, five students from Liberty University, a Christian university in Lynchburg, Va., paused for a photo and spoke with The Epoch Times on March 2.All staff members of the school’s student newspaper, “The Liberty Champion,” the 20-somethings nodded in unison when one of them mentioned preferring DeSantis for president.
But James DuVall confessed he also really likes Haley.
“She is different than Trump, more gentle in approach, and represents a broader demographic,” DuVall said, referring to her status as the daughter of immigrants.
But Kristina Smith said that, to her, Haley comes across as “too weak.” She thinks DeSantis comes across as “more bipartisan.”
“Trump divided the Republican Party more than he’s helped it,” Smith said. Among her peers, she estimated that 60 percent “hated” the former president’s infamous Twitter storms.
Micah Gilmer found Trump’s statements about illegal immigrants troubling. “He seemed to imply that all illegal immigrants are bad,” Gilmer said. “Some of them are people who just need a new home and a new start.”
The way Trump has expressed himself seems to betray character flaws, Gilmer said. “The way he talks and behaves all go to the man inside,” he said.
Kristen Pace said she disliked Trump’s name-calling.
All five students said they generally favored Trump’s policies; his style is what bothered them.
When asked how much style matters, Smith said, “Policies do affect people the most. But personal character and integrity affect people just about as much as policies do.”
Some people in political circles say, “There can be no Trump policies without Trump.” But DuVall disagreed. “Anyone can do the policies,” he said.
If Trump wins the Republican nomination, “I would most likely vote for him,” Pace said in a text message. “I think most average Americans, whether they be Republican or Democrat, have seen the pitfalls of Biden and may be more likely to swing for the upcoming election.”
Smith also responded via text: “Even though he’s not my first pick (or even my second pick), he would be favorable over Joe Biden or another Democrat candidate. I’d rather support a candidate with strong policies and poor morals than a candidate with poor policies and poor morals.”
Viewpoints Differ
One of those fans proudly decked out in Trump gear was 24-year-old Patrycja Brylska, who immigrated to the United States from Poland when she was 13.“I love Trump for so many reasons,“ she said. ”I think the most important thing for people to consider is his policies... I truly believe he is the only president I have seen that has actually loved America so much that he was willing to sacrifice everything that he has in order to bring comfort to this country, to the American people.”
Brylska rattled off policies she likes: a secure border, supporting the police and military, adding jobs, strengthening the American economy, “everything that touches our everyday lives.”
“I think he does an incredible job,” she said. She also thinks the establishment fiercely opposes him because he’s an outsider.
“He’s a billionaire; they can’t buy Trump, and that’s why they hate him.”
When told that some of her peers disapproved of Trump’s style but liked his policies, Brylska responded: “Even if some people don’t like his style, this is why he’s been so successful.
“He doesn’t take anything from anybody. He stands up for his opinion, and he speaks his mind and the truth exactly how it is. He doesn’t need to sugarcoat it.”
And while Trump does engage in name-calling that some people see as childish, “most of the time they do deserve it, to be quite frank with you, and I don’t think it damages the party at all.”
Brylska grew up in Florida, and she likes DeSantis. But, for her, there’s no comparison.
“DeSantis is an amazing governor with amazing policies,“ she said. ”But the only person who can run this country effectively, and fix all the bad things happening, in my opinion, is Donald Trump.”
