CPAC 2023: Is Donald Trump speaking at this year’s event?

CPAC is returning to Maryland after two years away with a familiar lineup of MAGA Republicans

The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) returns this week for another round of Republican grandstanding, grievance-airing and MAGA merchandise.

The four-day event that bills itself as the “largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world” returns to the  Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, for the first time in two years after relocating to Florida and then Texas to take advantage of those states’ more relaxed Covid-19 restrictions during the pandemic.

Joe Biden, the culture wars, Ukraine, border security, and parents rights are likely to be recurrent themes between Wednesday and Saturday at a gathering that was once closely aligned with Ronald Reagan but is now predominantly a Donald Trump affair.

Mr Trump will be Saturday night’s headliner once again, seeking to re-establish his grip over the Republican Party in the wake of November’s disappointing midterm results and the emergence of Florida governor Ron DeSantis as a serious potential challenger for the GOP’s presidential nomination in 2024.

So, what might the twice-impeached president, currently under criminal investigation, have to say for himself this time?

The Independent’s John Bowden predicts he will “make his case for the GOP putting its support behind him a third time – or, more likely, he will seek to trash and denigrate his rivals, both actual and potential.”

We can certainly expect plenty of jibes at Mr Biden, whom he recently complained on Truth Social was leading the country “to oblivion”, not least over the decision to visit Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv but not the inhabitants of East Palestine, Ohio. Mr Trump notably paid a visit to the town in the wake of a freight train derailment that necessitated a massive cleanup of hazardous chemicals and forced some 2,000 residents to temporarily abandon their homes.

The only other declared presidential contender appearing at CPAC is Nikki Haley, Mr Trump’s former ambassador to the UN, although his ex-secretary of state Mike Pompeo will also be there and could yet announce a run.

Interestingly, neither Mr DeSantis nor former vice president Mike Pence, two more possible contenders, will be in attendance.

Other MAGA Republicans speaking will be Donald Trump Jr and his fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle, controversy-stokers Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Ted Cruz, Jim Jordan, Elise Stefanik, JD Vance and Candace Owens plus Trump hangers-on Sean Spicer and Devin Nunes.

The keynote speaker at the annual dinner honouring President Reagan will be Kari Lake, the TV anchor turned election-denying Arizona gubernatorial candidate, who has still yet to concede defeat in the interests of publicity.

Perhaps most fascinating of all will be Jair Bolsonaro, the “Trump of the Tropics” himself, currently residing in Florida after being ousted as Brazil’s president, who inspired his very own imitation Capitol riot in January and will address the crowd on Saturday before Mr Trump himself.