Conservatives show loyalty to Trump at CPAC with golden statue of ex-president

Conservatives have praised Donald Trump at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, unveiling a golden statue of him and wearing Make America Great Again hats, signaling that the former president remains a potent political force in America.

Delegates on Friday evening posed for pictures beside the “Golden Trump,” a more than 6-foot-tall fiberglass mold statue of the former president painted in gold.

“This (conference) is conservative, and conservatives are for Trump,” said Tommy Zegan, a California-based artist who has created the Trump statue.

Delegates said they were looking forward to the Trump speech that closes the four-day conference on Sunday, his first public appearance since his presidency ended on January 20.

“I think the main message here is, it's not about one individual,” Michelle Heldmyer, 59, a retired attorney from Florida, was quoted as saying by USA Today. “It's about the Constitution, it's about freedom, it's about taking our country back,” she said, adding, “Trump has just epitomized that better than others.”

Political analysts said this year’s CPAC -- the nation's gathering of conservative activists and GOP figures-- has already focused on the Republican 2024 presidential primary with Trump being front and center.

The conference also seems to have sold out well to Trump’s conservative base, despite the former president’s election loss and second impeachment for inciting the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.

“They had a chance to move forward after 1/6, but Republican voters want Trump,” said Tim Miller, a former GOP strategist who has left the party, according to USA Today. “And rather than try to counter that, Republicans have chosen submission and erected a Trump golden idol.”

Trump’s final weeks in office saw his supporters launch a deadly attack on the US Capitol on January 6 as Congress was certifying Democratic President Joe Biden’s election victory that Trump has claimed was tainted by widespread fraud.

'Trump not going anywhere'

Prominent congressional conservatives - including Senators Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley and Representatives Steve Scalise and Matt Gaetz - were among the Trump loyalists speaking at the annual gathering in Orlando, Florida.

“Let me tell you something: Donald Trump ain’t going anywhere,” said Senator Cruz of Texas.

Republican leaders at loggerheads over Trump’s presence in CPAC

Two prominent Republican leaders have locked horns over former President Donald Trump’s presence at the upcoming session of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Senator Rick Scott, a Florida Republican who may run for the party’s presidential nomination in 2024, said that while “President Trump has flaws,” he has made the GOP more approachable for working-class Americans.

“We will not win the future by going back to where the Republican Party used to be,” Scott said, according to Reuters. “If we do, we will lose the working base that President Trump so animated. We’re going to lose elections across the country and ultimately we’re going to lose our nation.”

Many senior Republicans did not attend this year’s event, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Trump is expected to address the conference on Sunday about the future of the party.

“The divide right now is between the ‘Beltway elites’ and the conservative grassroots around the country,” said a Trump adviser who helped prepare the speech.

Trump will speak at CPAC in first public appearance since leaving White House

Former US President Donald Trump is set to address a major meeting of conservatives in a bid to return to the political spotlight, sources say.

Despite his chaotic tenure as president, Trump is still a powerful GOP political force supported by a strong majority of Republicans.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll has found that 75 percent of Republicans want the former president to play a prominent role in the Republican Party, while 21 percent said they would not want that.

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