<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Hey đđż I don't usually forward stuff but this is a good read from Jacobin. Sometimes I feel like we get muzzled since we are accused of being politically correct. Interesting thoughts !<br><br>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><br>Begin forwarded message:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><b>From:</b> Romy Ilano <<a href="mailto:romy.ilano@gmail.com">romy.ilano@gmail.com</a>><br><b>Date:</b> February 24, 2017 at 12:47:56 PM PST<br><b>To:</b> Romy Ilano <<a href="mailto:romy@snowyla.com">romy@snowyla.com</a>><br><b>Subject:</b> <b>Milo and the Mainstream | Jacobin</b><br><br></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><base href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/02/milo-yiannopoulos-cpac-conservatives-alt-right/"><style id="print">
@media print {
body {
margin: 2mm 9mm;
}
.original-url {
display: none;
}
#article .float.left {
float: left !important;
}
#article .float.right {
float: right !important;
}
#article .float {
margin-top: 0 !important;
margin-bottom: 0 !important;
}
}
</style><title>Milo and the Mainstream | Jacobin</title><div class="original-url"><br><a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/02/milo-yiannopoulos-cpac-conservatives-alt-right/">https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/02/milo-yiannopoulos-cpac-conservatives-alt-right/</a><br><br></div><div id="article" role="article" style="text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="system exported">
<!-- This node will contain a number of div.page. -->
<div class="page" style="text-align: start; word-wrap: break-word; max-width: 100%;"><h1 class="title" style="font-weight: 400; font-size: 2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: start; -webkit-hyphens: manual; display: block; max-width: 100%;">Milo and the Mainstream</h1><header style="max-width: 100%;">
<h3 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.05em; max-width: 100%;">
<p style="font-weight: bold; max-width: 100%;">Milo Yiannopoulos was no âalt-rightâ deviation for CPAC â the conference has long been a cesspool of reaction.</p>
</h3>
<div style="font-weight: bold; max-width: 100%;">by <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/author/branko-marcetic/" title="Posts by Branko Marcetic" rel="author" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Branko Marcetic</a></div>
<img width="652" height="442" src="https://images.jacobinmag.com/2017/02/milo.png" alt="" srcset="https://images.jacobinmag.com/2017/02/milo.png 652w, https://images.jacobinmag.com/2017/02/milo-391x265.png 391w, https://images.jacobinmag.com/2017/02/milo-406x275.png 406w, https://images.jacobinmag.com/2017/02/milo-300x203.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 652px) 100vw, 652px" class="" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0.5em auto; display: block; height: auto;">
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Milo Yiannopoulos in 2013. LeWeb Photos / Flickr</p>
</header>
<blockquote style="max-width: 100%; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65098); margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 6px; padding-left: 16px; border-left-width: 3px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392);"><p style="max-width: 100%;">The next issue of <em style="max-width: 100%;">Jacobin</em><em style="max-width: 100%;">,</em> â<a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/issue/journey-to-the-dark-side/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Journey to the Dark Side</a>,â is out now. Subscribe for the first time at a <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/subscribe/?code=DARKSIDE" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">discount</a>.</p></blockquote>
<p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; max-width: 100%;">T</span>he Right is in a bit of a bind. After spending months attacking the âintolerant leftâ for purportedly abridging right-wing troll Milo Yiannopoulosâs right to free speech, the American Conservative Union has now disinvited him from its annual CPAC conference because of a video dredged up that appears to show him defending sex between grown men and thirteen-year-old boys.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">âWe continue to believe that CPAC is a constructive forum for controversies and disagreements among conservatives,â ACU President Matt Schlapp said. âHowever there is no disagreement among our attendees on the evils of sexual abuse of children.â</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">A day later, asked about his position on the âalt-rightâ more broadly â the loose coalition of white supremacists, misogynists, and others that has gained prominence since Donald Trumpâs ascent â Schlapp <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/02/21/cpac-s-chairman-just-condemned-alt-right-he-will-host-steve-bannon-thursday/215403" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">clarified</a> that âracism has no voice within the conservative movement,â and that the alt-right doesnât âhave anything to do with the conservative movement.â âWe wonât endorse it, and we wonât rationalize it,â he concluded.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Just today, ACU executive director Dan Schneider <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/02/23/cpac-organizer-denounces-alt-right-as-left-wing-fascist-group/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.5ca25163c136" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">told attendees</a> the alt-right was âtrying to worm its way into our ranksâ and, jumping on a familiar right-wing talking point, warned that it was a âhateful left-wing fascist group.â</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">But racism and the âalt-right,â of course, have a lot to do with the conservative movement, and they are far from left wing. Over the years, Schlappâs own organization and CPAC have often played host to conservative figures who are either part of the âalt-rightâ or hold beliefs that overlap considerably with the racist movement.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Looking at some of the worst offenders in recent years not only gives the lie to Schlappâs defense, but lays bare a conservative movement where the odious and the mainstream are often indistinguishable.</p>
<h4 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0px; max-width: 100%;">1. Rush Limbaugh</h4>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Rush Limbaughâs well-honed shtick was the forerunner to Miloâs act. Limbaugh spent decades spewing obnoxious, deliberately offensive material over the airways to irk liberals and leftists and rile up an excited GOP base.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">But while much of Limbaughâs material tends to the kind of provocative, anti-left shock-jockery meant to get conservatives nodding in agreement, heâs also trafficked into numerous ugly sentiments that in theory should be deplorable to âmainstreamâ conservatives like Schlapp and Schneider, who disavow racism.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">There was <a href="http://mediamatters.org/video/2009/10/12/matthews-whether-or-not-limbuagh-allowed-to-buy/155606" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">the time Limbaugh said</a> the NFL âall too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons.â Or <a href="http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/limbaugh.asp" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">the time</a> he charged that âall composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson.â Or when he told a caller to âtake that bone out of your nose and call me back.â Or when he <a href="https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=EOcDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PT42&ots=aXCzi1x1e9&dq=rush%20limbaugh%20The%20NAACP%20should%20have%20riot%20rehearsal.%20They%20should%20get%20a%20liquor%20store%20and%20practice%20robberies&pg=PT42#v=onepage&q=rush%20limbaugh%20The%20NAACP%20should%20have%20riot%20rehearsal.%20They%20should%20get%20a%20liquor%20store%20and%20practice%20robberies&f=false" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">said the NAACP</a> âshould have a riot rehearsalâ and âpractice robberiesâ on liquor stores, said women are worse at multiple choice tests because the Biblical Eve chose âmultiple orgasmsâ instead, and professed that he didnât âgive a hoot that [Columbus] gave some Indians a disease that they didnât have immunity against.â</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">He <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M7Jr-d6_2h6Keq7Gvz7knBY7Y8Ax8BXH5_1UL2hczqc/edit" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">suggested</a> that white college students who âsee a couple of black boys dressed in baggy clothes with their hats on backwards swaggering toward themâ have a right to âfear that theyâre going to be shot in the face for their ATM cards.â</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">For some on the Right, Limbaugh took it a step too far when he played a âparodyâ song in 2007 titled âBarack the Magic Negro,â featuring an Al Sharpton impersonator singing âhumorousâ lyrics to the tune of âPuff the Magic Dragon.â Various Republicans fell over themselves to condemn the song when an RNC chair candidate circulated it a year later, with Newt Gingrich â Newt Gingrich! â <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/us/politics/28rnc.html?_r=2&hp" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">saying</a> âit should disqualify any Republican National Committee candidate who would use it.â</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">For the ACU, however, using it apparently qualified Limbaugh to give the <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/28/limbaugh.speech.cpac/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">keynote address</a> at CPAC 2009, one met with a rapturous crowd reaction.</p>
<h4 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0px; max-width: 100%;">2. Tony Perkins</h4>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">What do you do about a man who <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2007/08/29/ny-times-stolberg-msnbcs-matthews-cited-tony-pe/139712" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">once spoke</a> to a racist group that opposed âall efforts to mix the races of mankind,â tried to use former KKK Grand Wizard David Dukeâs phone bank for a Senate campaign, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/christian-home-destroyed-flood-tony-perkins-natural-disasters-gods-punishment-homosexuality-a7196786.html" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">believes</a> and peddles the idea that homosexuality and pedophilia are related, and heads what the Southern Poverty Law Center <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/family-research-council" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">calls an anti-LGBT hate group</a>? Why, invite him to speak at your political conference <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/cpac-and-the-religious-right-kiss-and-make-up/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">multiple times</a> <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/02/28/tony-perkins-at-cpac-the-conservative-movement-is-broad-enough-to-include-atheists/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">over the years</a> of course.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Perkins is in many ways par for the course for the conservative movement: his organization, the Family Research Council, <a href="http://www.frc.org/op-eds/ex-gay-therapy-debate-the-truth-matters" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">promotes</a> <a href="http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/family-research-council-conversion-therapy-gop-platform/#gs.qNb1ARc" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">gay conversion therapy</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDmwLNg5AXQ&feature=player_embedded" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">opposes</a> allowing gays and lesbians in the military, and <a href="http://www.frc.org/washingtonwatchdailyradiocommentary/bakery-isnt-forking-over-beliefs-for-profits" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">supports</a> anti-LGBT discrimination. Heâs <a href="http://www.goodasyou.org/.a/6a00d8341c503453ef015434a59913970c-pi" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">lambasted</a> an anti-bullying campaign as âdisgustingâ and <a href="http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2012/08/audio-tony-perkins-claiming-heinous-uganda-bill-upholds-moral-conduct.html" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">supported</a> legislation in Uganda that would <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/14/uganda-backpedals-on-gay-law" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">imprison gay people for life</a> or even execute them on the basis that it would âuphold moral conduct.â</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">More recently, Perkins has somewhat broadened his horizons by dabbling in Islamophobia, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/perkins-only-16-percent-of-islam-is-a-religion-so-immigration-ban-not-a-religious-test-on-muslims/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">claiming</a> that âonly 16 percent of Islam is a religion,â warning that Americans could âlose our identity in the shadow of multiculturalism,â and <a href="http://www.frc.org/updatearticle/20160613/terror-nation" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">crying crocodile tears</a> over last yearâs awful murder of gay nightclub-goers in Orlando by a Muslim man.</p>
<h4 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0px; max-width: 100%;">3. Frank Gaffney</h4>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Think of just about any kooky, racist, anti-Muslim conspiracy theory over the past few years and you can probably trace it back to Frank Gaffney and his think tank, the Center for Security Policy.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Obama a secret Muslim? <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/9/americas-first-muslim-president/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Check</a>. Clinton aide Huma Abedin working for the Muslim Brotherhood? <a href="http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2011/07/02/the-tipping-point-embracing-the-muslim-brotherhood-2/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">You</a> <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/aug/3/frank-gaffney-hillary-clintons-ticking-time-bomb-h/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">betcha</a>. American government and society being infiltrated by a fifth column of Muslims and slowly coming under the sway of Sharia Law? <a href="http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2011/07/19/anti-american-activities-a-cold-war-style-effort-to-root-out-civilizational-jihad-2/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Do you even</a> <a href="http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2012/08/30/shariah-law-and-american-state-courts/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">have to ask</a>? Gaffneyâs imaginary network of secret Muslim agents extends to encompass Keith Ellison, David Petraeus, Obama Supreme Court pick Elena Kagan, right-wing anti-tax campaigner Grover Norquist, and many others.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Not surprisingly, Gaffney has links to the same âalt-rightâ that CPAC now purportedly opposes. He <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/09/30/anti-muslim-activist-frank-gaffney-interviews-white-nationalist-jared-taylor-his-radio-show" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">hosted</a> white supremacist Jarod Taylor on his radio show in 2015, and <a href="http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2013/03/18/house-packed-for-breitbarts-controversial-cpac-the-uninvited-panel/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">attended</a> <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2014/03/03/breitbart-to-co-host-the-uninvited-ii/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">two events</a> organized by the <em style="max-width: 100%;">Breitbart News</em> focusing on the danger of radical Islam and government cronyism. (Conservative luminaries like Newt Gingrich and former Bush attorney general Michael Mukasey were also attendees.)</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">The ACU did stop inviting Gaffney to CPAC at the start of this decade â not because of his conspiracy mongering, but because of his increasing attacks <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/exclusive-frank-gaffney-was-barred-from-participating-in-cpac-so-he-invented-a-reason-to-boycott-it-238091cda296#.58wbhk3xp" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">on fellow conservatives</a> â which culminated in his accusation that conservative movement was being infiltrated by, who else, the Muslim Brotherhood, a charge partly based on the fact that Norquistâs wife is Muslim.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">But time heals all wounds. Gaffney <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120205144738/http:/cpac2012.conservative.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Schedule-Of-Events_Latest.pdf" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">returned as a speaker</a> in 2012, and he and the center <a href="http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2016/02/22/what-do-ben-carson-frank-gaffney-share-both-are-victims-of-a-left-wing-smear-machine/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">were back in 2015</a> and had âan expanded presence in 2016.â âAlthough CPAC and the Center have had some differences in the past, this is no longer the case,â Senior Vice President for Policy and Programs Fred Fleitz wrote last year. Gaffneyâs views are considered so pedestrian he was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ted-cruz-frank-gaffney-islamophobia_us_56eb11cbe4b03a640a69fc3b" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">advising</a> Ted Cruz during the Texas senatorâs 2016 campaign. Gaffneyâs back again this year, hosting a âCPAC Conversationâ on âThe Vulnerability of the Electric Grid.â</p>
<h4 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0px; max-width: 100%;">4. Phyllis Schlafly</h4>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Schlafly was a regular speaker at CPAC, and thereâs little doubt she would have been invited to speak at this yearâs conference had she not died last year.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Perhaps best known as the legendary conservative activist who led a successful effort to kill the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and 1980s, Schlafly was militantly antifeminist, preaching a vision of the world where men had careers and women stayed at home to enjoy a life of domestic bliss (a vision she herself never remotely ascribed to in practice).</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Conservatives outraged that Milo would seemingly offer a defense of pedophilia appeared to be less concerned when Schlafly <a href="http://www.sunjournal.com/node/682725" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">white-washed</a> marital rape in 2007, arguing that âby getting married, the woman has consented to sex.â A year later, she <a href="http://mediamatters.org/people/phyllis-schlafly" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">continued to defend</a> the comments. She also <a href="http://eagleforum.org/column/2006/may06/06-05-17.html" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">accused</a> the Violence Against Women Act of being a feminist scheme to win child custody more easily, mocked the idea that verbal abuse qualified as domestic violence, <a href="http://eagleforum.org/column/2006/nov06/06-11-08.html" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">charged</a> the âgay ideologyâ with being about an assault âon our fundamental right to free speech,â and asserted that sexual harassment wasnât âa problem for the virtuous woman except in the rarest of cases.â</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">None of this stopped CPAC from inviting Schlafly to speak year after year.</p>
<h4 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0px; max-width: 100%;">5. Pamela Geller</h4>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Pamela Geller stands apart from most others on this list because she hasnât been allowed to speak at CPAC for what <a href="http://pamelageller.com/2017/02/come-bury-cpac-not-praise.html/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">she claims</a> has been seven years.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Geller exaggerates: she was part of a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/r/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/02/09/National-Politics/Graphics/cpac.pdf" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">panel in 2012</a> titled âIslamic Law in America: How the Obama Justice Department is Selling Us Out,â and in 2011, her film <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2011/02/15/pamela-geller%E2%80%99s-new-film-next-wave-anti-muslim-propaganda" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;"><em style="max-width: 100%;">The Ground Zero Mosque: the Second Wave of the 9/11 Attacks</em></a> â which cast a proposed Islamic cultural center (with a public swimming pool and basketball court) two blocks away from the World Trade Center site as a âtriumphal mosqueâ â was screened at CPAC. Before that, <a href="http://pamelageller.com/2013/03/pamela-geller-wnd-column-8.html/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">she was a regular</a> at the conference.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">But Geller should have been persona non grata long before 2012. In various unhinged posts on her blog, she <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20101006065010/http:/atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/10/us-warns-citizens-of-muslim-attacks-in-europe.html" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">claimed</a> the State Department was âbeing run by Islamic supremacists,â <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2010/04/13/geller-obama-is-a-third-worlder-and-a-coward-wh/163144" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">called</a> Obama a âthird worlderâ who was âappeas[ing] his Islamic overlords,â and <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2010/04/02/atlas-shrugs-dubs-obama-president-jihad/162623" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">labeled</a> him âPresident Jihad,â one who was âagitating Muslims against Jews.â</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">According to her, Iranian-American author <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20101006064853/http:/atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/10/the-depravity-of-a-succubus-wretched-reza-azlan.html" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Reza Aslan</a> is a âlittle wretched jihadistâ and Grover Norquist a âstealth jihadist.â Besides vociferously opposing the so-called âGround Zero Mosque,â she also <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20111228135119/http:/atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/08/sharia-in-america-imposing-islam-on-disney.html" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">attacked a Disneyland employee</a> who sued the company because they wouldnât let her wear a headscarf.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Geller used her appearances at CPAC to spread the kind of hateful views that are the bread and butter of the âalt-right.â At CPAC 2009, she told the crowd that âHitler was inspired by Muhammadâ and <a href="http://pamelageller.com/2009/03/we-turned-a-corner-friday-night-something-really-big-happened-something-historic-in-the-face-of-a-complacent-lethargic-co.html/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">brought along</a> far-right Dutch Islamophobe Geert Wilders to speak to assembled conservatives. Wilders was greeted with a forty-second standing ovation, complete with chants of âWe love Geert,â and received applause when he told the audience that âIslam is a threat to the West.â</p>
<h4 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0px; max-width: 100%;">6. Steve Bannon</h4>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">The most ludicrous aspect of Schlapp and Schneiderâs supposed disavowal of the âalt-rightâ is that the ACU and CPAC have for years hosted some the most high-profile figures associated with the movement: namely, Steve Bannon and the team behind <em style="max-width: 100%;">Breitbart</em>. If <em style="max-width: 100%;">Breitbart</em> is the âplatform for the alt-right,â as Bannon <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/stephen-bannon-donald-trump-alt-right-breitbart-news" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">candidly admitted</a>, then CPAC has served as the platform for that platform.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Various editorial staff, including current editor-in-chief Alex Marlow and editor-at-large Joel Pollak, have spoken or taken part in panels at CPAC over the years. The website itself <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2013/03/15/breitbart-news-at-cpac-day-two/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">boasted in 2013</a> that it had a âtremendous presenceâ at that yearâs conference, hosting a variety of panels, speeches, discussions, and even a movie screening. This year is no different, with <em style="max-width: 100%;">Breitbart</em> staff sprinkled <a href="http://cpac.conservative.org/agenda/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">throughout the schedule</a>.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Bannon, while less well known until a year or two ago, has been a fixture over the years, either <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejmclHEAArc" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">in person</a>, speaking, or through screenings of various films heâs directed. In 2015, he <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2015-steve-bannon/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">chaperoned</a> Nigel Farage, the British right-wing populist, and former Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson, who was receiving a âFirst Amendmentâ award for homophobic comments he had made. Today, Schlapp is hosting a âconversationâ with Bannon and Priebus, making his claim doubly ridiculous.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Bannonâs <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/02/bannon-trump-muslim-travel-ban-breitbart-generation-zero/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">toxic worldview</a> involves an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bannon-explained-his-worldview-well-before-it-became-official-us-policy/2017/01/31/2f4102ac-e7ca-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html?utm_term=.1579dc949702" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">apocalyptic vision</a> of a war between the âJudeo-Christian Westâ and the âMuslim world,â a vision often <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/us/politics/stephen-bannon-breitbart-words.html" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">reflected in </a><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/us/politics/stephen-bannon-breitbart-words.html" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;"><em style="max-width: 100%;">Breitbart</em></a><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/us/politics/stephen-bannon-breitbart-words.html" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;"> headlines</a> â and completely acceptable at CPAC.</p>
<h4 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0px; max-width: 100%;">7. Ann Coulter</h4>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Where to start with Ann Coulter? In many ways, Coulter should be annoyed that Milo stole her gimmick. For the better part of two decades, Coulter has been the Rightâs go-to provocateur, saying deliberately awful things to get a rise out of liberals and leftists, all barely masked in a semi-sarcastic, âjust kiddingâ style that gives her the barest semblance of plausible deniability.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">The list of hateful, noxious remarks sheâs uttered over the years could fill a book â in fact, theyâve filled several â but here is a brief greatest hits. She:</p>
<ul style="max-width: 100%;">
<li style="max-width: 100%;">Said âthere <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2006/09/29/coulter-there-ought-to-be-a-poll-tax-to-take-th/136776" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">ought to be a poll tax</a> to take the literacy test before votingâ because âway too many people vote.â</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;"><a href="https://townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/2001/01/17/ashcroft-and-the-blowhard-discuss-n1098659" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Stated</a> that âfew failures have been more spectacularâ than court-ordered desegregation, with âilliterate students knifing one another between acts of sodomy in the stairwell.â</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;"><a href="https://townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/2001/09/14/this-is-war-n865496" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Mocked</a> the United Statesâs immigration policies, arguing America âwelcomesâ terrorists and lamenting that America is âso good and so pure we would never engage in discriminatory racial or âreligiousâ profiling.â</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;">Urged the government to âinvade [terroristsâ] countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity,â and implied that the United States should kill civilians as in the carpet-bombing of World War II.</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;"><a href="http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/coulter092801.asp" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Claimed</a> that âall terrorists are Muslims.â</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;"><a href="http://mediamatters.org/video/2006/06/30/coulter-called-previous-remarks-suggesting-mcve/136082" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Said</a> her âonly regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the <em style="max-width: 100%;">New York Times</em> building,â <a href="http://rightwingnews.com/interviews/an-interview-with-ann-coulter-2/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">later clarifying</a> that she meant only when everyone but the reporters and editors had left the building.</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;">Said âit would be a much better country <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/may/17/pressandpublishing.usnews" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">if women did not vote</a>.â</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;"><a href="https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=NHajAgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA143&ots=RcStC3u0vk&dq=I%20mean%2C%20this%20is%20lesson%2C%20you%20know%2C%20number%201%2C000%2C047%20on%20why%20women%20shouldn%27t%20be%20in%20the%20military.%20In%20addition%20to%20not%20being%20able%20to%20carry%20even%20a%20medium-sized%20backpack%2C%20women%20are%20too%20vicious.&pg=PA143#v=onepage&q=I%20mean,%20this%20is%20lesson,%20you%20know,%20number%201,000,047%20on%20why%20women%20shouldn%27t%20be%20in%20the%20military.%20In%20addition%20to%20not%20being%20able%20to%20carry%20even%20a%20medium-sized%20backpack,%20women%20are%20too%20" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Complained</a> that women shouldnât be in the military because theyâre not âable to carry even a medium-sized backpack.â</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20050225125220/http:/www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/printer_friendly.cgi?article=43" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Complained</a> that âthe White House allows that old Arab Helen Thomas to sit within yards of the president.â</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/ann-coulter-at-cpac-on-ra_b_15434.html" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Said to applause</a>, at CPAC 2006: âOur motto should be post-9-11, âraghead talks tough, raghead faces consequences.ââ</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;"><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/13186261/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Accused</a> 9/11 widows who called for an independent commission on the governmentâs failure to stop the attack of being âself-obsessed womenâ who were âenjoying their husbandsâ deaths.â</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;"><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jewish-groups-condemn-boycott-ann-coulter/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Said</a> that she and other Christians âjust want Jews to be perfectedâ â in other words, converted.</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;"><a href="http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/students-divided-over-coulter-s-cancelled-speech-1.495283" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Said</a> Muslims should be banned from flying on airplanes and should take âflying carpetsâ or âa camelâ instead.</li>
</ul>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Itâs not as if Coulter has been some sort of fringe figure at CPAC. Sheâs been a major draw. The conferenceâs organizer <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ann-coulter-excluded-from-speakers-at-cpac/article/2560778" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">told </a><a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ann-coulter-excluded-from-speakers-at-cpac/article/2560778" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">the <em style="max-width: 100%;">Washington Examiner</em></a> in 2015 that Coulter was consistently the most popular speaker among attendees, Coulter herself claimed she had been voted âbest speakerâ in previous years, and her books were bestsellers at the event.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">It wasnât until 2015 that the ACU stopped sending Coulter invites to their yearly confab (not counting a <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/cpac-organizers-dump-ann-coulter-from-this-years-speaking-list-339f5845689f#.q6f704wc2" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">brief hiatus</a> after her âragheadâ comments at CPAC 2006).</p>
<h4 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0px; max-width: 100%;">CPACâs Line</h4>
<p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; max-width: 100%;">S</span>o to recap, the things that will apparently get you disinvited from CPAC (after a number of years, anyway):</p>
<ul style="max-width: 100%;">
<li style="max-width: 100%;">Appearing to defend pedophilia</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;">Attacking other conservatives</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;">Promoting a particularly conspiratorial form of Islamophobia</li>
</ul>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Things that wonât get you disinvited from CPAC:</p>
<ul style="max-width: 100%;">
<li style="max-width: 100%;">Racism</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;">Sexism</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;">Islamophobia</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;">Homophobia</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;">Association with well-known racists and racist groups</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;">Defending marital rape</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;">Defending verbal abuse by a spouse</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;">Advocating for war crimes</li>
<li style="max-width: 100%;">Calling for the murder of journalists</li>
</ul>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Whatâs more, while this list above may name some of the worst offenders, it doesnât even begin to account for the likes of Islamophobic congressman Steve King, Black Lives Matterâhating sheriff David Clarke, anti-gay former senator Rick Santorum, disgraced former Reagan staffer Oliver North, and the many other reactionaries who are every year invited to speak to âmainstreamâ conservatives who applaud and cheer for them.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">Aside from Geller, none of the figures named here are considered particularly far outside of the mainstream in todayâs conservative movement. And while the ACU has tried to clean house, the Milo disinvitation being the most recent and well-publicized instance, itâs clear CPAC has been and remains a platform for a variety of odious figures who are fortunate enough never to have been caught on tape appearing to defend pedophilia.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;">The ACU presumably disinvited Milo because defending child molestation is considered so beyond the pale it would be obscene and/or damaging to give him a platform. What does it say that they donât feel the same way about everything else on this list?</p>
<blockquote style="max-width: 100%; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65098); margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 6px; padding-left: 16px; border-left-width: 3px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392);"><p style="max-width: 100%;">Our next issue, â<a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/issue/journey-to-the-dark-side/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Journey to the Dark Side</a>,â is out now. <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/subscribe/?code=DARKSIDE" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">Subscribe</a> today.</p></blockquote>
<div style="max-width: 100%;">
<p style="max-width: 100%;">If you like this article, please <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/subscribe/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">subscribe</a> or <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/donate/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;">donate</a>.</p>
<div style="max-width: 100%;">
<p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">Google +</span></span></span></span></p>
</div>
<!-- <table id="nav-below" class="navigation">
<tr>
<td class="previous-post">
<a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/02/twenty-days-turin-giorgio-de-maria-horror-novel/" rel="prev"><span class="meta-nav">«</span> The Uncanny City</a> </td>
<td class="next-post">
<a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/02/basketball-union-chris-paul-players-association-contract-salary-cap/" rel="next">LeBron and the Union <span class="meta-nav">»</span></a> </td>
</tr>
</table> --> <!-- #nav-below -->
</div>
</div></div></div><div><br><br>Sent from my iPad</div></div></blockquote></body></html>