CPAC: Nikki Haley calls out Republicans’ failure to win voters’ confidence – live

The big question for ‘hardcore Maga’ of CPAC: how does Trump’s popularity endure?

Many, many things have changed in American politics since 2016, but one thing has stayed the same – Donald Trump’s position as the most popular man in the Republican party.

He’s been in a commanding position among Republicans ever since clinching its presidential nomination more than six years ago, and that dynamic hasn’t meaningfully changed in the years since. Case in point: the latest batch of opinion polls show him essentially blowing all the other potential contenders for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination out of the water.

As Sebastian Gorka made clear at the start of today’s events, CPAC is very much a convention of the “hardcore Maga”. Trump speaks tomorrow, but his most powerful presumed challenger next year, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, isn’t showing up at all. Instead, CPAC attendees will today hear from Nikki Haley, who is running next year, and Mike Pompeo, Trump’s former secretary of state who is expected to launch a campaign.

CPAC attracts conservatives from across the country. We’ll try to let you know what they think of Trump’s challengers, and whether they agree that – after all that’s happened – he remains the best man to lead the GOP.

Updated at 10.17 EST

Key events

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Rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene just held an impromptu question and answer session with a group of reporters at CPAC – who therefore paid little attention to Kimberly Guilfoyle’s speech from the nearby stage.

The Guardian asked the first couple of questions. Greene, an influential figure in the House of Representative, said: “I think the US should be pushing for peace in Ukraine instead of funding and continuing a war that seems to be escalating and putting the entire world at risk of world war three.”

The Republican from Georgia called for US funding to cease immediately. “Look, I voted for the resolution to support the Ukrainian people and against what Russia has done invading their country. But what the United States is doing is we are actually accelerating a war there and this war should be over.

“We should be promoting peace. Europe should have peace and the United States should do their part. Ukraine is not a Nato member nation and Joe Biden said in the beginning he would not defend Ukraine because they’re not a Nato member nation. It doesn’t make sense and the American people do not support it.”

Later Greene added that Biden is more interested in Ukraine’s border than America’s own or the victims of a toxic rail disaster in East Palestine, Ohio. She also floated an unfounded conspiracy theory that Biden’s son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine is likely underpinning the president’s motivations there.

“Does that play a role in Joe Biden’s commitment to Zelenskiy as if Zelinskiy and Ukraine is the 51st state of the United States of America?… Is that why we’re all going to be dragged into World War three? And I’m sorry, I’m not going on that train and most Americans – pretty much everyone I talk to – is not interested in that either.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) (R) greets an attendee during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), in Maryland. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

In the final days of the Trump administration, after he had lost the 2020 election, then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo declared that “there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”

Pompeo seems to have acknowledged reality in the years since, and stated the grim truth about the GOP’s recent election record in his speech at CPAC today. Here’s a clip:

He later appeared to throw some shade at his former boss:

Still no word yet from Pompeo on whether he plans to run for the GOP nomination next year.

The day so far

At the Conservative Political Action Conference today, Republicans who are not Donald Trump are trying their best to convince the audience to give them a shot in 2024. Up first was his former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, who argued that the GOP’s struggle to win the popular vote in recent elections is a sign the party needs a change in leadership. And then she walked out of the speech venue to crowds of conservatives chanting “Trump! Trump! Trump!” That’s how it goes when you’re not on his side at a conference were Maga rules supreme. We’ll see if candidate Vivek Ramaswamy or Mike Pompeo, who hasn’t announced a run for president yet but is seen as a potential candidate, have better luck with the crowd.

Here’s a recap of the day’s events:

CPAC is a tough place for Republicans who are not on Donald Trump’s side.

Following her speech, Nikki Haley stepped outside the venue to greet conservative attendees – who made their preference for next year’s GOP presidential nomination clear, as this video from Bloomberg News shows:

The parade of speeches by former Trump officials continues with Mike Pompeo, who served as secretary of state from 2018 to 2021.

He’s thought to be considering a run for the White House next year, but hasn’t yet said one way or the other. Let’s hear what he has to say.

Nikki Haley has a tall order in overcoming the former president’s popularity among Republicans.

The latest polls have shown her support well below that of Trump’s. Here’s one from Yahoo News/YouGov, which shows Trump in the lead with 45% support, against Haley’s 4%.

Haley, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, is surely aware of where she would end up if the Republican primary were held today. As she closed out her speech, she appealed to the audience to consider an alternative to the former president.

“We’ve lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. Our cause is right, but we have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans. That ends now. If you’re tired of losing, then put your trust in a new generation. And if you want to win – not just as a party, but as a country – then stand with me,” Haley said.

Nikki Haley is now on stage at CPAC, and started her stump speech off by reiterating her call for politicians over the age of 75 to take a mental competency test.

“When I launched my campaign, I said every politician over 75 years old should be required to take a mental competency test. Have you seen DC lately? We should start with Joe Biden – and we shouldn’t stop there,” she said. The last part seemed to stir a murmur of disapproval from the audience, considering that Donald Trump is 76, and would also be subject to one of these tests.

Many seats noticeably empty.

Updated at 14.50 EST

At their retreat in Baltimore this week, House Democrats voiced enthusiasm about Joe Biden‘s likely reelection campaign, with the president expected to formally announce his 2024 bid in the next several weeks.

“I think he will win. I think he’s our strongest candidate,” congressman Pete Aguilar, the House Democratic caucus chair, said Thursday at an event with Punchbowl News. Aguilar added, “I think that he can and should run, and he’s going to have the support of the House Democratic caucus.”

Even House progressives, who have previously clashed with Biden over policy concerns, appear to be rallying behind the president. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Thursday that she hopes Biden will announce his reelection campaign sooner rather than later.

“Nobody is surprised that Biden was not my choice in the first election for the primary,” Jayapal said. “But the CPC and the President and his administration have formed an incredibly strong partnership.”

Ramon Antonio Vargas

The mayor of a Maryland city has resigned after authorities arrested him on charges of possessing and distributing images of child sexual abuse, according to multiple reports.

Patrick Wojahn, 47, had been the mayor of College Park since 2015 and, before that, a member of the city council there for eight years when he was arrested Thursday. He had submitted his resignation later the previous night, as the local news outlet WBAL reported, but that did little to head off the scandal that his arrest ignited, drawing headlines nationally.

Charging documents cited by the local news station WTOP accused Wojahn of using an anonymous account to upload child abuse imagery to the mobile messaging application Kik in January. Kik officials then alerted the federal missing and exploited children center, which prompted police to subpoena internet service providers’ records that linked the uploads to Wojahn.

Local county investigators searched Wojahn’s home in February, and they seized cell phones, a tablet, a computer and a storage device before Thursday’s arrest.

Wojahn faces 40 counts of possessing child abuse imagery and 16 of distributing it.

College Park has a population of about 35,000 and is just northeast of Washington DC. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wojahn’s arrest shocked the city’s residents.

Local resident Drake Allen said he feared the scandal showed that College Park was “headed in the wrong direction”.

“I don’t know if this is going to wake anybody up. It should, but it probably won’t,” Allen said, before describing how he wishes Wojahn’s successor is “just a regular mayor who does his job.”

On stage at CPAC now is Donald Trump Jr, who came bearing gifts.

“There’s a little surprise for all of you,” he told the audience. “Check under your seats. If there happens to be a gold chocolate bar underneath there … that’s a VIP ticket to my father’s reception tomorrow at CPAC,” the former president’s son said.

Wonder what Roald Dahl would think of that.

Updated at 12.40 EST