Takeaways from Day 2 of CPAC 2026
By Eric Bradner, Steve Contorno, CNN
Grapevine, Texas (CNN) — The Conservative Political Action Conference’s annual gathering in Texas — like most of its meetings over the last decade — was largely a pro-President Donald Trump pep rally.
But several moments over CPAC’s first two days made clear that there are also rifts on the right that couldn’t be smoothed over among the activists gathered just outside Dallas. And with Trump skipping this year, and term-limited out of office in 2028, conservatives are beginning to grapple with those divides, and with broader questions about where the movement the president built will go once Trump himself departs.
On stage and in the crowd, the Texas Senate primary runoff between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton was a hot topic. But the possibility that Trump will weigh in with a race-altering endorsement ahead of the May 26 runoff loomed over the proceedings.
Several moments laid bare the right’s rift over Trump’s decision to wage war on Iran, with speakers warning attendees that the president’s actions might draw many more American troops into a drawn-out conflict in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, divisions among several of the most prominent media figures aligned with the “Make America Great Again” movement — over the United States’ relationship with Israel, the killing of Charlie Kirk, his legacy and more — couldn’t be ignored.
“What’s important is not Candace and Tucker and Megyn Kelly, or Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro,” said Steve Bannon, the former Trump strategist-turned-podcast host who was nodding at the sharp barbs those commentators have fired at each other in recent weeks.
“What’s important is you,” he said. “You need to come to your own conclusion, to weigh and measure the evidence, to think about the direction of this republic, to think about what America first actually stands for, to think about who are real allies and who are out for themselves.”
Here are other key takeaways from CPAC’s second day:
Cornyn-Paxton race takes center stage
On Friday afternoon, CPAC senior fellow Mercedes Schlapp asked the crowd gathered in Texas who they intended to vote for in the May 26 Republican primary runoff between Cornyn and Paxton.
Paxton’s name was met with a loud cheer.
Then Cornyn got muted boos.
“That explains why he’s not coming,” Schlapp quipped about the four-term senator.
Paxton was set to be the featured speaker at a CPAC dinner Friday night. However, the Texas attorney general hardly needed to make the case for himself after several speakers did so on stage throughout the day.
Bannon, the Trump 2016 campaign veteran and former White House chief strategist who now hosts a podcast, said Paxton is “emblematic of the grassroots of the MAGA movement across the nation.”
Trump has not yet endorsed a candidate ahead of the runoff, despite urging from many Republicans in Washington to back Cornyn to head off an expensive clash and better position the party to defeat Democratic nominee James Talarico in November.
Paxton has been working to keep Trump from endorsing Cornyn. He traveled to Florida last week to attend a Palm Beach County GOP gala held at Mar-a-Lago. He was seen mingling with guests, including speaking briefly with Trump, a source familiar with the exchange told CNN, as the president’s decision about getting involved in the race remains up in the air.
Bannon, like Schlapp, jabbed at Cornyn’s absence in North Texas.
“Cornyn’s not coming. You know why? He didn’t think you were important enough to talk to,” Bannon said.
On stage with Schlapp, reality television star Todd Chrisley told the crowd he plans to vote for Paxton in the runoff, despite the attorney general’s history of corruption allegations and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, filing for divorce last year and alleging infidelity.
“I don’t care who Ken sleeps with. I like who he is,” Chrisley said.
Attendees waiting on Trump in Senate race
Still, at least some attendees at CPAC who live in Texas said they were waiting to see if Trump would weigh in on the Cornyn-Paxton primary battle.
Jacenta Sims of McKinney told CNN that Paxton was “no choir boy” but said he has “100% stood by Trump” and she anticipated that matters most to many Texas Republican voters.
Xavier Heim and Molly Sawyer, engaged 39-year-olds who live in Grapevine, said they voted for Paxton in the March primary but are undecided on who to support in the runoff.
Heim, an airline pilot, said he wasn’t sure if a Trump endorsement would affect their votes. But Sawyer, a flight attendant, said she would watch to see who law enforcement, veterans’ groups and faith-based organizations supported.
“I’m not going choose the same candidate just because I voted from the first time. I want to do my research and make sure that I vote for the best possible candidate for Texas,” Sawyer said.
Heim said he would’ve liked to hear from Cornyn at CPAC as well.
“I always love to hear from both candidates, if possible, but … the information’s out there, the track record’s out there,” he said. “Find the lesser of two evils.”
Sawyer said a top priority was a candidate who could win in November.
“Somebody who seems like the most viable to beat Talarico,” she said.
A split over Iran
If Thursday’s calls for unity at CPAC masked some of the internal tension over Trump’s war with Iran, Friday’s program exposed a divide that could splinter the GOP ahead of the November midterm elections.
Erik Prince, the founder of the private military company formerly known as Blackwater, expressed his deep reservations about the war and issued a stunning warning to the CPAC crowd.
“You will see imagery of burning American warships in the next couple of weeks,” he said.
Prince, a controversial figure for Blackwater’s work during past Middle East wars, warned that few militaries in history have had success conquering Iran, saying: “I don’t share the optimism of the administration that there’s going to be a peaceful stop to this.”
His pessimism was quickly rebutted on stage by Ric Grenell, the Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions of the United States. Grenell countered Prince by predicting the threat of Iran will be eliminated and gas prices would soon fall.
“Is it messy in the short term? Of course,” Grenell said. “I think we’re going to look back in a couple of months and say, ‘Thank God that we fixed this problem. The Iranian regime is not a threat any longer.’”
The debate has been much discussed among attendees in Grapevine, with age becoming a defining determinator of which side people tend to fall on. Younger conservatives at CPAC resoundingly oppose military intervention, while older Republicans are more reflexively supportive.
Michael Reaud of Beaumont, who started the Trump Tribe of Texas and wore a glittery “T” on his chest, told CNN he trusts Trump “wholeheartedly” and would back him through the miltiary operation.
“Iran needs to be held accountable,” Reaud said, “and after that he’s going to put us Americans first again.”
Bannon brought his skepticism of the war to CPAC, too, where he is broadcasting his influential War Room show.
Speaking to the crowd in a speech cheekily labeled “Peace Room,” Bannon said it was important for conservatives to talk about this because their sons, daughters and grandchildren could soon be sent to the frontlines.
“It’s a debate that has to happen,” Bannon said.
Speakers target transgender people, Muslims, Democrats
The culture wars ran hot over CPAC’s first two days, with a long line of speakers wading into divisive debates and the audience’s cheers making clear that those battles continue to animate Trump’s base.
Their prominence was clear from the opening address, when Rev. Franklin Graham — son of the legendary evangelist Billy Graham — told attendees: “You’re on a mission to fight against the woke culture, critical race theory, transgender ideology, everything else that threatens to infect our families and churches and workplaces and schools with godless anti-American agenda.”
The two most frequent targets were transgender people and Muslims.
On Friday, during a panel dubbed “Don’t Sharia My Texas,” a group of panelists decried the state’s growing Muslim community.
Bo French, a candidate for Texas railroad commissioner, said that as opposed to extremism, “the problem is actually Islam.”
CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp and conservative commentator Michael Knowles cast the upcoming midterm elections and the 2028 presidential race in stark terms during their own discussion.
“They decided they’ve embraced Marxism, totalitarianism, woke-ism, secularism,” Schlapp said of Democrats.
CNN’s Arlette Saenz, David Wright and Jeff Simon contributed to this report.
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