“Seven weeks after an emboldened pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of the 2020 election results, the Conservative Political Action Conference being held this week in Orlando, Florida, is shaping up to be an event that leans into the 2020 election conspiracy theories rather than rebukes them. The influential annual right-wing conference will host former President Donald Trump’s first public appearance since leaving office last month, as Trump continues to push baseless claims that the election was ‘rigged’ and ‘stolen'” ABC News reports.
“Trump’s speech in Orlando is set to focus on the future of the Republican Party and President Joe Biden’s immigration policy, a source familiar with the plans told ABC News. However, Trump very rarely sticks to the script – and a series of friendly TV interviews last week in which he continued to claim that he won the election suggests that the former president is still itching to relitigate his 2020 loss. And while Republicans are gearing up for the 2022 midterm elections, CPAC will feature panels packed with speakers who were on the front lines pushing to overturn the 2020 election results based on discredited conspiracy theories that helped fuel the Jan. 6 attack. The conference is run each year by American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp, who himself helped lead the former president’s effort to overturn the election results.”