Trump, Haley to lock horns at US conservative forum
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Former US president Donald Trump shaking hands with Ms Nikki Haley in the Oval office, on Oct 9, 2018.
PHOTO: AFP
NATIONAL HARBOUR, United States – Former US president Donald Trump and his one-time ally Nikki Haley are to give duelling addresses this week as thousands of conservatives gather outside Washington to vet Republican hopefuls weighing bids for the White House.
A national showcase for established big hitters and rising stars alike, the four-day Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) starting on Wednesday bills itself as the “largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world”.
An array of right-wing A-listers – including Brazil’s recently defeated leader Jair Bolsonaro – are expected to address the convention, although many potential 2024 candidates are staying away.
Mr Trump’s keynote speech on Saturday is likely to reprise the Make America Great Again (MAGA) agenda that swept him to power in 2016, taking in border security, gun rights, “woke” indoctrination and other “red meat” conservative issues.
Ms Haley, Trump’s former United Nations ambassador,
“Nikki Haley has to negotiate the very thin line between differentiating herself from Donald Trump and still appealing to – or not alienating herself from – his supporters, who still constitute the vast majority of CPAC activists and GOP primary participants,” said Prof Margaret Susan Thompson, a politics and history professor at Syracuse University.
“This is a challenging balancing act, indeed. So far, she seems to be focusing on age but, given the older-skewing GOP/MAGA base, she needs to be very careful here.”
Mr Trump declared his candidacy three months before Ms Haley’s mid-February launch,
The maelstrom of controversy encircling the former president – from poor performances of major Trump-backed candidates to multiple investigations closing in on him – has raised questions over his viability as a Republican totem.
“So far, most of his rallies and speeches have looked backward, focusing on the ‘stolen election’ and so on, rather than on what he intends to do in the future,” said Prof Thompson.
“In my view, it is not a way to expand his base of support.”
Nevertheless, Mr Trump’s persistent polling strength has confounded his critics and he remains the comfortable front runner, towering over rivals like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former vice-president Mike Pence.
CPAC delegates will hear from more than 100 mostly pro-Trump speakers, including former Cabinet secretaries, several Republican senators and numerous far right members of the House of Representatives.
But many of the party firmament, including Mr DeSantis, Mr Pence and the congressional and national committee leaders, are declining to make the pilgrimage to the National Harbour.
“DeSantis is stiffing CPAC because he knows Trump owns the space,” said Mr Rick Wilson of the Lincoln Project, a group of anti-Trump conservatives who claim a share of the credit for the Republican leader’s defeat in 2020.
The absence of many big names comes in the wake of CPAC organiser Matt Schlapp recently denying allegations of sexual battery against a Republican campaign staff member in Georgia.
The conference traditionally ends with a “straw poll” of attendees’ preferences for the Republican presidential nomination.
Mr Trump has won every one of the unofficial surveys conducted since his 2016 election, picking up 69 per cent of the vote last year, against just 24 per cent for runner-up DeSantis.
“The rabid MAGA base that floods these grievance galas are Trump diehards to a tee,” Mr Wilson added.
“Just look at the straw polls that are coming out of these events. Trump couldn’t get stronger support if he polled his own family.” AFP
