{"id":2584108,"date":"2026-03-26T13:53:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T17:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cpac-2026-begins-with-calls-for-end-to-gop-infighting\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T13:54:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T17:54:58","slug":"cpac-2026-begins-with-calls-for-end-to-gop-infighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cpac-2026-begins-with-calls-for-end-to-gop-infighting\/","title":{"rendered":"CPAC 2026 begins with calls for end to GOP infighting"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcpac-2026-begins-with-calls-for-end-to-gop-infighting%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2584108&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>CPAC opened at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas, with leaders urging the GOP to unite behind Donald Trump\u2019s agenda ahead of the midterms amid divisions over issues like Iran, Israel, and antisemitism. Chairman Matt Schlapp and his <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >wife mercedes urged attendees<\/a> not to let Democrats capitalize on conservative disagreements. Rev. Franklin Graham warned that unity is essential for conservatives and cautioned about influence from podcasters and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/divine-judgement-watch-the-humiliating-moment-tim-walz-gets-the-tower-of-babel-treatment-as-his-audio-goes-wild-on-national-tv-3\/\" title=\"Divine Judgement? Watch the Humiliating Moment Tim Walz Gets the &#039;Tower of Babel&#039; Treatment as His Audio Goes Wild on National TV\">social-media figures<\/a> who profit from controversy. Some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/justice-was-served-9-republicans-who-supported-derek-chauvin-guilty-verdict\/\" title=\"\u2018Justice Was Served\u2019: 9 Republicans Who Supported Derek Chauvin Guilty Verdict\">high-profile conservatives<\/a>, including Tucker Carlson, have criticized the Trump White House on Iran, though Carlson isn\u2019t yet scheduled to speak while Steve Bannon is.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-impeachment-political-theater-ignores-us-history-constitutional-lawyer\/\" title=\"... Impeachment \u2018Political Theater,\u2019 Ignores US History: Constitutional Lawyer\">trump isn\u2019<\/a>t attending CPAC this year, but several administration officials will speak, and CPAC even floated a speaking slot for Senator John cornyn. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche warned that Democrats could pursue retribution if thay win, underscoring the event\u2019s push for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/catholics-react-to-vote-to-draft-statement-prohibiting-some-politicians-from-receiving-communion\/\" title=\"Catholics React To Vote To Draft Statement Prohibiting Some Politicians From Receiving Communion\">greater unity<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">CPAC begins annual conference with call for unity amid GOP divisions<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2543897\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><strong>GRAPEVINE, Texas &mdash;<\/strong> The annual <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/cpac\/\">Conservative Political Action Conference<\/a>&nbsp;began with repeated calls from leaders for the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/gop\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"1577\">GOP<\/a> to put aside internal fights and focus on uniting behind President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"4\">Donald Trump<\/a>&lsquo;s agenda ahead of the midterm elections.<\/p>\n<p>Infighting over the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/iran\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"100\">Iran war<\/a>, Israel, and antisemitism has divided the MAGA base during the second year of Trump&rsquo;s administration.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/4504362\/democrats-blame-dhs-shutdown-sarah-bedford\/\">Democrats aren&rsquo;t acting as if they will bear &lsquo;blame&rsquo; for DHS shutdown: Sarah Bedford<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/4503766\/gop-ad-blitz-blankets-senate-map-promos-trump-tax-law\/\">GOP ad blitz blankets Senate map with promos for Trump tax law<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/4503688\/watch-live-trump-nrcc-union-station-dinner\/\">WATCH LIVE: Trump speaks to House Republicans at NRCC&#8217;s Union Station dinner<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Chairman <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/matt-schlapp\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"5590\">Matt Schlapp<\/a> and his wife, CPAC senior fellow Mercedes Schlapp, implored the crowd gathered at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas, not to allow Democrats to coast to victory this November due to conservative disagreements.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We all have to remember that because the Left, the hard Left, the Marxists, the satanists, the communists, they love it when we&rsquo;re all fighting, when we&rsquo;re at each other&rsquo;s throats, when we&rsquo;re calling each other names,&rdquo; Schlapp said during Thursday&rsquo;s opening remarks.<\/p>\n<p>Mercedes Schlapp pushed the crowd to support Trump&rsquo;s agenda, which could be nullified if Democrats win back one chamber of Congress.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/4502316\/cpac-opportunity-go-to-conservative-conference\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/4502316\/cpac-opportunity-go-to-conservative-conference\/\">WHY CPAC HAS A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO REESTABLISH ITSELF AS THE &lsquo;GO-TO CONSERVATIVE CONFERENCE&rsquo;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We have to stay united to win these midterm elections,&rdquo; she said before pointing to New York Democrats who she claimed are benefiting from GOP division. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the communists, it&rsquo;s the socialists, it&rsquo;s the marxists, it&rsquo;s [New York Mayor Zohran] Mamdani, it&rsquo;s AOC, it&rsquo;s [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer. &hellip; They want us divided,&rdquo; she continued.<\/p>\n<p>Rev. Franklin Graham, who spoke after the Schlapps, excoriated Democrats and called for GOP unity.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I want to take a moment to give a warning. Conservatives do have a problem. That problem is unity, or rather the lack of it at times,&rdquo; he told the crowd. &ldquo;Sometimes it seems like we eat our own. Conservative leaders and influencers need to have a united front.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>He also warned about the media, including a new crop of influencers and podcasters who have begun to have outsize opinions on politics.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Be cautious of people with podcasts and social media platforms who make money by views, clicks, and the number of followers they have,&rdquo; Graham said. &ldquo;If they can cause a stir, if they can get a debate, these kinds of things, it will serve them, and they will profit from it.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Several high-profile conservatives and podcasters, such as former Fox News host <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/tucker-carlson\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"2481\">Tucker Carlson<\/a>, have <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4492258\/tucker-carlson-voters-let-down-by-trump-iran\/\">attacked the Trump White House over the Iran war<\/a>, claiming the U.S. is doing the bidding of Israel. Carlson is not yet scheduled to speak at CPAC, although former Trump strategist <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/steve-bannon\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"779\">Steve Bannon<\/a>, who has criticized the war, is speaking.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, Trump is not attending CPAC this year, although attendees at the conference cheered loudly as speakers have called for conservatives to rally around Trump. <\/p>\n<p>But several administration officials, including Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, border czar Tom Homan, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services administrator, are speaking at the conference.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-transform:uppercase\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/4501292\/cpac-calls-john-cornyn-bluff-speaking-slot\/\"><strong>CPAC tests Cornyn with offer of speaking slot<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Blanche warned the crowd that members of the administration fear that if the GOP doesn&rsquo;t remain in power, Democrats could exact revenge.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s afraid that the next administration, if we don&rsquo;t win, we&rsquo;re going to all be investigated,&rdquo; Blanche said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CPAC opens urging GOP unity amid infighting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2658,"featured_media":2584109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24053596326740-scaled-e1774545246948.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[76595,76593,76594,37922],"class_list":["post-2584108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-conservativepolitics","tag-cpac2026","tag-gopinfighting","tag-politicalnews"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24053596326740-scaled-e1774545246948.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2584108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2584108"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2584108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2584112,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2584108\/revisions\/2584112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2584109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2584108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2584108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2584108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}