Hello it's the weekend. This is The Weekender ☕

Conspiracy theories and disgusting slurs were flying this week as the Conservative Political Action Conference took place at the Gaylord National Harbor Resort & Convention in Maryland.

As is his custom, far right anti-Semite Nicholas Fuentes attempted to make a spectacle at the confab in order to draw attention to himself and his "groyper" movement. Fuentes, who has hosted a rival "America First Political Action Conference" in recent years is persona non grata at CPAC, which has tried to distance itself from his open white nationalism. Nevertheless, he showed up at the event on Friday before being "removed" by security.

Fuentes narrated his ousting in real-time in a typo-filled set of messages on Telegram, a social media platform popular on the far right.

"I just got out of kicked out of CPAC. … I'm at the gaylord now theyre probably gonna kick me out the side entrance im not sure … Wait by the elevators for me if ur here," Fuentes wrote before dubbing himself "Most Cancelled Man in America."

Despite his many cancellations, Fuentes is apparently unable to spell the word "canceled." However, he did manage to leave CPAC with a souvenir.

"I got a picture with Mike Lindell before I got kicked out," Fuentes wrote alongside a photo he took with the pillow salesman and election denier extraordinaire.

Matt Schlapp, who is chairman of the group behind CPAC and who has plenty of his own problems, swiftly issued a statement.

"We removed Nick Fuentes from his attempt to attend our conference. His hateful racist rhetoric and actions are not consistent with the mission of CPAC," Schlapp said. "We are pleased that our conference welcomes a wide array of conservative perspectives from people of different backgrounds, but we are concerned about the rise in antisemitic rhetoric (or Jew hatred) in our country and around the globe, whether it be in the corridors of power and academia or through the online ramblings of bigots like Fuentes."

Before you give Schlapp too much credit, there's a lot to unpack here. First off, Schlapp is currently dealing with a "John Doe" lawsuit from a Republican staffer. Doe accused Schlapp of "sexual battery" and "aggressively fondling" his genitals. Schlapp, who has denied the allegations, was rushing through the halls and literally dodging questions about them at the event.  

And, despite efforts to distance themselves from Fuentes, CPAC has had a lot in common with his "America First," "groyper" movement. In past year's, CPAC and Fuentes' AFPAC have had some of the same speakers including Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Even without Fuentes, there was also plenty of extremism at CPAC. The event's agenda included a panel headlined by a man convicted of breaching the Capitol on January 6 entitled "True Stories of January 6th: The Prosecuted Speak." It also dabbled in election denial with a panel called "They Stole it From Us Legally." There was also a speech from Brazilian strongman Jair Bolsonaro, who has headed up his own election denial movement complete with a storming of that country's capital.

Along with these more fringe events, CPAC drew the GOP establishment. Planned speakers included former president (and 2024 candidate) Donald Trump and his only major declared rival Nikki Haley. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a likely candidate, was also set to speak while two other probable candidates, Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence, stayed away amid the Schlapp controversy.

Outside the event, based on videos he posted on Telegram, Fuentes' supporters walked the streets around the venue and hurled bigoted vitriol at prominent CPAC attendees.

"You work for Jews! What's wrong with you," they shouted at one man.

"You're on a gay date!" they yelled at another.

Fuentes, who said he'd found a venue to host a rally of his own on Saturday, posted screengrabs of the conference mocking the lack of crowds.

"This is crazy, he wrote. "Totally empty room for Don Jr."

As former President Trump so often said, "Sad!" 

— Hunter Walker

Greg Builds The Wall

I spent part of this week digging into the who, what, where, and why of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's attempt to finish Trump's border wall — with state, instead of federal, dollars. The promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border was Trump's signature campaign policy in 2016. After the abject failure to complete it, Gov. Abbott has picked up the effort, using many of the same contractors employed by the Trump administration and, in some cases, using the same materials.

The process of building the Texas wall has been littered with questions about cronyism, costs, and where along the border the wall will eventually go. Abbott has signed contracts for less than 40 miles of wall so far, amounting to nearly $900 billion in spending. He's currently waiting on more funding from the Texas legislature to build more wall, at costs that are expected to stay astronomical. It proves that some right-wing tropes, once born, never die.

— Josh Kovensky

Ron De-Vision

As he gears up for an expected run for president, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has pulled from one of Trump's most famous tactics: dominating the airwaves. The Florida conservative has opted to give local right-wing news outlets premier access to his administration while blocking mainstream media—even as he floods the nation's coverage with outrage-inducing headlines.

One of the outlets, The Florida Standard, has netted a (flattering) scoop on the administration and an exclusive interview with the governor, despite the outlet being incredibly small and less than a year old. During the one-on-one, DeSantis said that he wanted to avoid outlets "pursuing partisan narratives"...before boasting about how much "better" he thinks Florida is doing than other states to Will Witt, the site's founder and EIC.

— Kaila Philo

Surprise! Jim Jordan's GOP 'Weaponization' Panel Is A Sham

Top Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee and its subcommittee investigating the so-called "weaponization" of the federal government released a 300-plus page report on Thursday attacking House Republicans and raising several red flags about the credibility of the three GOP "whistleblowers" who have testified in front of the committee.

For months, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) — chairman of the panel — and other Republicans have been telling anyone who will listen that they have countless whistleblower testimonies that will show government agencies, like the FBI, are targeting right-wing individuals and groups.

But based on the testimonies and the report, Republicans don't have whistleblowers. Instead, they have a trio of conspiracy theorizing, embattled former FBI agents who were compensated and supported by allies of former President Donald Trump.

Here are four key takeaways from the House Democrats' report:

• So-called whistleblowers have ties to MAGA Trump allies
• At least two of them received financial support from a Trump ally
• All three embrace conspiracy theories and extremist views
• They don't meet the legal definition of a whistleblower

— Emine Yücel 

"I'm sick and tired of hearing about the family separation. I'm still being sued over that so come get me. I don't give a shit…They choose to separate themselves. And the children aren't always children."

That's Thomas Homan, former Acting Director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the Trump administration, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) — the GOP event even Republicans don't want to attend anymore.

I think the quote speaks for itself but the short version: Homan doesn't give a shit about kids being separated from their families. Not now and not when it was happening on his watch either. Next question!

— Emine Yücel 

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