‘Welcome Insurrectionists’ sign to be flown over CPAC by protester

‘Grim Reaper’ lawyer is fundraising to remind Republicans about last month’s Capitol riots

A Florida lawyer and anti-Republican political campaigner says he has almost raised enough funds to fly a banner over the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that reads “Welcome Insurrectionists”, a reference to last month’s Capitol riots.

Attorney Daniel Uhlfelder previously became a viral sensation when he donned a grim reaper costume and walked the beaches of his state to protest against the government’s response to the Covid pandemic, in which more than 500,000 Americans have died.

Donald Trump will be the headline speaker at CPAC on Sunday, less than two months after his supporters overpowered security and ran riot through the halls of the US Capitol on 6 January.

Mr Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for a second time on a charge of inciting the riot, but survived a trial in the Senate after the prosecution fell short of the two-thirds majority required to convict him.

Mr Uhlfelder has set up a fundraising page to stump up the $10,000 he says is needed to pay for a banner plane over Orlando to “remind them about the events of 6 January”.

The plane is slated to fly over the Hyatt Regency Orlando on Friday between 1pm and 3pm as top Republicans converge on the hotel for the annual event, preparations for which were well underway on Thursday.

A tweet promoting the fundraiser on Mr Uhlfelder’s “Remove Ron” Twitter page – usually dedicated to targeting Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis – has received more than 6,000 retweets and 13,000 likes.

Late on Thursday night, the account said it was “just $1,500 away from our goal”, though there is no publicly-visible tracking function on the fundraiser to verify this.

Mr Uhlfelder previously grabbed headlines for watching the state’s beaches wearing his black robe and scythe to warn people to stay at home and protest against their reopening.

He is a vocal critic of Republican governor DeSantis and has been campaigning to get him removed from office, accusing him of a “record of failure” on Covid and other issues including employment.