Political conferences are a valuable tool for college conservatives, offering the opportunity to travel across the country and learn from some of the brightest conservative minds of this generation. However, recent conferences have taken a New Right turn that many college conservatives refuse to follow.
At the CPAC conference in March, Donald Trump delivered a speech filled with character attacks and self-praise, promising to be more MAGA than ever. Similarly, Kari Lake’s speech was chock-full of invective and conspiratorial thinking, calling Steve Bannon a “modern-day George Washington” and alleging that the Arizona election had been stolen. While Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo offered bright spots at CPAC, the balance of the conference remained dominated by the MAGA crowd.
Unfortunately, Turning Point USA, the “largest and fastest growing youth organization in America,” has also succumbed to similar trends. Their annual AmericaFest conference featured familiar faces such as Lake, Bannon, and Lindell, as well as House members Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz. Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk, the head of TPUSA, both spoke as well, despite their negative effects on young conservatives.
While organizations such as the National Review Institute and Young America’s Foundation continue to provide serious events where young conservatives can have their voices heard and where ideas are taught and challenged, they stand as exceptions to today’s rule. The disparity in attendance and notoriety between serious events and those hosted by CPAC and Turning Point suggests a deeper shift in the American-conservative psyche, away from serious conversation about ideas and policy and toward crackpot conspiracy theories.
To challenge such voices and drive them offstage, college conservatives should work to retake and rebuild conservative conferences. CPAC maintains some modicum of normalcy that can be re-enshrined with work, and college-conservative institutions like YAF should be embraced and fortified against the mob. Alternatively, new institutions can be built in conservative fashion.
Despite the current troubles besetting conferences, they remain invaluable tools for college conservatives interested in learning more about the movement they belong to.
