Yahoo Finance CPAC 2021 – live: Roger Stone dances to pro-Trump rap as Kristi Noem and Mike Pompeo woo party faithful
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) enters its third day in Orlando, Florida, with attendees gearing up for the culmination on Sunday when it is rumoured Donald Trump will announce a 2024 presidential run.
Described as “Woodstock for election liars” by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, Joe Biden has said he will not be paying attention to the four-day gathering.
On Saturday morning, Republican senator Marco Rubio’s scheduled speech was cancelled just minutes before he was scheduled to take the stage. He later said it was due to an “unexpected family issue”.
Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo promised to “let it rip” in his speech now that he is no longer a diplomat, accusing Democrats of wanting to gut military spending and trade “army green for AOC green”.
In remarks very different in tone to many other speakers over the past few days, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem made her pitch as the future of the party, evoking Reagan when telling the crowd that “America is blessed to have you on her side”. She also claimed her state had a successful response to Covid despite horrific per capita infection and death rates.
On Friday the schedule was capped off by Donald Trump Jr’s speech. He was introduced with much bombast by his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, and took potshots at a number of popular targets of the day, from the media to Democrats to traditional Republicans - and also promoted his father’s big election lie by falsely suggesting Mr Biden received fewer than 80 million votes.
