Principles First Convention Report

The #NeverTrump Gang Gets a Bomb Threat

Preramble

For some reason, the #NeverTrump Republican organization, Principles First, issued me a press pass to their 2025 summit in Washington, DC, on February 21-23. When I applied, my publication’s top story, “Ask not what the Democratic Party can do for you,” featured a Pikachu standing next to President John F. Kennedy while he delivered his inaugural address. Two possibilities: Principles First either did not vet me, or, more frighteningly, they did and had expectations.

My intention was to “go gonzo” and uncover whether pre-MAGA Conservatives ever had a plan to handle the extreme part of their electoral base that spent hours listening to the Doctor of Democracy, Rush Limbaugh, peddle racist, xenophobic rhetoric from his golden microphone (with half his brain tied behind his back just to make it fair). During the Gingrich Revolution of 1994, roughly two-thirds of that Republican midterm electorate was composed of Dittoheads (20 million listeners, 36.6 million voters). If the disciples of Ronald Reagan had no contingency for managing them, what did they imagine would be the result?

At the Summit, I learned #NeverTrump Republicans are generally in agreement with most Democrats and more than half of the American people that think President Donald Trump is bad, breaking the law, and ought to be stopped by somebody as soon as possible.

As to what is next, several speakers said that Mr. Trump’s presidency will end in the streets—I pray this is no prophecy; I have no confidence that the youth can be separated from TikTok long enough to recognize that the moment is urgent.

I never had the opportunity to ask my question. Some nasty folks tried to ruin the event, which killed the vibes enough that I skipped the Happy Hour catered by The Bulwark.

On Saturday, two ruffians, the MAGA Marauder and Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio (recently pardoned for weapons charges by Mr. Trump) arrived shouting to harass Aquilino Gonnell, Michael Fanone, Harry Dunn, and Daniel Hodges, four of the brave policemen who defended the Capitol from the damnable Insurrection on January 6, 2021.

On Sunday, someone—who was not Mr. Tarrio—signed Mr. Tarrio’s name to a burner e-mail and sent the hotel employees a bomb threat, forcing Summit attendees to leave the conference floor for more than an hour while law enforcement swept the premises for explosives. The e-mail read:

To honor the J6 hostages
recently released by Emperor Trump, I’ve
constructed four pipe bombs out of
1x8-inch threaded galvanized pipes,
end
caps, kitchen timers, some wires, metal
clips and homemade black powder. I
recently placed one inside of a room I
rented at the J.W. Marriott at 1331
Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington,
DC 20004. It is rigged to explode as
soon as the door next opens. I also
shoved another pipe bomb down the
toilet in the bathroom nearby where the
Principles First Summit is being
held.

Mark Cuban, Chris Christie, John
Bolton, George Conway, J. Michael Luttig,

Adam Kinzinger, Michael Steele, Geoff
Duncan, Bill Kristol, [slur] Frank
Figliuzzi, Glenn Kirschner, Stephen
Richer, Norm Eisen, and especially
Michael Fanone all deserve to die. In
that spirit, the third device has
been placed inside Michael Fanone’s
mother’s mailbox at [redacted]
which is rigged
to explode when the mailbox opens.

Currently I am nearby John Bolton’s
home of [redacted]
by the time you’ve read
this e-mail, the final device will
have been deposited inside of his
mailbox and rigged to explode in the
same way.

To my family: I simply did what needed
to be done. MAGA.

So, for the type of individual who calls Mr. Trump their God Emperor (an all-too-common idolatry among Internet-addicted teenagers and men who act the same), terrorizing moderately popular CNN and MSNBC guests is what “need[s] to be done.” The intention of this is to chill speech and criticism of the man the Constitution most protects us talking shit about: the American president.

This essay was intended to be a digressive reflection on the sadness and frustration of watching pedigreed politicians wrestle with their self-enabled extinction. But because I resent that MAGA domestic terrorists caused me and the 1,171 other attendees to experience fear, I decided to show the conference more respect and separated this post into sections so that I could link to videos of each lecture and you, Dear Reader, can see what was so inflammatory that these evil clowns thought we ought to die over it.

I write funny articles for a blog so that I can sell some “Trump Is a Bitch” t-shirts at the Partisan Hex store and convince you to subscribe to my Substack today. As they say, I am just here to “get that rant money.” There is no reason I should be threatened because I decided to watch Adam Kinzinger re-enact saving a woman from a knife-wielding attacker in an auditorium instead of Captain America 4: New World Order.

I understand people might have serious grudges against their political opponents, but “political pranksters” should respect peaceful, ticket-paying patriots drinking coffee and beer inside a Marriott while talking about moderate, centrist politics and listening to lectures from Barbara Comstock, Bill Kristol, and the Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban—all mainstays of the most boring television shows anyone has ever watched. That crowd did not deserve to either suffer or be targeted for harm.

And I was not even with those RINOs—I came to satirize them—so if their allegiances did earn them a place in Hell, I should have still been left out of it. Or if I am so closely aligned with MAGA’s mortal enemies that I am on the hitlist, there is no good reason the hotel’s valets, bellhops, or other employees should be made to worry or be stressed. These bystanders should not be collateral damage for MAGA in its war against their least favorite television personalities.

I am bad at fire drills; do not tell me falsely I am in mortal peril because I will act and feel erratic. It will ruin my day. I am only as vulnerable to this as any other American—most people will experience fight-or-flight symptoms if you unexpectedly show up at their door dressed like Death.

More than a dozen Capitol Police and Secret Service agents, too, had to waste their whole afternoon checking hotel rooms and under every chair and in every wastebasket for imaginary pipe bombs.

John Bolton, who recently had his security detail removed by Mr. Trump as retaliation for having written a mean book, left the event without giving his remarks. The United States had credible intelligence that the government of Iran was trying to murder him in retribution for actions taken by the first Trump administration, so he was not taking any chances.

The J6 cops, unfortunately, were acclimated to threats and abuse from the Americans they were injured serving and protecting. For them, this was more of the same. MAGA should be condemned to endless shame for the way they have treated them.

And again, why on Earth did I deserve this? When they cleared the room, I ran from the building and into a kebab restaurant across the street without my coat. I had to first wait in a noisy, crowded eatery and then in some frigid winter air for the security situation to clear up. I failed to adequately consider whether I would need to evacuate any hotels when choosing against wearing thermal underwear that morning.

In sum, the conference was about what I expected and was as controversial as an episode of the PBS NewsHour. People are alarmed and the moment is alarming, and the far right’s attempts to intimidate attendees expose Mr. Trump’s government’s hypersensitivity to any intelligent dissent. My biggest lesson was that these MAGA Republicans are indeed illiberal, not the great fans of the First Amendment they purport to be, and speech against the regime is unsafe. There are people who want to and will try to hurt critics. I hope this does not lead to anyone being killed for talking shit, because I am certainly going to continue talking shit. Not because I am brave but because my Trump Derangement Syndrome is terminal.

Several people asked: “Do you think this administration’s FBI, which is aimed to be explicitly politically retributive, will investigate the threats directed at the Summit when the victims are their ‘enemies within?’” I doubt it. I wish to be wrong, but my pessimism was shared among the attendees. Things are dark; all weekend I heard people quote the late Sen. John McCain: “It’s always darkest before it gets pitch black.”

Principles First’s mascot is a lighthouse, which means they hope to stop some shipwrecks—at least whenever a boat happens to drift nearby and needs a guide. As an image, it also implies they are lonely. After ten years of Conservativism being synonymous with Trumpism, I wonder if they will ever find a warmer political home than this.

Some would say they do not deserve it, that their exile is a mild penance for “tapping into” the “dark side to American populism,” as Ed Harris playing Mr. McCain said to Woody Harrelson’s Steve Schmidt in the HBO adaptation of Game Change. I understand but disagree: their punishment is the same as ours, surviving and repairing the ruined world they made.

Friday

Reception

The Principles First Summit opened with a reception at the Hamilton Live on Friday night. I did not expect #NeverTrump neoconservatives would be exciting drinking companions. By and large, the crowd I saw there matched my imagination: stern, articulate, grey-haired people in collared shirts, who own pocket Constitutions and still fantasize about a President Willard “Mitt” Romney.

It was not, as White House Communications Director Stephen Cheung (who is reportedly very nice off-the-clock and easily the best insult comic in Washington) sneeringly named it, a “cuck convention.” Nor was New Hampshire State Representative James Gillane fair, kind, or accurate when he called the attendees, some of whom he represents, “gay retards.” That today’s Republicans hold yesterday’s in such contempt is obvious but alarming—I wonder how many people are curious about these sorts of events but stay home because they do not want to be the target of hatred and scorn from the most powerful.

Scanning the bar, I did not see any obvious cuckolds. Everyone was articulate, overinformed, professionally appalled, and immediately unloaded how much they hate President Donald Trump when introducing themselves. Nobody seemed relaxed, and everybody I eavesdropped on was retelling dark stories I had also read in The New York Times and The Atlantic. Technomonarchist Curtis Yarvin should be wary: these people are onto him.

Someone asked me: “Were you here last year?”

“No,” I said, “I thought 2025 was going to turn out better.”

I started the night with a Long Island, then a Stella Artois, then three more beers, until alcohol, dread, and political horror seeped into my brain like poison.

There were some small speeches through the night, nothing long. Julie Spilsbury, a Republican lawmaker facing recall over her anti-Trump views, asked the crowd for $10 donations. She seems a nice enough person, but emblematic that so-called “principled Conservatives” were not welcome in the Republican Party.

Around me were similar fools; I wished they could admit there is no good party, nobody who can effectively stand against Trump, but the Democratic Party, and change their affiliations so that we could get an accurate census of the coalition that plans to vote against MAGA.

Some people, including me, have suggested that “palling around” with two-time Trump voter and torture-defender, former House Republican conference chair Liz Cheney, and celebrating her as a paragon of patriotism was a flawed strategy by the Kamala Harris 2024 campaign because there were more disaffected Democrats repulsed by the Cheney family legacy than there were Conservatives of character who could be convinced to vote blue.

I do acknowledge sincerely that Ms. Cheney sacrificed massive amounts of political power by defending democracy, and that her actions were definitionally selfless: in return, she received expulsion from her position, censure from the national party, death threats, online harassment and abuse, and threats of criminal investigation by her former peers and friends in the Republican House of Representatives.

If the Conservative movement will treat its leaders as so disposable, I cannot see why other heretics would still want to claim affinity. That era of our politics is done—now, the average Republican in Congress would rather kill than kiss someone in the so-called #NeverTrump movement, while Democrats will give them half the airtime on NBC and MSNBC.

I briefly compared the attitude of #NeverTrump Republicans to an ungrateful spouse pining for a mean old lover after ten years. I realized this was impolite, and that perhaps the Stella Artois had gone to my head, so I took my leave.

Stumbling toward the Metro, I drunkenly phoned my old representative, Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the most senior Democrat in the House. “Mr. Hoyer,” I implored, “I am at the Principles First Conference in Washington, D.C. Adam Kinzinger is here. Joe Walsh is here. Chris Christie is here. Michael Steele is here. Everyone here is crying, ‘Why won’t the Democrats do something?’ Where are you?”

Saturday

Check-in, Opening Remarks
by Heath Mayo, President and Founder of Principles First

The Principles First Summit registration began at seven in the morning, with founder Heath Mayo delivering opening remarks at nine. It was necessary to be there early because attendees were subject to a security screening.

This always gives me some trouble—I require many odds and ends in order to properly record events: a sling bag, an overcoat, two Moleskine notebooks, a coffee thermos, Apple AirPods, keys, wallet, coins, a SmartTrip card, a few pens erratically pocketed, an electronic cigarette with spare batteries and nicotine juice, and small airplane bottles of Fireball whiskey in case I find Chris Christie to be totally unbearable. Everything a proper blogger might carry except a laptop. This makes going through a metal detector and emptying my pockets a discombobulating dance. Thankfully, I was not asked to remove my belt, like I had to once at the Capitol’s scanner and nearly dropped my trousers.

Such a rigid, bright-and-early morning schedule is already unfair for night people, and the experience of rushing through security was made worse by my terrible hangover from the reception. There is an untapped sector of Americans who would love to defend democracy but will not leave the house before noon. They usually also have pockets bulging with crap and ought not to be excluded from civic participation.

After everyone was seated in the JW Marriott’s Grand Ballroom, a video played showing Presidents George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., and astronaut Buzz Aldrin, followed by clips of Michael Steele, Sarah Longwell, and George Conway. Then, the crowd stood for the Pledge of Allegiance, an act of kitschy, ceremonial nationalism that still makes the edgy teenaged George W. Bush critic inside me wince.

Mr. Mayo delivered a speech about “not bending the knee,” reminding me that George R.R. Martin has not finished writing The Winds of Winter. I maintain that, had Game of Thrones television writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (although I prefer to call them “Dave and Buster”) delivered a better final product, based on a completed novel series, American culture might not have totally fractured. That was the last time I recall the whole nation watching the same TV.

Minutes into Mr. Mayo’s remarks, he was already calling former Fox News host and current Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth some names and pronounced FBI Director Kash Patel (or as I like to call him, “Kush Patel,” because that fool has got to be smoking something) crazy. President Joe Biden also caught some early strays, not by name but by implication, when Mr. Mayo criticized lawless use of the pardon.

My affection for Mr. Biden wanes the further we get from his administration’s end. He was a great president, but I resent that the failures of his term’s last year laid the stage for this Trumpian nightmare now.

Mr. Mayo declared “These are not serious people,” referring to President Donald Trump’s unserious, absurd, and evil cabinet, to acclamation, and that “The fight is not to save the Republican Party. The fight is to save the country.”

Whispers rolled across the audience. A dozen people muttered that “the Republican Party can’t be saved.” This was a vocal crowd. They snarled when they heard President Elon Musk’s name, snickered at Mr. Trump’s incompetence, and murmured disapprovingly about protectionist policies.

“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.” I heard a young woman affirm each of Mr. Mayo’s barbs with rising anger.

The audience stood and booed Mr. Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine, applauded that country’s brave men and women fighting to defend their homeland from invasion, and cackled when Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops were called “cannon fodder.”

When Mr. Mayo put his microphone down, his adorers screamed: “Thank you, sir!”

In this Marriott was housed a whole alternative universe Republican Party that still had some conscience and character. “A remnant of a remnant,” as was written in Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time. It is too late for them. They have already lost their ideology to the worst men in America. But here, they are heroes, subject to celebration instead of pity.

What the Voters Said: Assessing 2024
ft. Chris Cillizza, “So What” Newsletter; Simon Rosenberg, “Hopium Chronicles” Newsletter; and Billy Binion, Reason Magazine

Odd choice to follow that barnburner with a panel discussion led by Chris Cillizza. He seems like a nice person, but I do not own a television specifically so I can avoid CNN hosts doing panel discussions.

Autopsying the 2024 election (which I got out of my system the next day without looking at the results because some of us are built different) makes me want to claw at my skin.

The audience was too still and rapt for me to slip out for coffee without my exit attracting attention, and since Mr. Cillizza had only recently been fired from CNN when the network rearranged its lineup to appease President Donald Trump, I did not want to make him feel self-conscious. He was not doing a bad job, but I needed more caffeine with a pained anxiousness.

Anytime somebody used the phrase “both sides,” you could hear the audience flinch.

Simon Rosenberg made sure to indicate Democrats could do well in 2026, caveating, “If there are still elections, then.” You hear this not-really-a-joke a lot now in DC. When Mr. Trump suggested recently that blue states would “disappear” in 2026, no one believes he meant the electorate will simply turn red; most assume something more sinister.

Lord, lord, lord, I beg you, make these men stop demanding the Democratic Party wear a hairshirt. At some point, this feels like abuse. Pundits are kicking a downed horse from meanness and will give the GOP’s main opponent brain damage instead of the damn helmet it needs.

Mr. Rosenberg quoted someone who was “shocked” that Democrats did not spend enough time degrading Mr. Trump during the election. I agree. So, leave the Democrats alone and go fight the bad guys (metaphorically, not literally. U.S. Attorney Eagle Ed Martin has been trawling Twitter for common metaphors that he can misconstrue as threats). If you need a place to start, I suggest saying Mr. “Trump Is a Bitch” with provocative and First-Amendment compliant t-shirts, baseball caps, and mugs from the Partisan Hex webstore. Your purchase will support more of this kind of long-form, digressive agitation. If you have not already, please also consider subscribing to this Substack.

Billy Binion from Reason magazine talked like the sort of person who subscribes to Reason magazine. His hectoring refusal to acknowledge that Democrats are the only hope, smug disparagement about trans women in sports, “January 6 hysteria,” and Mr. Biden’s unpopularity, were predictable, and led me to wonder if he really knew what the time was.

I found myself aggravated all weekend by the number of speakers who chastised Democrats for defending trans children being allowed to play sports, when throughout the 2024 campaign, the Democratic position on the topic appeared to be to ignore the conversation altogether, say nothing, and leave the queer youth unprotected. I understand these kids have become the easy punchline when centrists need to take cheap shots at Democrats, but there are more such centrists and bigots than there are minors transitioning. And generally, powerful adults should afford children more dignity and grace, instead of bullying them on national stages.

There was a standing ovation following news that the liberal MeidasTouch had beaten The Joe Rogan Experience as the country’s top podcast.

Mr. Rosenberg’s call for the audience to become “information warriors” was a reminder that The Onion still has not purchased Info Wars, despite promising to do so. I have become quite sensitive to broken promises lately. Eggs still cost too much and we do not yet own Greenland. Tim Onion, please, follow through.

Mr. Cillizza insisted he knew the legacy news would not save us because he had seen firsthand the Washington Post’s editorial board. Hoping he simply has an axe to grind with that news organization, because we need good journalism right now. Mr. Binion detailed a study saying that Americans are more likely to believe stories if they are called “debunked conspiracy theories.” If true, we are fucked. Mr. Cillizza vigorously nodded at this, like a cartoon vulture. This affable man was full of internal rage, and begged the audience to support the good media outlets, which presumably included his Substack.

This reminds me, you can support this publication by subscribing for $8 a month or purchasing one of our Trump Is a Bitch shirts.

I am used to the mainstream media giving good reviews to its own coverage of current events. As the speakers departed, I felt a worry, like I had seen a chef leave their restaurant retching. Their diagnosis of that problem suggested that things are wrong with the politicians, news, and public as well, and none of the three can be repaired in isolation. Are we fucked?

Keynote Conversation
ft. Asa Hutchinson, former Arkansas governor, hosted by Noah Rothman of National Review

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson marveled that if his Iowa audiences had been as large as the Principles First Summit crowd, he might be president now. Sadly, Iowa failed the nation.

Whenever someone says President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine is disgraceful, you can hear bodies clench. This roomful of people is reflexively distressed by America’s betrayal—they are committed to helping our ally win a war against an aggressor. This used to be a Conservative value.

Mr. Hutchinson was asked about the “cartoonish” thuggery of extracting Ukraine’s mineral rights. This is a sensitive topic right now after Mark Cuban defended the policy on Twitter. Disgust and shame radiated through the room whenever someone even said the word “mineral.”

Whenever it was spoken, Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s name elicited hisses. Mr. Hutchinson has, like others, still some trouble reconciling “Rubio for a New American Century” with the servile villain wearing his face today. Well, as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie explained in 2015: “Little Marco” is a robot designed to say or do whatever makes him powerful. Mr. Rubio is even unrecognizable to himself.

“Watch Amy Coney Barrett,” Mr. Hutchinson said with a grin, suggesting that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s replacement might be the one to stop America’s authoritarian takeover. The audience groaned—even if she starts to do the right thing, “Trump Justices” are not trusted. When he tried to describe the reckless speed of Mr. Trump’s executive orders, the audience mistook it for a compliment and began to boo. He should have read the room a bit better and started his sentence by calling them “disastrous, anti-American orders” so nobody got the wrong idea.

When the former governor says that Mr. Trump is “painting a troubling picture” and creating an “imperial presidency,” you can tell he is restraining himself from throwing a chair. He should videotape himself in Smash Mamas Rage Room.

Mr. Hutchinson explained that his record proves it was possible to lay off civil servants while treating them humanely, which is certainly better than whatever the fuck DOGE is doing, we ought to avoid promoting massive firings when federal workers are newly unemployed. He should evolve past this atavistic Republicanism.

Mr. Hutchinson seems like a good man with a moderate temperament. This is not enough. America is in crisis, and will not be cured by mild-mannered tinkering to the rhetoric. “Real Conservatism” is fundamentally unable to address the threat of Mr. Trump partly because its adherents have a deep unwillingness to work out how their philosophy not only created it, but failed to condemn it timely.

The Politics of Principle: Building a Governing Majority
ft. former Congressman Joe Walsh, Norm Eisen of State Democracy Defenders Fund, Nick Troiano of Unite America, and Julia Spiegel of Governors Action Alliance

When former Rep. Joe Walsh came onto the stage for the next panel, I could not withstand nicotine and caffeine cravings. I did not realize, despite repeated warnings, that I would need to be screened again by security. After loading and unloading my coat pockets, my tie was askew and shirt untucked, so instead of going straight back in, I walked around the hotel to get myself correct.

Something I noticed on the faces of attendees sucking down free Marriott coffee outside the Grand Ballroom: relief. The last month had been long, scary, and painful, and many of these people came from red states where they no longer feel comfortable around their fellow Americans.

One attendee placed their laptop bag on a table and said to the room, “I feel safe leaving this here. If I wanted it stolen, I would have gone to CPAC.” I always suspect a sting operation is underway when people announce they are leaving their valuables unattended. Still, I understand the sentiment. Speaking of CPAC, I heard its founder, heterosexually married Matt Schlapp, is under investigation for forcefully “gripping” non-consenting men’s genitals again.

I went into the exhibit hall to snag some free pens, but left quickly when I realized sixty percent of the booths were advertisements for ranked choice voting. I am in favor of the format, but not talking to its advocates, who would rather change how voting works than admit Democrats must be elected when the alternative is authoritarianism.

I was sweating out the last night’s alcohol when I returned to my seat. It boiled on my scalp, though some of the heat was anger at Mr. Walsh on stage calling Democrats “elitist snobs.” As I will stress at every opportunity: shit talking is a finite resource, so spend it on someone whose hurt will accomplish something.

Mr. Walsh is sincere in his opposition to Trumpism, but he also tweeted on October 26, 2016: “If Trump loses, I’m grabbing my musket. Who’s with me?” He promoted birtherism and wanted to liberalize the saying of uncensored racial slurs in conversations about race. Even if he is now more principled, Mr. Walsh is mainly a talented radio host and talking head, so it worries me to promote his brand if it has previously been so odious. Not because I want to cancel him, but because I worry if he can be trusted.

An audience member, who I presume rehearsed this, announced loudly that the moment needed yet another third party, this time, a Conservative Party, to split the anti-authoritarian vote. Please do not humor this. I cannot live through another generation’s third-party delusions. I wish I could support breaking the two-party system. A better world would afford better options. I get it. But in the life we were given, our choices are binary. Efforts to take votes away from the Democratic Party are self-satisfying, sabotaging, and mainly advertise cranks’ podcasts.

Between agitation and hangover, my brain was somewhere else. Mr. Walsh is an ally, right? We cannot afford to turn him away. But does he really plan to help Democrats win? The dissonance left me dissociating.

Keynote Conversation
ft. businessman Mark Cuban, hosted by Principles First founder and president Heath Mayo

After my spirit returned to my body, Mark Cuban was on his stage delivering one of his cool speeches about entrepreneurship, then complained about how lately everyone is saying the word “oligarchs.” I do not want him to become president. If he is on the Democratic ticket, I will support him enthusiastically, but I do not want a sequel to this Trump era.

It would be a mistake to nominate a billionaire reality game show host who is addicted to cursing, arguing, and posting hot takes on fucking Twitter at what would be the absolute peak of hatred for that exact user profile.

To promote his Mark Cuban CostPlus Drug Company enterprise, the CEO asked the audience, “What would you rather have next to your bed, a bag of M&Ms or a bag of generic Cialis?” He is out of touch—cheap, generic Cialis is already available to every American in gas stations under the brand name Stree Overlord, and it will be more available now that the FDA is too crippled or distracted cracking down on fucking poppers.

I am sure Mark Cuban CostPlus Drug Company is good. I hope Mr. Cuban doubles his efforts into that, instead of trying to become president. He can find Democrats he likes and donate to them, but we do not need to instantiate “wealthy shitposter” as the premier political class. I am begging God: do not create this reality.

Mr. Cuban even described a fantasy where, whenever he enters a room, doctors come and say, “Sir, please, do a deal with us.” No, Lord, do not make us do this again. Bring back Michael Bloomberg if this is where we are heading. I was nearly in tears as the Shark Tank host said he found his time on the campaign trail in the 2024 cycle “fun.” No more.

“Democrats do not know how to sell,” Mr. Cuban grinned.

Please! Let him just be a donor, a surrogate, an entertainer, let him manage his companies. Life is long. He could have a season in politics one day far away from now.

Someone from the audience asked how President Elon Musk’s monetary influence could be countered, hinting that Mr. Cuban should bankroll more Democrats. This is where we are now—asking, straight up, for more money in politics. Sen. Bernie Sanders must want to paint it black.

Mr. Cuban strongly endorsed Bluesky, which was met with a round of applause, but then hinted he also thought it was full of “Marxists.” I cannot help but feel suspicious when rich guys use this language.

One questioner demanded Mr. Cuban open a school to teach Democrats how to “sell.” He demurred, citing obligations at Mark Cuban CostPlus Drug Company, but in case they ever create such a school, I would like to put my name forward for any high-pay, low-responsibility administrative jobs available.

Mr. Cuban has value, and this should be extracted by the pro-democracy movement. He is a good messenger and capable of good works. I want him to do those and help save the country. But he can do this without running for president.

Keynote Conversation
ft. former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Steve Hayes of The Dispatch

My view of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was shorter in person, was blocked by a transparent lectern, so I was denied the privilege of “mean mugging” him the way I had fantasized about. Mr. Christie, in my opinion, is too comfortable explaining why he repeatedly endorsed Mr. Trump despite also considering the president’s conduct disqualifying and beyond repair.

I have never wanted to view Mr. Christie as a sainted moderate, no matter how inspirational it was to watch him walk the beaches of Point Pleasant and Brigantine with President Barack Obama to survey damage from Hurricane Sandy. He lit his political star by shouting at teachers during town halls, which helped cement the current DOGE attitude that public servants are free to manhandle for political spectacle. Similarly, Bridgegate offends me. I have been stuck in hours-long traffic too many times on the George Washington Bridge to ever forgive someone for inflicting that on drivers deliberately, certainly not because an intentionally divisive governor felt entitled to a bipartisan endorsement.

I do believe Mr. Christie now understands that Mr. Trump is mad, bad, and dangerous to know, but he also believed that when he was acting as a campaign surrogate. In 2020, Mr. Christie nearly died from a COVID-19 infection contracted preparing Mr. Trump for his presidential debates against Mr. Biden. He nearly lost his life to the service of someone he would go on to call a “lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog.”

When asked about the U.S.’s policy on the war in Ukraine, Mr. Christie asserted he believed we had “changed sides.” This was a common sentiment—other speakers echoed this, and people repeated it at the coffee stations like a miserable chorus, as often as the refrain from American Hero John McCain: “It’s always darkest before it gets pitch black.”

To Mr. Christie’s credit, he knows what the time is. He complained about Mr. Trump’s clash with Maine Gov. Janet Mills, wherein the would-be dictator declared: “We are the federal law.” The man who once wanted to be this regime’s attorney general now recognizes that doing so would have required him to be a monster.

By the way, on the subject of “beleaguered moderates who knew better,” after their votes to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services despite supposed “concerns,” mentions of Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski’s names were booed repeatedly. I wish Ms. Murkowski had not withdrawn from the conference at the last moment. Some in the hallways speculated it was out of shame, though it seems more likely she urgently needed to address the most recent Donald Trump airplane crash in Alaska.

Mr. Christie said disgraced New York City Mayor Eric Adams was “subjugated” by Mr. Trump (an experience I imagine that the former New Jersey governor knows too well), and referred to the drama around Mr. Adams’s prosecution being dropped as “corrupt.”

Mr. Christie closed his remarks by recalling how he had wanted to grab, shake, and scream at a woman who told him things could turn out okay. This was meant to be hopeful, an admonition that “everyone gets there at their own pace,” but instead tells me that there is some bad shit coming down the pike that has him totally dysregulated.

Mr. Christie’s inherent pugnaciousness often veers into bullying, normalizing the petty, brutish violence common to Mr. Trump. If Mr. Christie cannot see that similarity in himself, if he still tries to burnish that part of his persona as something of value instead of a flaw to be fixed, can he be trusted not to propagate this nastiness again? Is his stance: “I believe the correct amount of vindictiveness and bullying is the amount I inflicted on the world, but anything more than that is too much, and less than that is too weak?” If so, I do not think that is the type of moderation that can save us.

Keynote Conversation
ft. former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, hosted by former Florida Solicitor General Amit Agarwal

Disgraced former George W. Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who infamously approved a memo justifying the use of torture in the War on Terror, began by meekly asserting that the rule of law was “important.” He was heckled by the audience for claiming he felt optimistic that the courts and Congress would check Mr. Trump’s lawless despotism. This naïveté was baffling. He served a notoriously cynical, cruel administration, but feigns as though he only just learned that the Department of Justice can be used in wicked ways.

Mr. Gonzales’s other claim to fame was orchestrating the firing of U.S. attorneys for partisan political purposes. David Iglesias, for example, was removed from his post because he did not go hunting voter fraud conspiracies in New Mexico or target Democrats with weaponized prosecution in advance of the midterms. Mr. Gonzales lied about his involvement under oath, claimed more than 60 times that he could not “recall” the details of events, and then resigned. Senators laughed in his face while he testified. If Mr. Gonzales recognizes the rhyme of history, he pretends he does not.

To highlight how extreme the Bush Administration policies Mr. Gonzales provided the legal rationale for appeared at the time, College Humor illustrated how some Democrats predicted America would look if Republicans won the White House again in 2008:

When discussing the corruption of President Donald Trump’s Republican party—which the former AG had the sense to vote against—his reactions to alarming developments were so understated that the timing felt comic.

For example, when asked about this hopefully-not-foreshadowing quote from Vice President JD Vance: “[M]y advice to the president would be, if you’re reelected, you should fire every single mid-level bureaucrat and every civil servant in the administrative state. And when the courts stop you, stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did and say, ‘the chief justice has made his ruling, now let him enforce it.’”

Mr. Gonzales’s second response, after suggesting this might have been the product of faulty education at Yale: “I attribute those comments to [Mr. Vance] not being as precise as he should be.”

He then described having to tell Mr. Bush when the court ruled against the White House during his time in Washington. “President Bush, …responded, and [said] that’s what the courts are for. The courts are there to tell us whether or not we get it right. If we do, we move forward. If they say we’re not getting it right, then we change course. And I’m hopeful, we’ll have to see, but I’m hopeful [Donald Trump] will deal with that kind of news in the same fashion. Now, I hear laughter in the audience.”

Mr. Gonzales’s optimism was treated like a punchline because there has been nothing Mr. Trump’s lawless, retributive administration has said or done that implies they will meekly acquiesce to court orders, and in fact, Mr. Gonzales gave this hopeful anecdote in response to a quote about Mr. Vance advising to rebel against the Supreme Court. “I am hopeful you will not rob me,” Mr. Gonzales sounds like he is saying to a man who has already put a gun to him.

“What happens if the president doesn’t follow a court order? Well, that’s a good question. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I guess I am hopeful that at that point, Congress will say enough is enough, and they will have certain, again, I’m hearing laughter.”

The excessive grace Mr. Gonzales was giving to people who had expressly announced they intended to do the exact things he called “wrong” seems inexcusably good faith. Was he, like Donny from The Big Lebowski, “out of his element,” with “no frame of reference… like a child who wanders into the middle of a movie and wants to know—”

I often think #NeverTrumpers, in their rush to honor themselves by bearing the standards of patriotic, honorable, Bush-era Republicans, never reckoned with the reality that under Mr. Bush, the evilest Conservative demagogues praised waterboarding with the same malicious glee they now use to describe mistreating immigrants. Temperamentally, of course, I prefer Mr. Gonzales to be wielding the black instruments of power rather than former Rep. Matt Gaetz or Attorney General Pam Bondi, but morally, why was torture not the point in history that the Grand Old Party noticed their coalition was already succumbing to vile instincts?

The name of Danielle Sassoon, who said the Trump DOJ’s actions could not be in “good faith defend[ed] as in the public interest and as consistent with the principles of impartiality and fairness that guide my decision-making,” received whoops and applause when Mr. Gonzales presented her as an example of a courageous civil servant because she would rather resign from the Department of Justice than assist with Mr. Trump’s corrupt quid pro quo, which involved dropping charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. But even then, Mr. Gonzales acted as though it were shocking to learn that this White House had been influencing Mr. Adams’s prosecution.

Mr. Gonzales praised “the rule of law” as “what made the country great” and the “glue which holds the country together.” He must recognize by now that the rule of law is broken, and America has come unglued. He appears to be taking his time coming to terms with America’s rapid authoritarian decline, giving everyone the benefit of the doubt until he can be certain that bad people are doing the bad things they admit to doing. He is withholding judgment, I suppose, until they explicitly spell out their intent. We cannot afford to be so patient when every hour brings us closer to national destruction.

The Thin Blue Line and the Big Lie
ft. Daniel Hodges of the Metropolitan Police Department, and former Capitol Police Officers Aquilino Gonnell, Michael Fanone, and Harry Dunn

As a Beltway native, I have strong opinions about the Capitol Insurrection and a nervous disposition towards the rioters. I often wonder what might have happened to me if I were downtown that day. I admire the police who served on January 6 as historical heroes, and my posture snapped into one of respect when they came out on stage.

Harry Dunn introduced his “brothers,” the other brave men in law enforcement who “[faced] Hell” and defended the Capitol on January 6, and revealed they shared a wild group chat. He expressed his appreciation for the media, then took a moment to compliment himself and his friends as “four stubborn SOBs, patriotic SOBs,” complaining that if it were not for them “January 6 would be a thing of the past,” and said that, with their “grit, determination, and perseverance and dedication to [their] oath, the rule of law, and [their] principles,” they “have made January 6 stay in this front and center, and [they] have refused to let people forget about it.”

Unfortunately, half of America has forgotten that carnage. These men’s bodies were battered protecting the country from violent insurrectionists aiming to stop the peaceful transition of power, but because these police’s trauma is opposite to Mr. Trump’s preferred narrative of that damnable day (“they damn sure wanted to make it go away”), they are treated by the president’s goons as enemies.

Michael Fanone, who calls himself a Fascist Killing Machine on Substack, looked grimmer than ever. He should be cast as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Wolverine.

On stage, Mr. Dunn acknowledged that if “[Fanone] looks sad, he looks angry, he is.”

The tattooed officer said he “keep[s] his world very small,” and now has “very limited interactions with anyone outside his immediate family,” then said he “warned America about the dangers of making this choice that they’ve made, but they didn’t listen, so fuck them.” He called the recently pardoned J6 insurrectionists “violent criminals,” “Donald Trump’s own personal brownshirt militia,” and “fucking traitors” who are “running the show,” naming the Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, and the Proud Boys. He instructed the crowd to hold onto their anger and outrage, and explained that the men had received clemency because “Donald Trump wants [America] to know that if you commit crimes on his behalf, he has your back.” “[I]f [you] commit violent, criminal acts on [his] behalf that he will pardon [you] for future violence.”

The other officers shared the sentiment. Mr. Dunn insisted that former FBI Director Christopher Ray “properly categorized” the insurrectionists as “domestic terrorists.” CPAC has since embraced the label and expressed solidarity with convicted criminals, declaring “[themselves] all domestic terrorists.” This has relieved me of any lingering reserve about typing CPAC attendees as such.

Mr. Dunn introduced Sergeant Aquilino Gonnell, who came to America as an immigrant, as someone who “earned his right to be called a patriot,” “served his country more in a day in the military than some people have done their entire lives,” and was one of the “immigrants who make our country great that Donald Trump is trying to get rid of.”

Mr. Gonnell described being told he was not a “real American” because he was not born in the country by the rioters that Mr. Trump calls “heroes,” “patriots,” and “political prisoners,” despite that it was the Capitol Police defending the American Constitution from the president trying to destroy it.

Mr. Gonnell said he “expected better from those [Republican] elected officials who were running for their lives on January 6,” for whom he risked his life “protecting them” so they could “make it out to safety.” He reminded the audience that “Michael Fanone got dragged through the mob, [Mr. Gonnell] nearly got dragged into the mob, Danny Hodges also was getting crushed” while they were “do[ing] what was expected of [them].”

Daniel Hodges was introduced as a “regular-looking white guy that blends into any crowd.” Mr. Hodges, who is still an active police officer, spoke in his personal capacity and lamented the Fellowship of Police lodges’ (except for the ones in DC and Maryland, who were more intimately familiar with the president’s disregard for the rule of law) continued endorsements of Mr. Trump. “To win the long game,” Mr. Hodges suggested, it was “important to reach out to… people, no matter how ill-informed or what kind of questionable ethics they may have, what kind of questionable worldview,” to “show them the error of their ways, somehow, try and get them out of that cult, because if they don’t, this culture war is never going to end.”

Mr. Hodges’s noble sentiment reminded me of my unshakable worry that, after ten years of Mr. Trump’s bullshit, people still “ill-informed” or “in the cult” are convinced enough of their delusions that they might be irretrievably lost.

The audience applauded and cheered after Mr. Dunn told them that Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio had been arrested the prior day for assaulting someone on the Capitol grounds, which seems a most predictable recidivism. Nobody knew at the time that Mr. Tarrio was en route to the venue to try to hurt these men again.

Mr. Fanone was asked what he would say if he were invited to the White House to reconcile with Mr. Trump. Mr. Fanone said that, in the four years since the Insurrection, he had an “evolution of feelings,” including a “kumbaya phase,” a “we’ve got to work with these people and these are our fellow Americans [phase],” then lowered his fist and said: “Fuck that! The only thing we need to do is defeat MAGA… and make sure every insurrectionist member of Congress, member of our government is ousted and never holds office ever again.” Amen, sir, amen. That received a standing ovation. He said Mr. Trump was a “sociopath,” and that his response to the hypothetical peace talks with the president would be to say: “Donald Trump, go fuck yourself.” The crowd howled with delight.

“No notes.” Mr. Dunn said admiringly.

Mr. Gonnell excoriated House Speaker Mike Johnson—who notoriously enlisted his teenage son to monitor his pornography habits—for defying the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 and refusing to hang a commemorative plaque honoring the officers injured defending the Capitol.

Mr. Fanone recalled a time when someone came to his mother’s house while she was raking the leaves, told her that her “son was a traitor,” and hit her with a bag of shit. “That,” Mr. Fanone said, “is MAGA. That is what we are up against.”

Mr. Dunn wound down the talk by asking the audience to imagine a world where everyone knew who they were because of the worst day of their life. The policemen each took a moment to say “fuck them” regarding the MAGA thugs. These guys are bigger than me, more capable, but I have started to feel a bit protective of them. If for no other reason, I would be compelled to be an antagonist to MAGA simply so as not to contribute to these officers’ ongoing betrayal and disappointment by the American people.

Superpower or Spectator? America’s Grand Strategy
ft. Bill Kristol of Defending Democracy Together, Tom Nichols of The Atlantic, and Garry Kasparov of World Liberty Congress

There are many things I blame Bill Kristol for. In his neoconservative days, he was no ordinary pundit. President Bill Clinton once described him in Des Moines as “the fellow that tells [Republicans] what to think up in Washington.” The affable wonk was on every show, all the time; he held court with politicians, ran the Weekly Standard, and presided over a constellation of think tanks, advocacy groups, and nonprofits.

Mr. Kristol killed Hillarycare, the Clinton health policy that would have saved American lives and money. His Project for a New American Century was the Big Bad nemesis for every anti-war Democrat in my college years. He is widely credited with selling President George W. Bush on the Iraq War, and assured the country that the conflict would take only a few months, during which we “would be greeted as liberators.” He even recommended former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to Sen. John McCain as a running mate (a decision some regard as kickstarting this whole mess).

At every step of my political coming-of-age, Mr. Kristol was confidently wrong with disastrous consequences, and his fingerprints were on everything I considered the worst of the GOP. But he has also spent a decade fighting against Mr. Trump’s autocratic movement. At some point, I reconciled myself to the reality that “Woke Bill Kristol” earned his rank in the #resistance. He does more against Trump in a week than most Democrats do in a month. After years exiled from the Conservative movement, his temperament has softened; these days, his dominant attributes have been friendliness, eloquence, and cheer.

Garry Kasparov, whom I knew as the world’s best chess player, escaped from Russia in 2013 to avoid imprisonment. He led the “Putin Must Go” campaign and was briefly a candidate in the 2008 Russian presidential election, none of which made him a friend to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Like Senator Lindsey Graham, Mr. Kasparov is the subject of a Russian arrest warrant. He sees the same environment here and now as he did there and then. I knew this biography, too, but did not put together that the chess player and the activist were the same person.

Mr. Kasparov soberly explained: “Dictators will lie about what they have done, but will tell you the truth about where they are going.” He continued, “We are not witnessing the collapse of the American idea, we are seeing the betrayal of the idea,” adding that what Mr. Trump is doing to the United States constitutes a coup.

Bill Kristol agreed—the United States had “changed teams,” and was now aligned with the international baddies.

I began to nod off here. Not in a disrespectful way, but because, to the horror of the 2005 Huffington Post reader inside me, I started to find Mr. Kristol’s voice delightful and musical. I would jerk awake from hypnagogic visions of plane crashes, only to hear them outlining the real-time formation of an autocratic bloc—a U.S.-Russia-led coalition of far-right, nationalist gangster states—before slipping back into dreams of an ever-worsening world. I worried that they might be hypnotizing me, and that I would wake up as a neoconservative. That has happened once before. In my nightmares, there were chyrons.

The Next Level: A Live Podcast
ft. The Bulwark’s Sarah Longwell and Tim Miller

Tim Miller, with whom the audience enjoyed a parasocial relationship based on their familiar coos and chuckles, opened by noting cheerfully that it was almost happy hour, then sarcastically thanked the MAGA Marauder and Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio for coming to the conference. His boss Sarah Longwell joked that this was proof that their principled Conservative movement had “arrived.” This was the first time I had heard those odious thugs had visited, so it made me only hypothetically anxious. The ramifications of the Proud Boys showing up to hassle attendees seemed so serious that I initially assumed it was a joke.

The two read through the conference’s fifteen Principles—admittedly, a fine ethos—and debated the value of clinging to those in the face of a grim political world.

1. Integrity, character, and virtue matter.

2. Every person has dignity, equality, and worth.

3. Truth, honesty, rationality, and facts are non-negotiable.

4. The Constitution and the rule of law are paramount.

5. Our government is a limited one with enumerated powers.

6. Congress writes laws, the executive executes them, and the courts interpret them.

7. Government closest to the people is most accountable.

8. People reach their full potential when they are free.

9. Free and functioning markets deliver prosperity.

10. Equality of opportunity—not equality of outcomes.

11. Government must responsibly steward resources for the next generation.

12. Civic associations, faith communities, and families should be the primary engines of our culture – not the state.

13. Strong families are the building blocks of society.

14. Sovereignty is critical to self-government.

15. America’s role in the world is unique and important.

These principles do not resemble the Republican Party of today. They also did not resemble the Republican Party when Mr. Miller or Ms. Longwell were still Conservatives in good standing. It never fails to be remarkable just how badly Mr. Trump contradicts every moral maxim of the Conservative movement, yet ex-Republicans remain reluctant to admit that most of their old peers were always selling evil bullshit. They seem to relearn this lesson repeatedly, only to forget it before their next grand denunciation of the ideology’s latest adherents. Though I should be fair: these two now pound this same drum day in and day out at The Bulwark and have done so for years.

Ms. Longwell closed by urging attendees not to “let the fear shut you down,” describing fear as paralyzing and “closing civic spaces.” The next day, this civic space would be temporarily closed on account of a bomb threat. I want to take her advice to heart, but it feels different when my body, and not a political celebrity’s, is the one that might get injured. Ms. Longwell correctly identified the danger, but I worry that asking for bravery from ordinary people may be too kitsch when there is real violence to be afraid of.

Principles First Profile in Courage Award:
Sgt. Aquilino Gonnell

The final presentation was the Profile in Courage award ceremony for hero cop Sergeant Aquilino Gonell. His biography was once again read in glowing terms, followed by another account of his ordeal—being beaten, bitten, and struck with flagpoles and batons before being trampled by January 6 insurrectionists.

Mr. Gonnell accepted his award with humility and dignity, and explained that he did what he did because it was his job and duty, not because he wanted any spotlight or awards. His rhetoric was not as lofty as other speakers’; he said plainly: this country has given him a lot and he has given it a lot. It took him years to recover properly from his injuries on J6. He credited basketball for his healing. He also pitched the audience—especially Mr. Cuban—on an idea to create a program that teaches basketball as a rehabilitative sport.

He thanked the crowd for their support, then acknowledged that while he appreciates it, he would still prefer his prior life.

I thought that was poignant. Many people talk about growing stronger from damage as if “adversity breeds strength” was the only possible outcome for malign events when, in the real world, after some hurts, individuals will never be wholly recovered.

Mr. Gonnell then revealed that Enrique Tarrio and the MAGA Marauder of the Proud Boys had been waiting for them upstairs, and chased them to the elevators shouting insults.

The audience gasped. Mr. Gonnell said that he should not be harassed by the newly-emboldened rioters for telling the truth to the public and court, and that the congressmen who embraced the rioters who tried to kill them instead of the officers who protected them had betrayed the Constitution. Harsh and true.

At the least, Mr. Trump should have bought Mr. Gonnell a nice car and an expensive vacation by way of apology. He would, if he had any decency left as a hotelier. When you mess up as badly as these insurrectionist Republicans did on January 6, but you are also rich, you ought to at least offer to pay off the people you put into physical therapy instead of trying to use violence and intimidation towards them.

I struggled to process the fact that the Proud Boys had been in the building. What if they had put their hands on me? I was not prepared for that. What if they returned?

I skipped the happy hour sponsored by The Bulwark. It is not in my nature to miss open bars; in fact, there is enough ruffian left in me that one could say my attendance is too diligent; nonetheless, weighted by these stark looks at the total Hell of Trump 2.0, I felt like it would be better to spend time with my pets and loved ones than half-allies. It is vindicating to know my views are shared, but vindication is not the same as relief. Staring into the future directly with the #NeverTrumpers did not yield any glimpses of hope in the horizon, and in some ways promised the despair would need to be fought for my remaining lifetime. A Corona would not hit the spot after that.

On the walk home, I decided against telling anyone who cares about me that the Proud Boys had showed up. I thought it would be too embarrassing to say I was endangered because I went to see fucking Chris Christie speak.

Sunday

Checks, Balances, and Breaking Points: Can the Constitution Hold?
ft. George Conway of the Society for the Rule of Law, former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig, and former Congresswoman Barbara Comstock

The second day also opened with the Pledge of Allegiance, then a request for everyone’s spare lanyards—fiscal conservatives trying to save a dollar.

George Conway, the ex-“husband from hell” of former Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, entered carrying a Corgi named Clyde. I could not gauge how much adulation was directed at the man versus the dog. Mr. Conway declared his pet was fifty times smarter than President Donald Trump and would serve as security against another Proud Boy incursion. I hoped this was true.

Hot coffee missed my mouth and stained my shirt when Mr. Conway snidely suggested Mr. Trump might nominate the corrupt Judge Aileen Cannon for the Supreme Court. He seemed confident it would happen.

Barbara Comstock, a notorious Clinton antagonist, declared that everyone on the panel “loved Judge Bork,” for some reason, before lambasting Republicans for meekly allowing DOGE to jeopardize vital programs in their districts. She pointed to Alabama, where former Republican Sen. Richard Shelby had long built a robust network of National Institute of Health-funded university research projects. Mr. Shelby secured billions of dollars for programs like the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alzheimer’s studies—money that spurred economic growth and created jobs.

She went on to explain that Congress had previously passed a law requiring Congressional assent to changes to NIH payment formulas, particularly any adjustments to the very indirect cost reimbursement rates now under attack by Messrs. Trump and Musk, to protect that funding from this exact sort of unilateral executive action. Mr. Trump himself signed this bill into law. In other words, recognizing that erratic changes to these formulas would be damaging, Republicans enshrined a requirement for Congressional review and approval of any such adjustments. Only a few years later, those same Republicans are cheering on erratic changes made without their review or approval.

Ms. Comstock spoke with disgust about President Elon Musk. His recent appearance at CPAC, most likely high on ketamine or some other drug of choice wearing sunglasses indoors wielding an actual, not metaphorical, chainsaw, left a poor impression, as did recent revelations that he was deadbeat dad to a thirteenth child (at the time of publication, this number has increased to fourteen).

Ms. Comstock was particularly contemptuous of Republicans on the House Oversight Committee’s recent vote to block Mr. Musk from speaking with them—otherwise, they might be expected to provide oversight. She was on a tear—she condemned DOGE’s lack of vetting, suggesting there was none, or else someone might have noticed that Mr. Musk’s servant “Big Balls” was the grandson of a KGB agent and had previously been fired from another company for leaking sensitive information to his buddies on Discord.

Ms. Comstock declared Congressional offices should have their budgets cut because the House and Senate Republicans have abdicated their responsibility to ask questions of Mr. Trump, as if they do not wish to know what the Executive Branch is doing. She predicted that summer or fall in 2026 is when Republicans will start to notice they are in electoral danger.

Judge J. Michael Luttig warned the White House was attempting to delegitimize the courts and condition the public to disregard the judiciary, then advised us to “draw our red lines now.” He said sternly: “The president has done things which are imprudent.”

As these serious jurists’ entreaties became more and more urgent, I began to feel quite anxious. I wanted to go home and clean my office, delete this publication, and burn my books and papers.

Mr. Conway closed by insisting that the U.S. Marshall Service will not enforce court orders on Mr. Trump. The audience howled for blood, with rage, and cried for America to take to the streets at the suggestion Mr. Trump might defy the judiciary.

Mr. Conway is an interesting champion for the rule of law, though sometimes his main motive seems to be annoying his ex-wife. Mrs. Conway, who invented the cursed phrase “alternative facts,” never once shed her evil glamour. Her skills at deception and equivocation were artful, and I worry that if the ex-“husband from hell” cannot give us the recipe to defeat them, it is because he never discovered the method. Perhaps there is no method. And if Mr. Conway could not change even one heart in his own home, how does he expect to change every heart in the country?

Market Economics: Busting Protectionist Myths Since 1776
ft. Bob Buschman of Georgia State University, Veronique de Rugy of George Mason University, and Bryan Riley of the National Taxpayers Union

I had to skip the economics panel. I was too scared and upset by George Conway’s predictions. I really, really do not want to “put my body on the line” whenever Americans become aware of Mr. Trump’s coup. I was sick imagining it; panic made my skull feel full of needles. I paced for almost an hour in the lobby, which, I imagine, only increased the total amount of tension in the building.

I owe the patient reader a bit more vulnerability. I was also afraid to watch an economics panel because imagining another Great Recession makes my body feel such horrible anxiety that death would be preferable. Just like I do not run towards police sirens, agitated crowds, or loose, angry dogs, I similarly want to avoid being told about potential economic catastrophes. I have a rough idea and that is painful enough a threat that it makes me wonder if life would be worth living in that scenario.

Mr. Trump’s tariff delusions will ruin our markets. Half his policies raise prices, and the other half raise unemployment. In return, we will have worse standing with our trading partners. Knowing that is enough.

Keynote Conversation
ft. Colorado Governor Jared Polis, hosted by Tim Miller of The Bulwark

Jared Polis discussed sports with Tim Miller, which I find boring. He mildly defended trans people playing sports, which is the first time, contrary to Republican hysteria, I have heard Democrats talk about the “issue” in years.

Mr. Polis mumbled some mild defense of his is ambivalence toward, and forbearance of, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The audience patiently waited for that to stop—they had no tolerance for any of Mr. Trump’s cabinet—but otherwise enjoyed Mr. Polis’s speech. He is fine. He is reasonable. He can probably be the 2028 nominee if nobody more exciting is available. “Colorado values” could be okay—it elicits images of people smoking weed at ski resorts.

Flirting with Mr. Kennedy’s “MAHA” ideology, though—I guess we will see how that goes, but in my view, if the secretary’s policies create significant suffering, as measles and bird flu outbreaks are likely to do, it will not be a “good look” to have stood too closely to them. But I also think Democrats should be finding a way to get the benign REI shoppers back into their voting booths, hikers who buy trail mix and put wine in their Nalgene bottles, as well as people who buy magic crystals and do yoga. There was no reason to let that demographic slip rightward.

So, caution: Mr. Polis’s instincts to pander to crunchy demographics are not unwise, but accidentally letting people infer affinity with or slight endorsement of MAHA would be deeply immoral if Mr. Kennedy’s legacy is, as most public health experts expect, one of sickness and preventable mass death.

This will be a struggle for the #resistance. Some of the worst of President Donald Trump’s cabinet was also the worst of the Democratic Party just a decade ago (RFK Jr, Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump). It can be tempting to find places to meet them in the middle. I have been so tempted. But if they create the horrors they promise, we must not become accidentally complicit.

The Law Enforcement and National Security Battlefield
ft. Asha Rangappa of Yale University, former FBI Assistant Director Frank Figliuzzi, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenn Kirschner

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenn Kirschner, an MSNBC staple, was up next. I could not sit still any longer. I dashed outside to get some air and rend my hair in terror. No longer could I be settled in my skin. Fear itself won.

Apologies to Mr. Kirschner for having missed his lecture. This is in no way a reflection of his skills as a speaker or the quality of his content—I chose to transcribe these notes anyway because this self-deconstructive paranoia I have been lashed with is not unique.

I wanted to also link an excellent segment Mr. Kirschner did later, after the bomb threat, where he questioned whether or not the FBI would investigate it:

Keynote Remarks
by former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele

Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who also served as RNC chair during the golden Tea Party era, said in his keynote, “A Time for Choosing and Action,” that during the MAGA movement’s rise, he “looked the devil in the eyes and said, ‘Hell no, we’re not doing this.’” He called today’s Republican Party “crazy as hell” and compared the first days of Mr. Trump’s presidency to a man dumping a truckload of trash into the middle of the street. I felt something when he spoke that I had not in some months—inspiration? Hope?

I was brought back to reality when Mr. Steele then insinuated that the American public should stand up to reprimand the administration. I promise, Mr. Steele, you, I, and half the country berate those autocrats often. They seem immune or inured enough to reproach, and you helped teach them that.

I also looked at him and thought, momentarily, that maybe he should be president. I would prefer him to Mark Cuban, to be sure, and I am already bored hearing about Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Is this resignation to a least bad scenario, or have I come to feel affection for Mr. Steele? He has made so many appearances on MSNBC that sometimes I think he lives in their headquarters, and now hosts his own podcast on The Bulwark. Mr. Steele is a character now. He has fans. When I later watched him leave the building (at the end of the bomb scare, though his pace was leisurely) everybody was trying to shake his hand and give him a hug. I wanted to ask for a fist bump, but decided to give the man some space.

As should be clear by now, I am unimpressed with the journeys many Republicans have made over the last decade. While everybody in the ballroom is in the right place today, few feel like they will be long-time friends. Mr. Steele is one of them. He seems more comfortable, at ease discussing the degradation of the party he once led, while too many others seem to think there will be a place for them again once the MAGA fever breaks.

Bomb Threat (instead of Keynote Conversation)
ft. former National Security Advisor John Bolton.

It is a cliché to cite Hunter S. Thompson reporting that menacing vibrations were around him, but here, dark moods coalesced like a murder of crows. I remembered the January 6 cops explaining their refusal to “heal past” their anger. Should we become numb to this fear? Would that be recovery or obedience? Nothing this weekend has comforted me. #NeverTrump Republicans fancy themselves—and this is not a slight on the excellent publication—bulwarks against autocracy. But though they see clearly, they are a fallen vanguard. Most speakers offered just one solution: we need to wait and pray the courts do not capitulate, and in two, then four years, hope Democrats reclaim power (if we still have elections). I hate this.

Fear is not unwarranted. After lunch, we were told to leave the conference floor. I took it a step further—I got the hell out of the building entirely and went to smoke outside the front entrance. John Bolton got back into his SUV and was quietly driven off. George Conway slipped out and down the sidewalk with his dog. Police started to arrive. Yellow crime scene tape bordered the hotel and flapped in icy air. It was a bomb threat. I did not want to die in a crowd of RINOs. Had I not forgotten my coat hanging inside, I would have gone home.

I initially wanted to omit this, because it does sound cowardly, but I made a special point of tucking my event credential under my shirt and stashing The Bulwark hat I had picked up into my bag. In case any killers did arrive, I wanted to plausibly say: “Don’t mind me! I am simply on my way to find lunch, and was curious about the commotion.” And then, to sell it further, I went to get lunch.

The event organizers were mainly broadcasting updates on Twitter (which I cautioned them against earlier in the year). But since I deleted and uninstalled Twitter—because I do not trust that shit at all under President Elon Musk’s control—I had to wait for someone to post screenshots on Substack.

Someone impersonating Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio sent a detailed threat targeting speakers—including, inexplicably, Mr. Fanone’s mom. Nobody seemed too surprised by this—the hotel continued checking guests in, as if it were just another Sunday, even while Secret Service and United States Capitol Police swept the building for explosives.

How miserable and predictable MAGA goons have become. Most of the attendees said brave things, like “we shall not be bullied.” Good for them, I suppose, but like Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos or Sen. Joni Ernst, threats can work on me. If I have to choose between watching Jonah Goldberg from The Dispatch explain why Real Conservatives should reject Donald Trump and then dying in a fire or taking the first train out of town, I know which of the two is preferable.

When I returned in the security line, I heard another common refrain: Would the FBI under Director Kash Patel (or as I like to call him, “Kush” Patel, because that fool has got to be smoking something) or his Deputy Director podcaster Dan Bongino investigate this? Or have they already, despite their claims, become so politicized that Trump’s enemies no longer receive state protection from terrorism?

It is remarkable that we do not know whether we are living in an America where half the country can exercise political speech safely. We know we are approaching authoritarianism. The major questions remaining are:

Are we there yet?

Will I be safe?

Can this ever be reversed?

If the rule of law no longer restrains the president and his paramilitaries from harming his opposition—well, I understand why Mr. Bolton fled.

Keynote Conversation
ft. former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, hosted by Marine and businessman Michael Wood

I remember returning to my seat for this lecture, but not much about it. I certainly attended it, but whenever I attempt to recall its contents, I start to have a headache or become anxious. Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who was formally expelled from the Republican Party for writing “mean tweets” about President Donald Trump’s disgraceful conduct on January 6, is a noble person, to be sure, and I will go back at some point to watch this on YouTube. I am told this cognitive difficulty is not an atypical response to a stressful situation.

I remembered something in that moment of total despair. Long ago, there was a t-shirt brand and energy drink called No Fear. I used to buy it often in college, when I was learning to hate President George W. Bush.

This was before energy drinks were more carefully regulated. Half the brands available at 7-11 were laced with nootropics, yohimbe, or bodybuilding supplements. No Fear had creatine in their recipe, and pounding cans made the College Democrats grow more muscular and bold. Now, the popular drink is off the market—my research indicates that Jenna Jameson’s ex-husband Jay Grdina has something to do with distributor mix1Life’s failure—and I am afraid.

I am still acerbic and snarky, but not as brave as I was. I am more vulnerable than a college student because I have real bills. Presidents Donald Trump and Elon Musk and their goons are more dangerous now than any Republican prior, which has cowed even people who used to wear denim jackets or put their hair in mohawks. Can our opposition summon that energy anymore? We must, but what if we are unable? What if Sen. Chuck Schumer is not caffeinated enough for the task?

In the event that the venue was hit by a real bomb and I died here at the hands of someone emboldened or pardoned by Mr. Trump, would MAGA members of my family reconsider their vote if Mr. Trump attempts to run for a third term, or would I be collateral damage or an acceptable loss on ideological grounds?

I decided against telling them what happened here, because I doubt any way they answered that question would encourage harmony. I can skip holiday meals, but I might still have to see these people at funerals or weddings. If I were to be killed by one of Mr. Trump’s paramilitary terrorists, and they did not commit to voting against the Republican Party, they would not be welcome at my funeral. In fact, I might update my will to include that clause:

“In the event that my death is caused by actions perpetrated by supporters of Donald Trump, I instruct that any individual who, after my passing, continues to express support for the Republican Party, be barred from attending my funeral or any related memorial services. The Executor shall have full discretion to determine the enforcement of this clause, including the authority to refuse entry or remove attendees as necessary to uphold this condition.”

What a terrible rumination. “It’s always darkest before it’s pitch black,” right? During this lecture, Mr. Trump had been in office for approximately 30 days, but already America was becoming unrecognizable, a place I had to start wondering if I could survive, or if I would be collateral in its descent. This is the world MAGA wants to call great?

CHRISTIANITY IN CRISIS: Trump, Politics, and the Future of Faith

ft. Mona Charen of The Bulwark, David French of The New York Times, and Russell Moore of The After Party

I have admired Mona Charen’s steely resolve for years, since she was escorted out of the February 2018 CPAC for correctly condemning the depravity of the modern Conservative movement, its slavish worship of President Donald Trump, and recent affinity for Nazis, nationalists, and dictators, such as Marine Le Pen and Viktor Orban.

If I were in her shoes that day, I might have started lambasting that crowd, too, but a shock of adrenaline would eventually have rendered me inarticulate and stammering. She pushed through, though, and damned them more precisely than I have seen before or since.

Ms. Charen is not the type of person I typically admire. Prim, virtue-minded Conservative women have not usually approved of my freewheeling, profane attitude when I was in my maximal leather jacket era, and I still feel their judgment of my impropriety whenever I encounter them in supermarkets. Were she to see me smoking outside, I imagine Ms. Charen would clutch her purse. But in this time of national crisis, she has her shit together better than any of us—she described the evacuation as “a little excitement earlier today” and kept rolling. I took quite a bit of comfort from seeing her on stage, especially knowing that she was on our side.

“Our side.” In my notes, there was a question mark scribbled beside that, as my conscious mind rebelled against my subconscious identifying with these people. I suppose we must be on the same side.

Ms. Charen described President Donald Trump’s inauguration, where he did not swear his oath on the Bible, as “drenched” in religious imagery, and complained that the Reverend Franklin Graham and his ilk were “telling [Mr. Trump] that he was spared by the Almighty to do great things, that the near assassination attempt in Pennsylvania was God moving his head a fraction of an inch—now, of course, it doesn’t say why God didn’t turn Corey Comperatore’s head.” Then she proposed, I think rightly: “Trump didn’t have much use for God in the past because all that love thy neighbor stuff would have gotten in his way. But he thinks that God himself is MAGA.”

The invocation of the assassination did make me wonder. For these MAGA cultists, the attempted shooting of Mr. Trump by Thomas Crooks, a mentally ill 20-year-old-Republican, was proof that sinister forces from the deep state were trying to stop their so-called God Emperor’s ascension. Now that Mr. Trump runs the government and his political enemies are being threatened, they are unconcerned with stochastic or domestic terrorism.

The New York Times’s David French was someone who was briefly put forward by Bill Kristol as the #NeverTrump third-party candidate in 2016 before he was ultimately replaced by Principled Conservative Evan McMullin. The former National Review author explained that the Christians “who really have [Mr. Trump’s] ear” are not the “old school” Southern Baptists or the Franklin Grahams or anyone somewhat normal, but the fringe Pentecostal movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, which was “drenched in prophecy about Donald Trump. Just drenched.”

The repetition of the word “drench” sent my mind sinking. I have never been particularly religious—in preschool, I proudly denied the existence of any God. So, I struggle to imagine people who believe in even a little prophecy, let alone being thoroughly soaked in it. Is it typical to regard this sort of religiosity as a liquid? Is it this voluminous?

Mr. French described the NAR’s lunacy as, essentially, “God has picked [Mr. Trump] for this time, so therefore if you are opposing Trump, you are opposing God, you are on the side of Satan.” He complained some of those churches cited him in particular as an example of corruption. He might have gone further and retold how he was driven from his own church for opposing Mr. Trump.

From that frame, it does make more sense why the bomb threat referred to the president as “God Emperor.” And if these MAGA Republicans sincerely consider Trump critics as Satanic, then threats and attempts to murder their opposition will never stop. Perhaps if Mr. Trump shouted: “Not in my name!” But he will not.

Ms. Charen described this as “idolatry” to much applause. This should have already been obvious—CPAC 2021 had a literal golden statue of Mr. Trump available for worship.

Ms. Charen marveled that Mr. Trump’s worshippers “bleached Jesus out of [Christianity],” and commented on Donald Trump Jr. dismissing “turn the other cheek” as an ethos. It surprised me that I had not heard this before, or that Christians were not outraged. Sure enough, Mr. Trump Jr. said in December 2021:

“We’ve turned the other cheek, and I understand, sort of, the biblical reference—I understand the mentality—but it’s gotten us nothing. Okay? It’s gotten us nothing.”

This feels obviously un-Christlike. I wish Ms. Charen could sit with my own religious MAGA family and explain to them their folly.

Russell Moore described the main division in Christianity today as being between people who want their churches politicized and those who do not. He noted that some pastors had received complaints about the Sermon on the Mount from Republican evangelicals who thought it too liberal, and that when they were told it was from the Bible, insisted to their church leaders that “love thy neighbor” was “fine for then, but we’re in a state of emergency right now.”

Mr. Moore was convinced that much of the evil on the right—the harassment, the conspiracism, the thuggery—stemmed from profound existential boredom: “There is such an absence of genuine connection and genuine experience of transcendence in American life right now that people can get a kind of jolt—sort of an artificial simulation of life by hating people and lining up behind a political ideology.”

He brought up “Sloppy Steve” Bannon’s old Dave/Ajax dichotomy from the 2018 film American Dharma: “Dave, in the accounts payable department. He weighs 250 pounds. He drops dead of a heart attack in his cubicle. He’s got a wife and two kids who don’t really know him. Some preacher from a church or some guy from the funeral home that has never met him does a ten-minute eulogy, says a few prayers, and they’ve got one of these perpetual cemeteries, and Dave’s urn goes down there. And that’s Dave. Dave in [a popular online RPG, like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV], he’s Ajax. And Ajax is like the man.”

The trolling and vile behavior MAGA afflicts on the civilized world, Mr. Moore concluded, is the result of Dave feeling radicalized to live as Ajax the Warrior all the time, because it makes their life more interesting or meaningful. I found this an infuriating explanation. It might be true, but the idea that the death threats we had gotten were because someone had become deranged and cruel from boredom and video games makes me want to break their keyboard over my knee and throw their computer monitor out of a window.

If these assholes need to find some meaning so bad, perhaps they should go serve at a food pantry in their spare time.

Mr. Moore warned that people might feel as if they are accomplishing something by experiencing anxiety and giving up hope, instead of moving forward. I honestly had just come out to have a good time and was feeling so attacked right then.

The speakers continued to expound on how important and good it would be to have some popular Christianity that was not under the MAGA heel, which was not oriented towards the worship of a tyrant. I remembered the Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who founded a movement in Nazi Germany opposing the government consolidation of Christianity into one evil German Evangelical Church, was also “drenched” in the rhetoric that resisting a divinely chosen leader was opposition to God. If some American equivalent emerged—some bishop who said that Mr. Trump’s policies went against the moral tenets of Christianity, does anybody believe she would get a fair hearing?

We have already seen that answer. Bishop Mariann Budde pleaded for Mr. Trump to “have mercy on the people in our country who are scared now,” and was called a “nasty” “[R]adical Left hard line Trump hater.” Rep. Mike Collins, a Republican from Georgia, believed the Christian response to this was to “add [her] to the deportation list.”

He seems nice.

So, this is where the Christian Right is now: they would rather jeer the Sermon on the Mount than break ranks with MAGA. We’re fucked.

The Dispatch Live
ft. Steve Hayes, Jonah Goldberg, and Michael Warren of The Dispatch

I have no grudge against The Dispatch, but generally when I want to read some #NeverTrumpers tutting at Mr. Trump over his ersatz Conservative values, I opt for The Bulwark instead. The audience sentiment was similar—while they might have a parasocial relationship with Tim Miller, they kept “Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning” author Jonah Goldberg at arm’s length. To be fair, Mr. Goldberg seemed to feel the same way—he described his pessimism as ‘cutting [him]self every day.”

After the evacuation, however, the panel failed to “meet the moment.” The Dispatch commentators felt rigid and shackled to a script from a pre-bomb threat era. They determined, conclusively, that Mr. Trump is a liar, and that his Alinskyite, mob boss tactics were also making the College Republicans liars, and the whole Conservative movement was now staffed by liars, but maybe some of them were just going along to get along, and might revert to themselves again if only the public were more interested in the old school Federalist Society, not the MAGA-fied current one.

Mr. Goldberg’s acidity made for fine reading whenever I was in the mood to hate-rebuttal The National Review Online back in the day. But I would like to know how he felt about the vigilantes who certainly used to read his blogs and now had him marked for death alongside us, the actual audience who had paid to hear him.

For more than a decade, Mr. Goldberg has cried and warned about the right’s “hucksters,” but never that they were competing for the same marks. I recognize he is an avowed enemy to Trumpism—resigning from the National Review over its support of the president was genuinely admirable—yet also think his frequent protection of the broader reactionary movement’s anti-democratic legacy preserves the components for future Trumps, only equipped with improved vocabularies and temperaments.

And when Mr. Trump’s critics and antagonists are grouped together, Mr. Goldberg has historically positioned himself as better, purer than the rest. I imagine him as Snoop tells Michael near the finale of HBO’s The Wire. Please note the clip contains spoilers for Season 5: “That’s what you say, but it’s how you carry yourself. Always apart, always asking why, when you should be doing [what is right]. You was never one of us, and you never could be. How my hair look?”

I am not so separatist: Mr. Goldberg could be one of us, if he were more honest and willing to admit more fault with his old friends. That includes even the 2011 Federalist Society and his National Review colleagues.

“This panel was perfectly suitable for a podcast format—it could have aired on any generic day when Mr. Trump was being an asshole. But on this one, the liberals, squishy center-right moderates, RINOs, and Conservative defectors were standing alongside Mr. Goldberg, wondering whether someone was going to kill us. And still, he neglected that real solidarity for an imagined one with allies of the regime that had labeled him as another “gay retard[]” at the “cuck convention.”

Keynote Conversation
ft. former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, hosted by former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a combat veteran in the United States Air Force and one of the ten courageous Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting the violent Capitol Insurrection, is the Captain America of the #NeverTrump Cinematic Universe. SNL predicted his coming. The moderator called him “our Ajax [the warrior].”

In fact, filmmaker Steve Pink, who previously directed “The Hot Tub Time Machine,” premiered “THE LAST REPUBLICAN,” one such documentary about him, at Sundance 2024.

Mr. Kinzinger sat, spread his legs like a man straddling two cast-iron cannonballs, chuckled, and issued the hundredth invocation of the late Sen. John McCain’s favorite quote: “It’s always darkest before it gets pitch black.”

Everyone laughed, because in this room, Mr. McCain is a saint, but it is uncomfortable laughter. It is already darkest. What does pitch black look like beyond this? How bad will things become? How ruined can America be made before we are no longer able to survive it?

Mr. Kinzinger’s Country First PAC recently put out a video titled No Fear—the exact antidote to MAGA terrorism. “Fear is the tool for those who lack real strength,” he says, a theme he revisits frequently. A missed opportunity to collaborate with the clothing brand or energy drink. Mr. Kinzinger, this would be my favorite crossover event. Do it.

Lately, I have been thinking about an anime that, of all people, President Elon Musk recommended, called “Neon Genesis Evangelion.” A fourteen-year-old boy is conscripted to pilot a giant robot against invading extradimensional aliens. More like an actual child than a traditional cartoon hero, the psychological stress is too much for the boy, and he frequently breaks down crying that he “must not run away.”

Many viewers mock the character for this impotence, but it cuts into something human. Mr. Kinzinger embodies the opposite of this, as depicted in the Fox ADHD parody video, “Michael Bay’s Evangelion,” which shows the same character as a Johnny Bravo meathead who confronts danger head-on and with relish.

Mr. Kinzinger said of Mr. Trump’s paramilitary: “What a bunch of fucking sissies those guys are…. [I]f your total existence… you have now decided that you are going to try to intimidate people who come together and say, ‘We want to put principles first. Yes, we oppose your political movement. Sorry, guys, but here is what we want;’—and you… think that you’re going to intimidate us—guess what? You will not. And there is nothing you can do that will intimidate me. In fact, I have just decided to be twice as worse against you because of that. That is why I think it is so important that you all stuck around and stayed here. You can threaten us. You can try to belittle us. You can try to playact like you are a bunch of brown shirts. But guess what? You are not going to win. We are going to win.”

A passionate speech, to be sure. It echoes Lt. Ellis Carver’s famous “We get to win” speech on HBO’s The Wire:

“Hey, listen to me, you little fucking piece of shit! I’m going to tell you one thing, and one thing only about the… boys you are playing with! We do not lose, and we do not forget, and we do not give up. Ever! So, I’m only going to say this one time. If you march your ass out here right now and put the bracelets on, we will not kick the living shit out of you. But if you make us… come back…, I swear to fucking Christ, we will beat you longer and harder that you beat your own dick. Because you do not get to win, shitbird—we do.”

To be clear: Lt. Carver never won the War on Drugs. It rages to this day.

I wanted to raise my fist alongside Mr. Kinzinger and shout: “hell yeah!” I refrained, not because I thought it would be indecorous (much of the crowd did put their fists in the air and cheer) but because his taunt had some things wrong. These Proud Boys were not “play-acting” brownshirts. They are functionally indistinguishable from the Nazi Sturmabteilung. And while I generally believe that the universe bends towards justice and MAGA will, one day, be dismantled and consigned to history as one of America’s greatest shames, victory is not guaranteed when the should-be victorious are weak, as the Democratic Party has become. It has already taken overlong—many people have been hurt and there will still be years more suffering. Everybody who goes into this fight is not promised to live to the end.

Mr. Kinzinger described Mr. Trump as the product of a country that wanted to “break the system,” then, without specific support, laid out a cycle in which America “flirts with fascism” every few decades but in the past, we “fortunately” had “responsible” leaders who “played with fire” (the fire being authoritarianism) and, in their wisdom, put it away after it served its purpose and before it could do major damage.

An eyebrow-raising assertion. I think nobody should be playing with these fires. Politicians wielding this “populist nationalism” as a tool and rationalizing that they could control it and disperse it when finished, are exactly the agents of the Republican Party’s transformation into a fascist party. This worries me to hear from someone calling for a “Tea Party” moment but with a coalition of Democrats, centrist independents, and former Republicans. I am not entirely sure what mass movement of angry moderates might look like, but I want to be sure none of them are comfortable with the same forces which corrupted the GOP.

Mr. Kinzinger, while insisting he was not running for any office, unsubtly hinted that he “wouldn’t say no” to being on a ticket as a Democrat if they welcomed him. I can live with that—he will certainly end up serving in some future Democratic cabinet—so long as he remembers that he will be serving Democratic voters. None of that proto-MAGA shit the first Tea Party brought in. He speculated that there would be a time in history when everybody would deny having supported Mr. Trump. When that day comes, will he remember what values infused Democrats which helped them resist that autocratic lure from day one? Or will he return to promoting the same austerity and militarism which never fails to birth villains?

Mr. Kinzinger praised town halls as the engine for this “non-ideological” pro-democracy, pro-unity Tea Party, and said that while Republican members of Congress only fear Mr. Trump now, their calculus could shift when they are confronted by their own constituents and become afraid of them, too.

Mr. Kinzinger’s suggestion only works so long as the Republican National Committee does not forbid its members from attending those town halls, which it has done. These congressmen refuse to go where their constituents might advise them of the hardships that Mr. Trump’s poor governance and DOGE’s reckless cuts have caused. So long as they never hear negative feedback, they can continue to feign unawareness of the horrors they are enabling. (See: “Do they really not know or are they merely making believe?”)

A particularly strong point Mr. Kinzinger made—if, as a member of Congress, he funds Americans serving in the armed forces and giving their lives for the country’s cause, then he (and by extension, anyone else in the Congress) ought to also be willing to sacrifice his career and give up his office for the same cause. He showed he had the name of a friend who died in Iraq on a bracelet and said that his friend did not die so that politicians can avoid having primary opponents.

Mr. Kinzinger pitched his Substack a few times. I made sure I was subscribed (on the free plan). For all we talk about needing a “Democratic Joe Rogan,” I think the antidote to the psychic damage the Twitter and TikTok eras have done to the electorate is this very medium, the old-school blog. Which means you, Dear Reader, are on the right side of history. Though I suppose if you made it this far into the report, you must be either that or the most dedicated hater I will ever meet.

Mr. Kinzinger cannot be called inauthentic, unlike many Democrats who are fighting Mr. Trump less and have kept their seats. He communicates with fans, supporters, and all patriotic citizens who still listen to sense, in long-form newsletters daily. I understand it is unfashionable in 2025 to cite Broadway’s “Hamilton” (which recently canceled a run at the Kennedy Center to protest Mr. Trump’s takeover). Still, Mr. Kinzinger is unironically “writing like [he’s] running out of time. Write day and night like [he’s] running out of time. Every day [he] fight[s] like he’s running out of time… like tomorrow won’t arrive… like history has its eyes on [him].”

I am jealous of his output; I think if I did nothing but stare at the keyboard every day, I could accomplish only half that and without the affability. I have a far more cautious, anxious manner.

Before the panel ended, the former congressman and hero re-enacted the time in 2006 that he saved a woman’s life from a knife-wielding maniac in an alley. He described that he had resolved himself to kill the man if it came to it, and that he had to make a concrete choice to risk being injured because the alternative was that he could not live with himself. He was awarded the United States Air Force Airman’s Medal for his bravery that day.

I would still characterize myself as more craven than that, but each time I consider destroying this blog and wearing a MAGA cap, going-along-to-get-along with the fascists, keeping the heat off, and letting my dissidence be inside thoughts, I end up at the same conclusion. Mr. Trump’s corruption of everything good in America and the ceaseless, stupid harm he does to the innocent and the vulnerable, is too overt to pretend I do not see it. As such, I have a moral obligation to be an asshole and run my mouth about the president.

If the next bomb is real, and I do die because I would not shut up—then what? I have written endings to this line—and they are all very cool!—but nothing feels conclusive. I have tried:

• “Then that, too, will indict the Mandarin Mussolini.”

• “Then let history know I did my best.”

• “Then the world will see that the opposition was sincere—and maybe catch the fire of #resistance again.”

• “Then all the world’s women will weep.”

• “Then I hope my work helped build a kinder world—for my family, my friends, my pets, my people, and my congressman.”

It feels more complex than that. Political mass violence is not something that creates meaning. It makes the world more senseless. I am still haunted by Mona Charen’s observation: “[N]ow, of course, [the MAGA mythology] doesn’t say why God didn’t turn Corey Comperatore’s head.” The American people do not become redeemed because some politicos and nearby bloggers died for speaking the truth, especially not when the capital-T-Truth is as fucking obvious as Mr. “Trump Is a Bitch” (available at the Partisan Hex webstore).

Closing Remarks & Press Conference re Bomb Threat

by Heath Mayo

Principles First founder Heath Mayo called the weekend “inspirational,” and thanked the speakers, volunteers, hotel staff, and the police department. He urged us to leave hopeful about the country, saying he looked forward to us “writing a fresh new chapter” together. I wondered if he paid less attention to the speakers than I had. Mr. Mayo reiterated that we would not bend the knee, which I, and the rest of the audience, applauded. He repeated the truism that “there’s more that unites us than divides us”—more kitschy than accurate—but for the first time in my life, I do feel somewhat united with (a small set of) Republicans.

There was a word no one at the Summit used, though it flitted at the edge of my consciousness all weekend. It finally emerged: if we are critics of the state, insulted by its leaders, harassed by its agents, and threatened by its loyal paramilitaries, we are not an opposition party or activists, I am not only a blogger or an essayist or satirist. We are dissidents.

From the Latin dissidere, meaning “to sit apart,” this is not a typical label in the United States. It evokes people whose politics put them in deep shit in police states, who end up in gulags (like America now has), become exiles, and must hide from authorities.

Our pro-democracy faction lost the 2024 election by trying to preserve the institutions that are now being dismantled and weaponized against us. The Democratic Party, in its own way, now finds itself in the same place as the #NeverTrumpers—except while they were only cut out of their party, now we are severed from the national consensus and civic contract.

After the closing remarks, the Partisan Hex credential entitled me to attend the press conference addressing the bomb scare. Heath Mayo, Adam Kinzinger, Michael Fanone, Harry Dunn, Mona Charen, and Sarah Longwell stood together, arms crossed, defiant. I wished all the attendees could have seen the assemblage of The Bulwark’s Avengers.

Ms. Charen was by far the toughest looking among them. She did not come to the microphone herself, so I assume she was the muscle. There is no sarcasm or shade here—alongside two police officers and a veteran who had only just finished describing how he fought a man with a knife, she projected an equal level of strength.

Mr. Mayo characterized the conference as being a gathering of people “concerned about the direction of our country,” which felt comically understated, and said that the ultimate purpose of the event was to call for the Constitution and equal protection under the law to be put back into the center of our politics. He then “threw some shade” when talking about the security situation, reminding the reporters that Enrique Tarrio had only been recently pardoned by President Donald Trump and released from a 22-year sentence for multiple felonies, including seditious conspiracy, setting fire to and vandalizing property of historic Black churches, and possessing illegal high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Mr. Mayo then explained that, in addition to the hotel receiving a bomb threat, John Bolton and Mr. Fanone’s mother’s homes also had to be swept for explosives. “This goes to show that we cannot be cowed by these threats of political violence,” he said, which was appropriately courageous.

I had a follow-up to that written, which I did not ask. I did not want to undermine their stance by suggesting the worst possible version of events. “You say we cannot be cowed, but also thanked the Fairfax, Washington, DC, and Montgomery County police departments for securing the hotel and speakers’ homes. In the event the DC police are instructed to no longer provide that support for this administration’s enemies, could we be cowed then?”

I do not believe this to be a doomerist sentiment. I think it is smart to hold onto two different realities when evaluating the current American crises: one where the rule of law protects you, and one where it does not. Both seem equally likely at any given point in time.

Mr. Mayo described this intimidation as a tactic used “not in the United States, but in other authoritarian countries.” Was this an intentional statement, or did he mean “in other countries, authoritarian countries?” I am not trying to be a smartass grammarian here—although that is something I am known to dabble in. Because the United States may now be authoritarian country, it would be correct and fair to acknowledge it verbally.

Mr. Fanons detailed that his mother, sister, and ex-wife have been threatened “numerous” times in recent months, and that his loved ones undergo another round of swatting, threatening phone calls, e-mails, and text messages, “each and every time [he] speaks [publicly].” He then said he wanted “the American people to know this has been [his] life for the past four years… not a recent development.” When asked if he had a message for Mr. Trump, Mr. Fanone said he stood by his “previous remarks,” which he clarified to mean the president should go fuck himself. I remain stunned that the Party of [terrorist] Family Values has also decided that this man’s mother is somehow “fair game” for whatever the fuck it is they are doing.

A reporter suggested that the press should ask about these “activities,” which are “abhorrent to all Americans,” at a White House press conference, and demand the president “go on the record” and “repudiate” the behavior. One could feel the auras of everybody on the stage shift as they looked at each other, biting their lips and resisting the urge to snicker or say something sarcastic.

Mr. Mayo said that he hoped law enforcement would investigate the incident to the fullest extent of the law. If this were a sitcom, the laugh track would have played. He then acknowledged that “the rule of law” is an “open question” now, which is scary, not snark. Referencing again the factoid that Mr. Tarrio was loosed from jail by the president, Mr. Mayo said “that’s a conversation the country needs to have.” He said that what the press needs ask is: “Are the prosecutors who are responsible for prosecuting this individual, whoever made the bomb threat, are the law enforcement officials charged with finding and securing the safety of the public, are they going to enforce our laws even-handedly, regardless of what the political views were of the individual who committed this—sent this e-mail?”

In nuce: Is Trump’s paramilitary sanctioned by law to freely terrorize his critics?

Like I said: we are dissidents, not opposition.

“If they think this is going to intimidate us into stopping,” Mr. Dunn said, “Good luck.” Later, he expanded: “We’re not naïve to think these individuals aren’t dangerous… they can be. We saw what they did on January 6. They were sentenced for it…. [W]e’re [not] walking around with our heads up our asses just oblivious to what’s going on around us.” “[Former FBI Director] Christopher Wray called them domestic terrorists. The goal of a terrorist is to create and incite fear and disruption, so we are feared—intimidated into stopping. That means they win.” He then evoked President George W. Bush, who has mostly refrained from condemning MAGA domestic terrorists. “But we’re not going to let terrorists win. We’re not going to do it…. Standing up and speaking out and inspiring is a little bit more helpful than not.”

Mr. Kinzinger described the Proud Boys as “cowards,” “who [had] to show up and yell to try to get their little viral moment.” He said that “none of [them] will be intimidated,” not even his wife (you can follow her on Substack), that “what they’re hoping for is we get a little nervous and maybe we do a little less and that’s how they intimidate, that’s [how] this… militia side of it works, they want to scare you. But in the heart of it, they are absolute cowards.” I go back and forth on Mr. Kinzinger’s name-calling. In some ways, it feels a bit lazy (unlike mine, which is arduous), on the other, it upsets the people who deserve to be upset. So, while not to my own taste as a humorist, I think, from a purely utilitarian perspective, I support Mr. Kinzinger roasting these motherfuckers every chance he gets.

Ms. Longwell was asked if people at her organization, The Bulwark, had been the targets of any specific danger. She explained: “There is nobody who has spoken out about Donald Trump who doesn’t receive threats. It’s just a constant way that his fervent supporters engage with people who oppose him.”

I already knew this, you already knew this, every journalist and politician already knows this. But Lord, when did this become so matter of fact a description of reality? “There’s not a lot of people who haven’t had the FBI show up at their house over something.”

Public figures have lived in a persistent environment of fear for ten years now—it has been so normalized that Ms. Longwell sounded almost bored of explaining it. “We all get a lot of questions about go bags and people being afraid and… changing behavior as a result of the fact that Trump is saying he’s going to seek retribution [on his critics].” “The one thing we wanted to communicate today was exemplified by the fact that people returned here after the threat is that we are not going to let them chill the civic spaces that we exist in to oppose what’s going on. We’re not. So, the threats can—people can send e-mails.”

Wait, no, I would prefer they not send any emails. That should stop. Why can’t we even pretend it will be stopped?

Ms. Longwell, like many others over the weekend, clarified Mr. Trump’s pardon of the January 6 rioters was an “implicit endorsement of that behavior… and the one thing we can do is refuse to be intimidated by it.”

I would suggest it was an explicit one. I had a question written down for Ms. Longwell, but decided after she ended on such a bold and powerful note that it would again seem too undermining to ask.

“You say we won’t let them chill civic spaces, and I understand you will not let them take away venues you have already rented for the weekend or organizations you control, but what happens when they have successfully intimidated the hotels, the churches, the community centers, the libraries?” Because that is part of it too. Perhaps the Marriott next year decides to rent to a wedding, and not a now-controversial conference of political rebels where they have to court the news media and bomb squads. Perhaps Enrique Tarrio does return, and this time he harangues a bellhop and makes them go viral, ruining their life instead of that of a conference guest.

I think often about my first time seeing political violence on the news and comprehending it. A month before the September 11, 2001, fall of the World Trade Center towers, during the Second Intifada, a Sbarro in Jerusalem was destroyed by a suicide bomber. 130 people were injured, 16 killed. I remember it because I had recently been to a Sbarro in a shopping mall and complained bitterly about how it was the worst pizza I had ever eaten, so seeing the same chain be the sight of such carnage made clear the horror of having the mundane become violent.

This danger ripples outwards, and bystanders can and do become victims. So, I am glad that Ms. Longwell is brave, that Mr. Kinzinger is prepared to fight. But many people who might disapprove of the administration or want to lend their voice and insight to the national dialogue have to make different moral calculations. Can I afford to speak out, for instance, if I am renting a room to a tenant with mobility issues, who may not be able to evacuate without assistance? If I have a family member in the hospital and cannot afford to spend time being threatened by Proud Boys while also being present for loved ones? If I have an unexpected and expensive car repair that leaves me begging friends for rides to work, is it high-risk to pen a newspaper editorial without my own means of egress?

“They tried to scare us, but we came back” is the story the conference organizers wanted to tell. It was an important one, but ties it up too tidily for my liking. I keep fixating on the realization that we had to weigh our lives at all, balance safety against truth. To reiterate: I came to this thing because, as a partisan Democrat, I wanted to write jokes about Republicans-in-exile. It never occurred to me that I should have told my loved ones goodbye.

Mr. Trump’s America is dangerous. Recognizing ourselves as dissidents in a hostile landscape is, I think, crucial to avoid letting this misery normalize. This should not have been a scary or controversial weekend. I should not have had to ask myself questions about my relationships with courage or death. Going to watch George Conway talk about the Constitution is supposed to be boring. Separation of powers and the rule of law should be dull. The exchange of opinions ought to be mundane and safe. Something has come loose, irreparably, in our national fabric. These guys—Chris Christie? Bill Kristol? Chris Cillizza? These institutionalist moderates write for Substack, record podcasts, round out CNN and MSNBC panels as their day jobs. They should not now start to look like some revolutionary rebellion. This was a set of civics panels in a hotel ballroom. If this is something the regime cannot permit, then it is likely too late to reverse the nation’s ruin.

fin.

post-script

It has now been more than a month since the events of the Summit, and I am only just nearing completion of this report. This is unacceptably late, and I apologize. To justify my meandering procrastination, I told myself that some distance from that weekend could help me establish more objectivity, less hysteria toward the state of the nation. To the contrary: my brain has been running hot since January 20, 2025—that date which shall forever live in infamy—and the pace of reality has not, and I believe may never, give it time to cool.

During the conference, many speakers issued many warnings. It is clear now that none were overblown. This administration is deporting legal residents for speech, detaining and torturing Hispanic-American citizens, sending asylum-seekers to a penal colony nobody has ever returned from for having the wrong tattoos, and doing so in defiance of court orders (which was established repeatedly over the weekend as “the red line”). Ukraine has been betrayed. The United States is threatening to annex Canada. History is being erased. The civil service has been purged and the Justice Department is being weaponized to target political enemies. America may already be too deep into its authoritarian slide to be easily halted.

And—to my chagrin, the Democratic Party, while still the only institution that can be used to put a stop to this evil (electorally), has proven to be insufficiently prepared for this conflict. Leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer double-booked protecting America with book tours.

A month later, I also still do not know where we who want to #resist ought to go next. There is little “action” to be done from the keyboard that feels meaningful, and I would, of course, advise readers to stay the fuck away from anyone who wants to set Tesla Cybertrucks on fire.

There is real darkness coalescing still, and if Principles First’s lighthouse logo is not quite bright enough to break it, flashy violence will only serve to make our night vision worse.

A core theme I was supposed to take away from these lectures was to “be not afraid,” but after another month of digesting that message, I cannot agree. We should be frightened. Failing to recognize that threats of force and persecution are being deliberately mustered is to misunderstand the apocalyptic nature of the moment. Resisting fear, I think, risks placing someone into a state of indolent patience or delusion, where danger can seem like drama. Instead, resent it.

Preramble

Friday

Reception

Saturday

Check-in, Opening Remarks by Heath Mayo, President and Founder of Principles First

What the Voters Said: Assessing 2024 ft. Chris Cillizza, “So What” Newsletter; Simon Rosenberg, “Hopium Chronicles” Newsletter; and Billy Binion, Reason Magazine

Keynote Conversation ft. Asa Hutchinson, former Arkansas governor, hosted by Noah Rothman of National Review

The Politics of Principle: Building a Governing Majority ft. former Congressman Joe Walsh, Norm Eisen of State Democracy Defenders Fund, Nick Troiano of Unite America, and Julia Spiegel of Governors Action Alliance

Keynote Conversation ft. businessman Mark Cuban, hosted by Principles First founder and president Heath Mayo

Keynote Conversation ft. former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Steve Hayes of The Dispatch

Keynote Conversation ft. former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, hosted by former Florida Solicitor General Amit Agarwal

The Thin Blue Line and the Big Lie ft. Daniel Hodges of the Metropolitan Police Department, and former Capitol Police Officers Aquilino Gonnell, Michael Fanone, and Harry Dunn

Superpower or Spectator? America’s Grand Strategy ft. Bill Kristol of Defending Democracy Together, Tom Nichols of The Atlantic, and Garry Kasparov of World Liberty Congress

The Next Level: A Live Podcast ft. The Bulwark’s Sarah Longwell and Tim Miller

Principles First Profile in Courage Award: Sgt. Aquilino Gonnell

Sunday

Checks, Balances, and Breaking Points: Can the Constitution Hold? ft. George Conway of the Society for the Rule of Law, former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig, and former Congresswoman Barbara Comstock

Market Economics: Busting Protectionist Myths Since 1776 ft. Bob Buschman of Georgia State University, Veronique de Rugy of George Mason University, and Bryan Riley of the National Taxpayers Union

Keynote Conversation ft. Colorado Governor Jared Polis, hosted by Tim Miller of The Bulwark

The Law Enforcement and National Security Battlefield ft. Asha Rangappa of Yale University, former FBI Assistant Director Frank Figliuzzi, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenn Kirschner

Keynote Remarks by former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele

Bomb Threat (instead of Keynote Conversation) ft. former National Security Advisor John Bolton.

Keynote Conversation ft. former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, hosted by Marine and businessman Michael Wood

CHRISTIANITY IN CRISIS: Trump, Politics, and the Future of Faith ft. Mona Charen of The Bulwark, David French of The New York Times, and Russell Moore of The After Party

The Dispatch Live ft. Steve Hayes, Jonah Goldberg, and Michael Warren of The Dispatch

Keynote Conversation ft. former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, hosted by former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer

Closing Remarks & Press Conference re Bomb Threat by Heath Mayo

post-script