CPAC Chair Matt Schlapp Caught Groping Men and A Huge MAGA Cover-Up?

Summary

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IHIP News Podcast Summary

Episode: CPAC Chair Matt Schlapp Caught Groping Men and A Huge MAGA Cover-Up?
Hosts: Jennifer Welch & Angie “Pumps” Sullivan
Date: September 27, 2025

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Overview

In this episode, progressive podcasters Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan tackle the latest scandal involving Matt Schlapp, the Chairman of CPAC. They analyze allegations of sexual misconduct against Schlapp, the broader issues of hypocrisy within the MAGA movement, and disturbing trends of cover-ups among conservative leaders. Bringing their signature comedic yet incisive tone, the hosts discuss the right-wing response to public figures' controversies and the moral contradictions at the heart of the movement.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Matt Schlapp’s History of Alleged Sexual Misconduct

• Pierce Morgan’s CPAC Panel:

  • Matt Schlapp appears on Piers Morgan’s show, discussing the controversy surrounding Jimmy Kimmel and the MAGA response. (01:20)
  • Host Jennifer points out Schlapp’s hypocrisy and recurring presence in media despite multiple allegations.

• Schlapp’s Alleged Assaults:

  • In January 2023, a Herschel Walker campaign staffer accused Schlapp of groping him. Lawsuits ensued, and records supported the claims. (02:18)
  • By August 2023, Schlapp reportedly tried to settle one lawsuit for a six-figure sum. That same month, additional assault accusations against male staffers surfaced.
  • CPAC was accused of attempting to cover up these incidents by December 2023.
  • A spokesman announced in March 2024 that the lawsuit was dropped following a “misunderstanding” statement from the plaintiff, which the hosts mock as insincere.
  • In February 2025, new accusations emerged: Schlapp allegedly groped a man at a Virginia bar and made multiple patrons uncomfortable. Local sheriff’s reports detailed Schlapp’s continued inappropriate advances even after confrontation. (03:30–04:59)

• MAGA’s Embrace of Scandalized Figures:

  • The hosts highlight how, unlike in liberal circles (referencing Kevin Spacey’s downfall), MAGA figures like Schlapp face little to no repercussions—instead often being elevated in status. (04:59)

  “Remember, Kevin Spacey got canceled completely… What does MAGA do? They elevate him. They put him on TV. They make him in charge of CPAC because being a sexual deviant is in the plus column.”
  — Angie Sullivan (05:05)

2. Hypocrisy and Repressed Sexuality in Conservative Circles

• Schlapp’s Public Persona & Marriage:
  • Jennifer investigates Schlapp’s personal life, noting his marriage to Mercedes Schlapp—a prominent Newsmax commentator and “big Jesus lady.” (05:21)
  • The conversation turns to religious hypocrisy, highlighting how vocal conservative “family values” advocates are often embroiled in scandals themselves.
• On Repression and Hypocrisy:
  • The hosts hypothesize many MAGA leaders are plagued by repressed sexuality and “stunted emotional growth,” leading to public moralizing and private misconduct.
  • “So then he gets all liquored up… and he’s out there grabbing people’s balls.”
    — Jennifer Welch (06:42)
  • Angie questions the willingness of followers to ignore such hypocrisy:

    “Do people ever get tired of somebody talking about sexual ethics? Who the fuck cares what you do in your bedroom, Matt—the reason we’re talking about you is because you’re a hypocrite.”
    — Angie Sullivan (07:18)

3. The Catholic Church, Fox News, and More Hypocrisy

• Father Dolan’s Fox News Appearance:
  • After referencing CPAC, the hosts pivot to Father Dolan—a Catholic priest who appeared on Fox News defending controversial right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
  • Dolan is quoted extolling Kirk as “a modern day Saint Paul” and a “hero” who “knew what Jesus meant when he said, ‘the truth will set you free.’” (08:07)
• Dolan’s Own Scandalous History:
  • Jennifer exposes Dolan’s past: moving church funds to prevent clerical abuse survivors from receiving compensation—actions endorsed by the Vatican. (08:42)
  • The hosts connect this behavior to a wider pattern of cover-ups within conservative institutions, drawing a direct parallel to the CPAC scandal.

4. Celebrating the Villain: The New Right-Wing “Hero”

• Trump’s Influence on Conservative Morality:
  • Trump is discussed as the archetypal right-wing “anti-hero,” whose open embrace of scandal emboldens others with their own “dirty secrets.”

    “You have all of these people that are celebrating the villain… because like this priest, he’s got a nasty, dirty little secret. Matt Schlapp has a nasty, dirty little multiple secrets of sexual abuse.”
    — Jennifer Welch (11:24)

• Erosion of Accountability:
  • The normalization of criminal—or at least immoral—behavior within the right-wing movement is described as a full “moral collapse.”

    “It’s like they feed each other on it… I can one up you. It’s just the moral collapse of these people… it’s breathtaking.”
    — Angie Sullivan (10:24)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “They covered up the sexual predator who was preying on MAGA men, you guys.”
  — Jennifer Welch (03:46)
• “It’s a prerequisite.”
  — Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan in unison, on sexual scandal being a feature, not a bug, in MAGA leadership (05:19–05:21)
• “All of these people that are celebrating the villain… when they see Trump, a sexual abuser that can be president… that’s their version of a hero.”
  — Jennifer Welch (11:24)
• “I get so frustrated by it.”
  — Angie Sullivan, on constant conservative hypocrisy (10:24)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:20 — Discussion of Piers Morgan/Schlapp panel, setup of Schlapp allegations
• 02:18 — Deep dive into Schlapp’s legal troubles and alleged sexual misconduct
• 04:59 — Comparison to liberal cancellation (Kevin Spacey) vs. MAGA elevation
• 05:21 — Exploration of Schlapp’s personal life and hypocrisy
• 06:10–07:18 — Theorizing about repression and hypocrisy; jokes about Schlapp’s behavior
• 07:54–08:42 — Father Dolan’s appearance, Fox News segment and cover-up discussion
• 10:24 — Angie’s frustration over right-wing moral collapse
• 11:24 — Trump as hero and normalization of villainy

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Tone & Style

Jennifer and Angie balance sharp political commentary with biting humor and personal anecdotes. Their frustration is palpable, but their delivery remains conversational, irreverent, and relatable for progressive listeners. Humor is woven throughout, especially when highlighting hypocrisy or delivering sarcastic asides.

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Conclusion

This episode exposes a pattern of scandal, hypocrisy, and cover-ups among right-wing elites, zeroing in on Matt Schlapp’s ongoing sexual misconduct allegations and the conservative movement’s refusal to hold its leaders accountable. Through their entertaining yet pointed analysis, Jennifer and Angie reveal a movement redefining its heroes not by virtue, but by their ability to “get away with it”—and to be celebrated for it.

Transcript

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[Podcast Host]

Of course, the right wing maga titty babies are still losing their minds about Kimmel because Trump attacked him. They attacked him. They celebrated him being suspended and then he comes roaring back and has record, record, record views, record ratings. So Pierce Morgan, who I think is just a total prick, he invites a panel to come on. And there was one interesting panelist that I want us to do a deep dive in. This is just a couple of days ago, you guys, Pierce Morgan has on CPAC's Matt Schlap to talk about Kimmel. Kylie, play the clip.

[Guest or Interviewee]

Yeah, but it's, but there's not a misuse of power for citizens and for Americans to take to the courts to ask this question. This is a fair question, Pierce. Maybe the FCC doesn't have the ability to change what ABC does with these editing decisions. And they don't. That was about local broadcast stations. That wasn't about ABC or Disney.

[Podcast Host]

He just goes on and on and he's trying to find, you know, room here in this complete attack on free speech. But I thought Matt Schlapp, that sounds really familiar. I feel like there's a scandal there. So like any good podcasting investigator, I went to his Wikipedia page. Kylie popped this up in January of 2023. A campaign staffer for Herschel Walker's U.S. senate campaign alleged that Schlapp groped him in October 2022 after Schlapp had been drinking. Schlapp denied the allegation. The alleged victim filed charges against Schlapp for battery and defamations. This is a Republican on Rep. Republican situation. The plaintiff provided records, contemporary phone calls and texts regarding the claims. Then, later that year, In August of 2023, the Daily Beast reported that Schlapp had attempted to settle the lawsuit against him for six figures. Earlier that month, two additional allegations of sexual assault by Schlapp against male staffers were reported by the Washington Post. That December, CPAC was accused in the lawsuit of covering up. They covered up the sexual predator who was preying on MAGA men, you guys. In March of 2024, a Schlap spokesman announced that the lawsuit had been dropped, quoting a statement from the plaintiff saying, the claims made in my lawsuits were the result of a complete misunderstanding, and I regret that the lawsuit caused pain to the Schlap family. Yak, yak, blah, blah, blah. In February of this year, you guys. February of this year, Schlapp was accused of sexually assaulting a man at a bar in Sperryville, Virginia. A sheriff's report indicated that Schlapp made multiple bar patrons uncomfortable before groping a man's genitals and being kicked out of the bar. Schlapp allegedly followed around and stood close to multiple groups of men in a Virginia bar and making them uncomfortable after being confronted by some of the men. Schlap didn't stop, and he was grazing his body against men while walking past, according to the report. So in MAGA World, if you have assaulted men, this guy is a clear sexual deviant predator and he's assaulting MAGA men. And then there's a lot of evidence here that this man has a lot of problems. And then Piers Morgan and other others troll him out to be a spokesperson for the MAGA regime. Which makes perfect sense.

[Co-host or Commentator]

Yes. And when you're reading that, I'm thinking, remember, Kevin Spacey got canceled completely. Like, you don't see him anywhere anymore because he did this exact same. What does MAGA do? They elevate him. They put him on tv. They make him in charge of cpac because being a sexual deviant is in the plus column.

[Podcast Host]

It's a prerequisite.

[Co-host or Commentator]

It's a prerequisite.

[Podcast Host]

Okay. And so then we needed to see what was on in Schlepp's personal life on the Wiki page. Of course, he's married to this woman named Mercedes Schlapp. I went and looked her up. Mercedes is all over Newsmax. She's a big trump thumper, big Jesus lady. Apparently married to a sexual predator. And of course it's mentioned in here that Schlapp is a Zionist. You know, we could, we couldn't go without mentioning that. And then I just found some video. I wanted to see where Schlap was about religion and marriage and, you know, all of these things. Considering that he has very aggressive actions, very well documented assault on men. You know, he likes to assault men. So he's married to this Mercedes chick. They both talk about Jesus. So here's what he has to say about religion and marriage.

[Guest or Interviewee]

Is there a place for that in the so called conservative movement? Homosexual marriage? Because I mean, as you know, as you know, even at cpac, you know, there's, you know, lady MAGA walking around and drag queens and all of that. I mean, how it does all that marry together in a conservative thing, the way most people understand conservative. Right. So I have my views as a Catholic and I accept the church's teachings on questions of sexual ethics. And I believe in traditional marriage as the head of.

[Podcast Host]

Okay, so here's my thing, you guys. And you know, we've been forming this hypothesis that we have a lot of very broken people running maga. There's a lot of stunted growth, I think a stunted emotional growth and also a lot of repressed sexuality. And it comes out in these crazy ways because there's so much shame and all of this pressure. I mean, Matt Schlapp, probably, when rubber hits the road, might not want to be married to Mercedes. And so then he gets all liquored up. Yeah. And he's out there grabbing people's balls.

[Co-host or Commentator]

And for, you know, just the hypocrisy. I just wonder, do people ever get tired of the hypocrisy? Do they ever get tired of somebody talking about sexual ethics? Who the fuck cares what you do in your bedroom? Matt, the reason we're talking about you is because you're a hypocrite. And because you get drunk and you do things that you condemn. And everybody acts like you should be leading group of people. You should like say, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do. I probably shouldn't drink. But there's no such thing as accountability.

[Podcast Host]

All right, let's move on to a Catholic guy here. His name is Father Dolan. And Father Dolan is a priest who recently appeared on Fox News in the wake of Charlie Kirk's murder. Kylie, play the clip.

[Father Dolan]

I got to learn about this guy. And the more I learned about him, I thought, this guy's a modern day Saint Paul. He was a missionary, he's an evangelist. He's a hero. He's one, I think, that knew what Jesus meant when he said, the truth will set you free. And to do it. Now, I understand he was pretty blunt and he was pretty direct. He didn't try to avoid any controversy. He didn't even try to avoid confrontation. The difference is the way, the mode, the style, that he did it always with respect. And not only was that aggression.

[Podcast Host]

Okay, I've heard enough. So of course I had to look into this guy because how does a man who's a priest that knows that, I would think he would know that Jesus spoke out against the accumulation of wealth. Jesus spoke out against demonizing poor people. And then Charlie Kirk, you know, is a demonizer, a racist, you know, sexist, all of the things. So I thought we need to look into this Father Dolan that they're trotting out on Fox News. Much to my surprise, we find this Dolan additionally made sure that clerical abuse survivors would not get access to redress by moving monies around the diocese range of accounts, the switching of funds, and his clearly articulated objective endorsed by the Vatican. So basically, there was money that was supposed to be paid out. You guys. There's an article attached here for your reference. They're supposed to be paid out to victims of child rape in child sex abuse. And of course, like a lot of people within the Catholic Church, they covered it up and they helped the rapists and the child molesters hide their crimes. And they didn't advocate for the victims. So that's why this priest felt nothing when he walked onto the Fox News set and tried to whitewash Charlie Kirk. And he tried to make him into a saint because he's already dicked over little kids that got raped by his colleagues. That is the depravity of this movement.

[Co-host or Commentator]

And they don't. How do you put your head on the pillow at night when you do this shit? And they. It's like they feed each other on it. It's like, oh, well, you did this. Well, I can one up you. I mean, it's just the moral collapse of these people. I just. It's breathtaking. I'm like, I get so frustrated by it.

[Podcast Host]

I think that what we're realizing is Trump is their hero in a way that is really gross. They celebrate him because he's able to fuck the porn star, have three wives, be completely morally duplicitous. And they have had to do that in secret for so long. And so you have this really weird thing in America where we always would hero worship. And, you know, all the Disney films are about, you know, the good guy winning or the superheroes, you know, are trying to defeat the bad guys. Now you have all of these people that are celebrating the villain. They're celebrating the villain openly because like this priest, he's got a nasty, dirty little secret. Matt Schlapp has a nasty, dirty little multiple secrets of sexual abuse. And so then when they see Trump a sexual abuser that can be president and be all of those things, that's their version of a hero.

[Co-host or Commentator]

That's a great way to put it. And I think you're right. And that's really terrifying.

[Podcast Host]

It's awful. It's awful. All right, that's all we have. We'll be back later with more news. Please, please, please buy our book. Life is a Lazy Susan of Shit Sandwiches. The link is below in the bio. I think you'll quite enjoy it. We'll see you all later.

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