2 Frenchmen at CPAC (Part One) (E313)

Summary

QAA Podcast, Episode 313: 2 Frenchmen at CPAC (Part One)

Date: February 28, 2025
Hosts: Julian Feeld, Jake Rockatansky, Travis View, Antoni Monsieur (guest)
Theme: Reporting from the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), with a focus on the presence of January 6th participants, international far right networking, and the lingering shadows of QAnon. The episode blends on-the-ground observations with analysis and dark humor, shining a light on the increasingly surreal, interconnected world of global reactionary movements.

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Episode Overview

Julian and Antoni attend CPAC in Washington, D.C., aiming to capture not just the rhetoric from the stage but the on-the-ground atmosphere, connections, and the presence (or absence) of QAnon ideology in 2025. Their experiences—sometimes comical, often disturbing—document the right’s growing internationalism, the normalization of conspiracy thinking, and the lived consequences for its adherents.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Surviving CPAC: Vibes, Exhaustion, and Absurdity

• [00:36–04:31]
  Julian and Antoni's CPAC Fatigue: The hosts recount their physical and emotional exhaustion after days among hard-right rhetoric and the spectacle of CPAC.

  • Julian describes the "press pen" experience: “Stuck in the press pen at the back... with the rest of the haters and losers... The only real time I spent away from CPAC was a stint at the Capitol, where a conference was held by Enrique Tarrio... [and] Stuart Rhodes...” [00:50]
  • Antoni, frustrated and stuck, sends a desperate voice message: "I'm about to fucking like hang myself. Please come back... I'm not gonna survive this." [02:17]
  • Jake relates to Antoni’s breakdown: “I know exactly how you feel. Just surrounded by like the worst people... The anxiety is pitching up. You’ve got one friend in the world, and he’s not there.” [02:47]

2. QAnon in 2025: Traces and Transformations

• [07:12–11:26]
  Encounter with Matthew Webler (‘Crumb’): Despite a sanitized CPAC, Julian finally meets a former “Q” celebrity—a January 6th participant, now pardoned by Trump, named Matthew Webler.

  • First overt QAnon symbol spotted: a man “holding a red Labrador puppy in a service dog coat” with “Crumb” (with a Q) written on his prison ID. [07:08–07:12]
  • Webler on QAnon’s impact:
    “Because of Q, I am somewhat of a celebrity here and get along with absolutely everyone.”
    (From a jail letter, [08:54])
  • When asked about QAnon promises, Webler admits:
    “Not on face value, none of it.” [11:26]
  • His belief persists in a “Great Awakening” around questioning authority and institutions—even as the movement’s core predictions failed.

3. Personal Fallout from Conspiracist Involvement

• [12:53–15:51]
  Webler’s Downfall: The toll of participating in January 6th is devastating—loss of family, home, and self.

  • A heart-wrenching letter:
    “That phone call was the absolute lowest point of my life... I was helpless. A few months later, she filed for divorce. My entire world had been decimated.” ([13:09], Jake reads from Webler’s writing)

  • Despite everything, Webler expresses continued loyalty to Trump, interpreting even Trump’s alleged abandonment on January 6th as a kind of secret act of mercy.
    “I want you to know that it is okay. I wouldn’t change a thing. I would do it again a thousand times over.” ([14:31])

  • Memorable Quip:
    “He believes that Trump sent him off to have his life destroyed, knowing, on purpose, essentially. And he’s apologizing to Trump for getting mad about this.” – Travis [15:54]

4. First Impressions: CPAC as a Reactionary Theme Park

• [17:34–26:48]
  Entry to CPAC, Surreal Encounters:

  • The duo’s first glimpse is Vincent Fuska (alleged by QAnon as “JFK Jr. alive”). Fuska is omnipresent and basks in the adulation, playing into the mythos.

    • “He was everywhere. He always placed himself right where everybody could see him... lots of women were coming and hugging him and stuff.” – Antoni [19:06]
    • “MAGA leprechaun.” – Julian [21:01]

  • The conference venue is described as a climate-controlled “geodome... Like a Disneyfied fascist rally with treats and amenities for the business class.” – Julian [21:50]

  • Racial Ironies:

    • Underpaid people of color work as staff and even shine attendee’s boots.
    • “It was really disheartening... probably underpaid people of color telling fascists the directions to the rooms where they would meet together.” – Antoni [22:35]
    • “Don’t forget: a person of color who was there available to shine people’s boots. Just grim, grim stuff.” – Julian [22:52]

5. International Summit: The Global Right-Wing Network

• [24:48–47:36]
  CPAC International Summit:

  • Host Matt Schlapp convenes right-wing figures from across the world: UK, Brazil (Eduardo Bolsonaro), Mexico, Hungary, Korea, Australia, Israel.

    • Notable guests: Steve Bannon, Liz Truss, leaders from Hungary, Korea, Israel, and Japanese faction J. Aeba.

  • Schlapp, referencing the movement’s contradictions, quips:
    “How ironic it is. We hate the globalists, but strangely enough, we've built a global juggernaut.” [29:01] – Matt Schlapp

  • Brazil Section:

    • Eduardo Bolsonaro dismisses his father's coup plot as “the Disneyland coup d’état,” highlighting the incompetence of the Brazilian attempt.
    • Jake jokes: “I would like to know what a Disneyland coup d' etat looks like. Is it like the seven Dwarfs sort of charging the Magic Castle... holding Mickey's severed head over the crowd?” [31:43–31:55]

  • Korea Section:

    • Korean delegates spin their failed impeachment as evidence of a global (communist) conspiracy.
    • The crowd is bored; only North Korea references rouse interest. Antoni observes: "Everybody else around the table... checked out entirely because he spoke for like 80 seconds. That was way too long and way not interesting for them." [38:04]

  • Bannon’s “We Are at War” Message:

    • Steve Bannon unifies the narrative: “We're at war... They wanted Donald Trump to die in prison, just like they want President Bolsonaro to die in prison... The stakes—we couldn't be playing for higher stakes. And they don't think they've lost yet.” [42:28–43:41]
    • Bannon’s focus on “precinct strategy” as a way to seize power from the bottom up (read from ProPublica). [44:09]
    • “This man has a will to power, like this man knows how to grassroots organize... I don’t think there’s anything to learn from here.” – Julian [45:43]

6. Far-Right Internationalism and the European Scene

• [47:36–55:32]
  European far right on the rise:

  • Antoni explains the surge of the National Rally in France and the ways centrist politicians often block the left from power.

  • “The civic discourse is more and more shaped and media discourse is more, more and more shaped by the far right. Every day is getting worse.” – Antoni [48:16]

  • Tactic of Isolating the Left

    • Macron refuses to allow a leftist prime minister even when the left coalition wins.
    • “You hate to see the liberals decide to hand it to the right when, you know, faced with the decision between ceding anything to the left and just basically saying, hey, this seems to happen over and over again.” – Julian [50:57]

7. The Global Far Right, Israel, and Cynical Anti-Semitism

• [52:57–58:59]

  • Israeli and Hungarian speakers frame themselves as bulwarks against “Muslim migration.”

  • French politics: Antisemitism charge used to fracture the left (the “Islamo-gauchiste” accusation).

  • CPAC’s weird bedfellows:

    • The presence of Israeli officials among literal successors of Nazi parties.
    • Anecdote: French far-right politician dismisses Steve Bannon's Nazi salute as “not all that CPAC is,” just as the Israeli minister sits down with leaders of Austria’s FPO, “founded by actual Nazis.” [58:12]
    • Antoni: “I don't like using gotchas on far right people because it doesn't work. But this is a big one, right?” [58:20]

8. “If You’re Not Winning, You’re a Victim”: Right-Wing Victimhood

• [33:23–35:28]
  • The right’s perpetual narrative of victimhood—even when in power.
  • Jake: “They can’t let go of these past grievances... the only thing really to hold on to is your anger at the other party for their perceived aggression against your guy.”
  • Julian: “The narrative has to contain victimhood... because you want these people to keep fighting... There has to be a strong opponent.” [34:08; 34:54]

9. Cult Connections and Right-Wing Unity

• [61:05]
  • Discussion of “Happy Science”—a Japanese far-right cult that has created political parties and is now represented at CPAC’s international events.
  • Republicans “will ally with absolutely any cult as long as they hate the Chinese Communist Party.”

10. Comic Details, Memorable Scenes, and Dark Humor

• Fuska's “stagecraft” and myth-making, boot-shining staff, Newsmax’s slogan lampooned (“Fake news for imaginary people” – Julian [22:17]), the treat-unwrapping during tense panels, and fluorescent CPAC expo swag (“Let’s Go Brandon” T-shirts using the GI Joe logo; Mike Lindell’s lenticular autobiography cover, etc.).

• Julian's Sleep-Deprived Fantasies:

  • “I fantasized about moving back to Europe. Then I remembered Europe is going to shit too. So I fantasized about my skin splitting and my muscular structure shooting out of it like a rocket...” [63:16]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Antoni, on being stuck in the press pen:
  • “I’m about to fucking like hang myself. Please come back... I'm not gonna survive this.” [02:17]
• Jake, on feeling surrounded at CPAC:
  • “It is me, brother. I know exactly how you feel. Just surrounded by like the worst people. They're closing in.” [02:47]
• Matthew Webler, on Q:
  • “Because of Q, I am somewhat of a celebrity here and get along with absolutely everyone.” [08:54]
  • “Not on face value, none of it.” (Regarding whether QAnon’s predictions came true) [11:26]
• Webler’s tragic loyalty:
  • “I want you to know that it is okay. I wouldn’t change a thing. I would do it again a thousand times over.” [14:31]
• Matt Schlapp, on the right’s paradox:
  • “How ironic it is. We hate the globalists, but strangely enough, we’ve built a global juggernaut.” [29:01]
• Jake, joking about the right’s ‘victimhood’:
  • “These guys can't let go of the past... the only thing really to hold on to is your anger at the other party for their perceived aggression against your guy.” [33:23]
• Antoni, on French politics:
  • “The civic discourse is more and more shaped... by the far right. Every day is getting worse.” [48:16]
• Julian, on the CPAC International Summit attendees:
  • “Every weird European crusty fascist, like, smelling like piss and decaying and just like young Hitlerite types, like, everybody had really gathered there.” [39:19]
• Antoni, on seeing an Israeli minister with Austrian far right:
  • “If CIPAC was anti-Semitic, do you think this guy... would be staying here? And what happened was that... he was going to meet guys from the FPO [Austria’s far right party founded by actual Nazis].” [56:29]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:36 – Julian introduces the purpose of attending CPAC, immediate impressions, and summaries from the press pen.
• 02:17 – Antoni’s voice message meltdown; team commiserates about CPAC ordeal.
• 07:12–11:26 – Conversation with QAnon-pardoned Jan 6er Matthew Webler; his embrace of QAnon, post-prison life, and political ambitions.
• 13:09–15:51 – Webler’s tragic personal losses, continued reverence for Trump, and rationalization of events.
• 17:34–22:17 – Arrival at CPAC; first encounters with Vincent Fuska, “Disneyfied fascist rally” atmosphere.
• 24:48–47:36 – International Summit coverage; right-wing global networking, Bannon’s “war” language, right’s victimhood narrative, audience apathy to foreign woes.
• 47:36–55:32 – European politics explained, French left/right/center dynamics, antisemitism wedge used against the French left.
• 52:57–58:59 – Israeli/Hungarian discourse, far-right rhetorical strategies, blending of nationalist and antisemitic tropes.
• 63:16 – Expo hall horror, MAGA memorabilia, existential dread, and post-conference anxieties.

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Flow and Tone

The episode is immersive, sardonic, and often bleakly funny, with the hosts balancing absurd, often petty details of the conference with the gravity of the authoritarian alliances and their real-world consequences. Antoni brings sharp, on-the-ground European context, while Julian, Jake, and Travis dissect the rhetoric, exposing the underlying incoherence and the cultivation of a perpetual siege mentality.

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Final Notes

• The episode ends on a cliffhanger: Julian’s press pass is revoked, leaving him to figure out how to finish covering CPAC.
  • “The next day, I’d find out my press pass had been disabled.” – Julian [64:47]
• Teaser for Part Two: The Nazi salute on the CPAC mainstage; more on international fascist networking; deeper dives into conference drama and fallout.

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For more in-depth analysis, check out Julian’s feature article on QAnon’s ongoing legacy (linked via his Twitter) and catch Part Two for the rest of the CPAC saga.

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“We are far gone, folks. Very, very far gone.” – Julian Feeld [29:25]

Transcript

[Julian Fields]

Sam, if you're hearing this, well done.

[Jake Rockatanski]

You found a way to connect to the Internet. Welcome to the qaa podcast. Episode 3132 Frenchmen at CPact Part 1 of 2 as always, we are your host, Jake Rockatanski, Julian Fields, Antonio Monsieur and Travis.

[Julian Fields]

View the Secret Service had tightened security and we were stuck in the press pen at the back of the conference room with the rest of the haters and losers. Well, that's not entirely true. There were a decent amount of right wing media and content creators around us cheering the President's speech. Sitting to my left was an overweight man who looked to be in his late 50s and was breathing heavily. Instead of applauding the President's quips, the man drummed his fingers on the long, slim desk that extended across our row. He was here with his wife, presumably covering the Conservative Political Action Conference or CPAC, for some obscure media outlet. In front of him on the desk was a small portable blood pressure monitor and a torn open candy wrapper labeled Sweet Sweet Street. I felt like shit. I was exhausted, in the process of catching a cold and beaten down by four consecutive days of psychotic conservative rhetoric. The only real time I spent away from CPAC was a stint at the Capitol, where a conference was held by Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys, Stuart Rhodes, the founder of the Oathkeeper Militia, and an assortment of other people who were Prosecuted for the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. It had involved a lot of loud screaming, the launch of a meme coin and the eventual arrest of Tarrio plus. But we'll get to that. The point is, I felt terrible. And Anthony, the French journalist and repeat guest writer on the podcast with whom I was attending the conference, wasn't faring much better. He was fidgety, wild eyed, and had sent me an extremely worrying voice message from the press pen just an hour previous.

[Antoni Monsieur]

I'm about to fucking like hang myself. Please come back. Stop. Like I'm not gonna survive this. I like urge you to come back instantly, please. You put it in there.

[Julian Fields]

I can already taught you to come back instantly, please.

[Antoni Monsieur]

That was, that was the very last minute of my incredible stint.

[Jake Rockatanski]

If there's anybody, if there's anybody on the podcast that understands your, your mindset like, and that tone of voice, it is me, brother. I know exactly how you feel. Just surrounded by like the worst people. They're closing in. The anxiety is pitching up. You've got one friend in the world and he's not there and he's not picking up his phone.

[Antoni Monsieur]

He Left for so long. He left for so fucking long. It was insane. There was nothing to do. Just wait for Trump to speak.

[Julian Fields]

Another bit that I really appreciate you, Anthony, for is having two phones and somehow keeping both of them at 1% the entire time. Like, I was always looking over and he'd have, like, a totally smashed screen on a phone that of a small size, a size I don't even think they make anymore. And it always had, like. He'd be like, it's 1%. I'm like, how my phone when it's at 1% is, like, probably gonna shut down. Like, it doesn't actually even ever say 1%.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Antoni Monsieur]

You know, they changed. I think my conspiracy theory is basically Apple, like, killing your phone with updates so that the old phones, like, don't function anymore. So I can keep it for, like, three hours at 1%.

[Julian Fields]

I think this is the most mainstreamed and embraced conspiracy theory.

[Antoni Monsieur]

Yeah, that's a sweet.

[Julian Fields]

Right? It's just a fact.

[Jake Rockatanski]

I think three hours at 1%, this is. That's like the candles burning for eight nights on Hanukkah.

[Julian Fields]

Well, his way of doing it is he also had a totally piece of shit, like, portable battery that he kind of plugged in intermittently, but also sucked shit. So it was just. It was amazing.

[Jake Rockatanski]

It's like he's traveled. He's, like, traveled back from the future with, like, just, like, horrible, like, future tech and, like, different machines to, like, keep it alive, like, until he can make it back to the portal.

[Julian Fields]

Absolutely. I was barely paying attention to what Trump was saying, knowing full well that the speech would be available online in the aftermath. The idea was to soak up the vibes of the audience, which would be hard to discern from the YouTube video. Unsurprisingly, the vibes were rancid. The more I soaked up, the worse I felt about the country, myself, and the world. I desperately needed to get the fuck out. But the doors were closed, and I knew that once I exited, there would be no re entering until Trump had left the building. So I sat there despondent, with a hog to my left and a Frenchman to my right, slowly leaking sanity points. Then something finally happened. To the left of the press pen were gathered a group of January Sixers, proud boys, and Oath Keeper militiamen, bonded by their experiences of the riot, the prison time a lot of them served, and the full pardon they recently received from President Donald Trump. A few of them were carrying their federal prison IDs. Members of the press had converged on them after they'd started chanting J6J6J6 early in Trump's speech, when he was thanking various people. The J6ers would get a passing mention near the end of his 75 minute speech, but only as part of a list of political prisoners. The president pardoned. J6 hostages, he called them, explaining that they were treated terribly for years. Trump has pardoned more than 1,500 J6ers since taking office. I walked up to the small metal safety barrier separating the press pen from the general audience. One of the J6ers, Brian Mock, was holding a red Labrador puppy in a service dog coat. He explained that it was for emotional support. He had served time for assaulting multiple officers and even breaking a flagpole in half and hurling it like a spear at a line of police. Got sprayed directly three times, took a flashbang and took down at least six cops, he later wrote to a friend by text. He and other J6ers were talking to the press, attempting to communicate how unjustly they had been treated by the judicial system. One of the most vocal among them was Rashan Abwal Ragept, a single mother of two from New Jersey who had served two months of jail time and 36 months of probation. They destroyed my life and my kids lives, she explained. So fuck you, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck schumer, shifty schiff, doj and FBI. We're gonna get justice by law. Another female j6er, who I was unable to identify, pointed her finger at the reporters, adding, the hunters will become the hunted. Now, keep that in mind. I checked the time I was going to have to leave for the airport soon. Then a man thrust out his hand to give me his contact information. He had scrawled it on the back of his federal prison ID and smudged black ink a few moments prior.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Aha. So his. His handwriting looks like Slenderman.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah, it's. It's very. I mean, it's very hard to use a kind of ink pen on like a smooth plastic surface, so it's, it's really as smudged to help. But I noticed a word repeated a few times. It was his online username, Crumb, it said with a Q. Over the last four days, I had not seen a single overt reference to QAnon, not even a T shirt or a sticker. There were some oblique references, sure, like Elon Musk saying that his mind felt like a storm, or Steve Bannon referring to a great awakening, but this was the first time I saw a proper Q anywhere. The man holding out the card was Matthew Webler from Decatur, Georgia. In a security video from the Capitol on January 6, he could be spotted in a high visibility jacket wearing a giant Q flag as a cape. Webler was eventually sentenced to 45 days in jail for his participation. When the feds raided his home, they found the gear he'd been wearing on January 6th. But they also claimed to have discovered a few other items. A small amount of suspected methamphetamine, a homemade short barrel rifle with a silencer attached to it, ammunition and two magazines, additional unregistered silencers, and other firearm parts and tools. Because Webler had former convictions, including an aggravated assault from 20 years prior, he was prohibited from possessing firearms. Federal firearm charges added nearly five years to his jail sentence. By the time he was speaking to me in that CPAC crowd, Webler had served nearly four years of jail time. In the process of digging a bit deeper into him, I found a letter Webler wrote from jail. In it, he explains that because of Q, I am somewhat of a celebrity here and get along with absolutely everyone. He was given a full pardon by Trump. And I knew this because when we spoke, he was wearing a T shirt that said full pardon Jan. 6 Patriots, which he had purchased at CPAC.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Was anybody allowed to purchase those? Or did you have to prove that you had gotten the full pardon?

[Julian Fields]

No, I think you're just, you know, you can be just like an ally.

[Jake Rockatanski]

An ally, okay.

[Julian Fields]

I asked Webler why his username spelled the word crumb with a Q. Crumb with a Q.

[Matthew Webler]

Because I follow Q. I don't post on it and stuff like that, but I follow Q. And I took on that a non name, you know, just online. So I just changed it from a.

[Julian Fields]

C to a Q. I was interested to know what Webler thought about Q all these years later. Specifically, I wanted to know if he felt like QAnon's biggest promises, the storm and the Great Awakening had come to pass. Do you still follow Q?

[Matthew Webler]

He hasn't posted in forever. I'm too busy. I'm too busy just studying the Constitution and writing letters, trying to unite my community and all that. I don't have time to be, you.

[Julian Fields]

Know, do you think the storm is still coming?

[Matthew Webler]

He's on stage. He's on stage.

[Julian Fields]

So at that moment, he was pointing to the tiny Donald Trump way far in the distance at the other side of the room. Still trusting the plan, I continued asking questions. So do you think the Great Awakening worked?

[Matthew Webler]

We are now able to have conversations with liberals and they understand and we're not screaming at each other anymore. They can actually see our side. When they think we're crazy conspiracy theorists, they're like, hold on, wait a minute. Actually, all this stuff is pretty well true. Might not all be true, but it's opening people's minds to being able to question, you know, because nobody questioned. They just. They thought that the CDC cared about us.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Wow, this is progress.

[Julian Fields]

To be fair, I was asking Webler about relatively vague concepts that could be generously interpreted. So I decided to ask him what he thought about the predictions contained in the very first Q drop from October of 2017. The first drop promised to put Hillary Clinton in jail or that she was going to be arrested within 48 hours. Do you think that's still happening?

[Matthew Webler]

I have no idea.

[Julian Fields]

I.

[Matthew Webler]

When it comes to the drops and trying to interpret them, I don't. Most of them, I think it is to get you to start thinking and to start questioning things and figuring things out and open your mind as far as thinking that any of it was.

[Julian Fields]

Really going to happen.

[Matthew Webler]

Not on face value, none of it.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Wow. Not on face value, none of it, he said.

[Julian Fields]

I really had to get to the airport, but before I left, Webler told me about his political plans.

[Matthew Webler]

I'm planning on running for Congress in Congressional District 4 in Atlanta, Georgia.

[Julian Fields]

When are you going to put the papers in for that?

[Matthew Webler]

I'm not sure yet. The plan's just starting, so. And it may be this. This cycle, but maybe not till next cycle. We'll see what happens.

[Julian Fields]

As I sat in the back of my ride to the Ronald Reagan airport, I was amazed that I had, at the very last minute, found traces of QAnon at an otherwise sanitized CPAC. It felt quite good. Maybe the podcast hadn't sent me out here for nothing. I decided to visit Matthew Webler's substack and givesendgo on my phone just to see what he was saying online. Minutes later, I had an extremely queasy feeling. For a variety of reasons that will become clear in a moment, his online writings point to a very online person. He refers to himself as Anon and spells friends, Friends, F, R, E, N S. He references the fact that he's been cued, which means that a post he made on the Chans was referenced in a queue drop. In this case, a meme he posted. It's also clear that there's some mental illness at play. He refers to himself as we throughout his current writings and at one point states that he's going to explain who Mr. Webler was and who Crumb is. It appears that Webler now goes by Crumbled Bread and considers his original name a part of his past. This may be because Webler's life as he once knew it is basically gone. Two weeks after his home was raided and he was arrested, the police returned with the Department of Family and Children's Services and removed their recently adopted son, who was 2 months old, from his mother's custody. In the aftermath, she called Webler in jail. He wrote about the incident.

[Jake Rockatanski]

That phone call was the absolute lowest point of my life. I had to stand there and listen to her screaming that they took her son, and it was all my fault. I couldn't say or do anything. I could only listen. I wanted to wrap her up in my arms and assure her that it would all be okay. But I couldn't. I was helpless. A few months later, she filed for divorce. My entire world had been decimated in a few short months. I was completely defeated.

[Julian Fields]

What made me feel even worse was that Webler, in his writings, still supported Trump. Now here I have to explain a very long passage in his writing where he basically posits that Trump sent a secret signal that day, because at one point in his speech on January 6, Trump told the people assembled that he was going to march on the Capitol with them to express their First Amendment rights. But then he just kept yapping. He just kept was talking and talking. And Webler's theory has become that he did that on purpose because he knew that a bunch of bad elements like antifa or the feds were there and that that would make them go immediately. But then he would keep people who wanted to listen to him, like Webler, behind and that this was a way of actually saving them from essentially being at the head of this fake riot, you know, this fedsurrection, as they call it. So here's Webler in an open letter to Trump that he posted online explaining how he processed what happened that day.

[Jake Rockatanski]

You knew that many of us were unknowingly marching off to become cannon fodder in a forlorn hope. It had to be one of the hardest things you have ever done. It was more than likely the sole contributor to your reported foul words immediately after and in the months following the 6th of January, 2021. Sir, I am some of that cannon fodder. I lost everything. My wife, son, dog, everything. I want you to know that it is okay. I wouldn't change a thing. I would do it again a thousand times over. This is not easy by any means. We are often lonely and heartbroken. Sometimes we are just plain weary. There have been many moments of anger as well, I shamefully confess. I have spent many moments railing at both you and our Creator. It is not anger over the loss, but anger over being kept in the dark. It is totally justifiable anger and is better to let out than to keep in, but at the same time could have been addressed in a far better way. I apologize for that, sir. Despite wanting to many times, we have neither quit nor turned our backs. We get up every morning and soldier on. We work to learn, grow and better ourselves in every way we know so that when we soon rejoin the fray, we will be far better equipped soldiers.

[Julian Fields]

I mean, just so he believes that.

[Travis]

Trump sent him off to have his life destroyed, knowing on purpose, essentially. And he's apologizing to Trump for getting mad about this.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Yeah, this is like conversations with God when you're like, Jesus, I cursed you and like I'm sorry.

[Julian Fields]

By the time I had read through a couple of Webler's blog posts and letters, my trip to Washington, D.C. felt obscene. I was supposed to head home and create content from these broken lives, this grotesque and hollowed out culture. I put my phone away and stared blankly at the passing cityscape, thinking back to just four days prior when I was in a car heading in the opposite direction.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Tuesday, February 18, 2025 it was a.

[Julian Fields]

Cold Tuesday night and a dull moon reflected off the bay as my taxi crossed the bridge into Washington, D.C. i watched a small red light blink near the top of the floodlit Washington Monument and thought about all the plane accidents that had been happening recently. A car just ahead of mine had a Harris Waltz bumper sticker, an artifact from a different era, a different reality. I dropped my bags in my hotel room and met Anthony down in the lobby. He hadn't slept properly in days, his heart was freshly broken, and I would later find out he had a cold that he was about to transmit to me. Over fried chicken sandwiches, we discussed our mutual feeling that the gears of history were turning forward a notch, and not in a good way. I felt like we were about to attend the funeral of liberalism jettisoned by the American Imperial Project, its sheen no longer needed, just a stepping stone on the way to the grim, obvious conclusion of capitalism. That night I slept poorly, sweating in the starched, unfriendly sheets of the hotel bed.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Wednesday, February 19, 2025 the next morning.

[Julian Fields]

Antoni was waiting for me on the sidewalk in front of the hotel, smoking a cigarette and looking slightly fresher than he had the Night before, it was snowing lightly and colder than ever. We called a car and drove south into Oxon Hill towards the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center. We had no idea what to expect. It was our first cpac. Just two French guys wandering into the rotten, beating heart of American conservatism. Our plan for the day was to get our press passes and scope the place out. As far as we could tell from the broken website, nothing would be kicking off until the next day. The very first person I recognized as we entered the lobby was Vincent Fuska. The first guy some QAnon followers decided was JFK Jr. Back from the dead and in disguise. Fusco was impossible to miss. Black straw, like hair down to his shoulders, glasses, facial hair that looked painted on. Always in a suit and T shirt, always wearing a fedora and a mischievous smile. He was chatting with a small group near the front desks. As I approached, a guy who had just walked up to them struck up a conversation.

[Travis]

Another insurrectionist, he said.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Jay Sixer.

[Julian Fields]

A guy in the group asked.

[Travis]

Yeah, man, I saw you get shot at.

[Julian Fields]

And that's how I learned that a sizable number of people who had participated in January 6th were present at CPAC.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Like Coachella for guys who raided the Capitol. When you walked into that lobby and the first person you saw was Vincent Fuska, did you feel like you were, like, dead or you were like, oh, like, this is definitely a simulation? Like, if this is the first guy that I'm seeing when I walk into cpac.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah. I was expecting to wake up in the hospital bed a second later.

[Antoni Monsieur]

Like, oh, he was everywhere. He always placed himself right where everybody could see him, you know, so he can get some love. And lots of women were coming and hugging him and stuff.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Oh, he. Yeah, he knows his. He knows his. He knows where his bread and butter is.

[Antoni Monsieur]

Yeah, Yeah. I think over the course of four days, we bumped into him, like, dozens of times.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Oh, my God.

[Antoni Monsieur]

I have another exclusive information, because when Foska gave Julian his phone number, I actually could look at his contact list, and he's the kind of guy puts, you know, ones and A's before his friend's name so that, you know, they're higher up on the contacts list and they're easier to find.

[Julian Fields]

That's awesome.

[Antoni Monsieur]

That's stupid information. But I could see it. Yeah.

[Julian Fields]

When I later got his number, because I was trying to get this T shirt, which I'll get into, I put his name in the phone, and he was, like, in the middle of telling me his name, and I Just turned the phone and he was so excited that a French journalist just knew who he was.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Just knew.

[Julian Fields]

Wow.

[Jake Rockatanski]

His eyes just lit up under that fedora.

[Antoni Monsieur]

I actually met him last year in, in Philadelphia when I was making a profile of Araf K Jr. And yeah, he gave me his phone number and he harassed me the next night to get drinks with me. I was like, shit, I don't want my last night to be with Vincent. Foscar ghosted him.

[Jake Rockatanski]

You don't know how long he'll keep you in a place. Do you guys think that the hair is attached to the hat and if you were to take it off. Yeah, maybe bald underneath.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah, maybe the entire head might pop off. He might be like sort of Playmobil man. That is what his beard always makes me think of is like how like how like Lego figures just have like the painted on facial hair. The two J6ers slapped each other on the back and started chatting excitedly as I took a selfie with Fuska. He was wearing a T shirt that said Trump's Guardian angel with a picture of what looked like the crowded bleachers of a political rally. I would find out more about it later. For the next three days, it felt like we could not escape him. Every time we'd turn a corner, there Vincent was. It was uncanny. The guy was some sort of maga leprechaun. We descended an escalator towards the booth where press passes were being issued. And that's when I truly understood the scope of the venue. It was basically a geodome. A massive open structure flanked by multi level hotel rooms on each side. One of its faces and the entire ceiling were made of gridded glass. During the day, natural light flooded the entire place. On the ground floor at the center was a giant pavilion that contained two standalone brick houses, trees, hedges and a big food court. We were basically in an enormous terrarium covered by a glass firmament breathing rarefied air conditioned air. The place had multiple restaurants, ballrooms, convention floors and even a built in spa called Relache, which roughly translates to Leco or relax in French. Giant monitors and banners advertised CPAC and Newsmax everywhere. It felt totally surreal. Like a Disneyfied fascist rally with treats and amenities for the business class. Antoni and I wandered around gawking at the place and marveling at what humanity had wrought.

[Jake Rockatanski]

This Newsmax banner is so fucking melted. It's like it says Newsmax. Real news for real people. Which is. It couldn't be more wrong. It's fake news for imaginary people. Wow.

[Antoni Monsieur]

Get emotional.

[Julian Fields]

Get Him King Rachel Maddow over here.

[Antoni Monsieur]

You know, when I walked into it, the first thing I saw it was really disheartening, was probably underpaid people of color telling fascists, you know, the directions to the rooms where they would meet together, you know, and work out how to better cut, you know, like Social Security and stuff.

[Julian Fields]

Oh yeah, don't forget a person of color who was there available to shine people's boots. Just grim, grim stuff. We were a little early to pick up our press passes, but we headed to the booth anyway to see if they'd already started issuing them. And thank God we did, because we would have otherwise missed an event that we didn't even know was happening as part of cpac, the international summit. A stout blonde woman explained to us that we could get separate passes for it if we had media accreditation, which we did. Or so I thought. Anthony gave her his name and showed her his French press id, and she gave him a lanyard. Turning to me, I said I didn't have my press ID with me, but could provide photo ID and my name should be in her system. I had been approved under Antoni's outlet, something CPAC had confirmed by email. The woman was too busy rounding up a small gaggle of media people to lead them to the summit, however, and she waved off my offer to provide photo id. You're with him anyways, it's fine, she said, giving me a lanyard pass as well. I put it around my neck. I would only understand later how lucky I'd been to have things go down this way. We followed the woman up an escalator towards a high ceilinged conference room where rows of chairs had been installed for the audience. In the back of the room, in front of a row of flags from around the world, was a U shaped table with printed nameplates for all the attendees. Matt Schlapp and his wife Mercedes would be in attendance, as well as ex Prime Minister of the UK Liz Truss, Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of Brazilian ex president Jair Bolsonaro, the head of the Mexican Far right party, Eduardo Verastegui, the chairman of the Japanese conservative union J aeba, as well as representatives of conservative organizations from Hungary, Korea, Australia, Italy and Israel. Presiding over them was Steve Bannon, founder of conservative outlet Breitbart, ex chief strategist to Donald Trump and host of the War Room podcast. I took photos of all the nameplates, noticing that they had misspelled Eduardo Bolsonaro's. So it says Eudardo Bolsonaro. What?

[Jake Rockatanski]

An Eudardo we milled around the room.

[Julian Fields]

For a moment, briefly speaking with a fellow MediaPass Haver, a heavyset middle aged dude in an end child trafficking T shirt promoting an organization called Veterans for Child Rescue. He told me he'd been on a few operations to save kids in Tennessee and Texas, but explained that it ends up being a lot of research. Before I knew it, I was standing next to Liz Truss and Steve Bannon taking pictures of them. They seemed delighted to hang out with each other. Steve had his customary three layers of clothes and three pens clipped to his shirt. Eventually, everybody took their seats and Matt Schlapp kicked things off. And before I play this clip, I just want to mention that Matt Schlapp has multiple sexual misconduct and assault allegations, including one that he settled for $480,000 just last year and a new one just a few days before CPAC kicked off. Both of these incidents involved groping men without their consent. The latest incident saw Matt Schlapp allegedly hover near a guy at a bar in Virginia. And when he was finally confronted by the dude who was there with his girlfriend, Schlapp grabbed his genitals while staring him in the eyes. Christ. Schlapp was escorted out of the venue by the manager, but he had forgotten to close his tap. So the night ended with the bartender repeatedly calling his name out. Matt Schlapp. Matt Schlapp. Matt Schlapp. But he was nowhere to be found because he'd been kicked out for grabbing a guy's dick. Awesome stuff. Anyways, here's the clip of him kicking it off.

[Matt Schlapp]

Okay, everyone, thank you for being here. To the official start of cpac. We did our first annual CPAC International Summit because so many of you from around the world were RSVPing and coming and I don't know, Mercy and I like to be good hosts. And of course she said to me, what are you gonna do with all these people that are showing up in our country? We need to all meet. And CPAC being cpac, we knew it had to be substantive. We got to start talking about the problems that we all share in each of our countries.

[Julian Fields]

With that, Schlapp got to the important things at hand, sucking Trump off Hungarian style.

[Matt Schlapp]

But is anybody in the room happy that Donald Trump won? We try to have fun with our sessions tomorrow. And my favorite title, because I came up with it, Miklos, is what's Hungarian for Trump won and you know it? What is Hungarian for Trump won and you know it?

[Julian Fields]

The song, you mean?

[Matt Schlapp]

No, no. How do you say it in Hungary?

[Julian Fields]

Trump won and you know, it's perfect.

[Matt Schlapp]

I think it'll be on a T shirt very soon.

[Julian Fields]

And by the way, the song that the Hungarian politician was referencing is this one by Natasha Owens. Trump won and you know it Trump won and you know it the fake news will never show it Cause it's true Trump won and you know it. We got dead people voting drop boxes and dominion. I'm just glad that like a Hungarian politician knows that song. What a cool world.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Listening like back to that now, because that came out like in 2020, right?

[Julian Fields]

Yeah, it was like an election denial thing.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Yeah, it sounds like a Saturday morning children's song. Like something that you would have like an animal, like a man in an animal costume, like with a bunch of like, you know, toddlers sort of like, you know, bobbling around him, like all singing together. Very child has a very childish sort of quality to it.

[Antoni Monsieur]

Oh, yes. Or Christmas advertisement, you know, for toys, stuff like this.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Yes, exactly.

[Julian Fields]

Schlapp went on to blab in his zero charisma way about how many people around the world love Trump, how if we let the Marxist win in America, the world will be worse off for it. And finally, lauding Steve Bannon for the work he's done building an international right wing movement, calling him a one man political party, then he addressed a pretty obvious contradiction in these efforts.

[Matt Schlapp]

How ironic it is. We hate the globalists, but strangely enough, we've built a global juggernaut. It's weird, but it is a fact. We're all working together to stop the global elites who want to destroy our civilization as we know it.

[Jake Rockatanski]

We've all worked together to stop the global elites who are all sitting here in this room together.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah, I mean, you can't. Right wing talking points at the. At this hour, at this late hour are so fucking melted. And they're all so full of like, I don't know, Alex Jones talking points and like online lingo. I mean, we are far gone, folks. Very, very far gone. This globalist elite, Schlapp went on to explain, was attacking good, honest far right politicians through lawfare. The two prime examples being Brazilian ex President Jair Bolsonaro, recently indicted for a coup plot, and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, currently being impeached for an attempt that saw him invoke martial law. I think that ended with him like barricading himself in his home and like the police had to extract him. And there was like a whole booth, like a CPAC Korea booth that was all just like, you know, just complaining about this. And they had books published about it already. Like, they desperately want it to be a thing, you know, that is included in the American conversation. Now, of course, for Americans in attendance, like, this shit is like. It's kind of like, okay, just play your role. Say Trump is awesome. Say we're just like you guys. We're having the same kind of problems, and then move on. Anything more complicated than that, and they are going to lose attention. Like, they do not care. Like, you are just there as a kind of ornament to the American spectacle. Okay, get in line, folks. But anyways, Schlapp's point was that, like Trump, they were unfairly being prosecuted. Bolsonaro's son Eduardo, and by the way, at some point they did replace his name plaque with one that was spelled correctly, tried to downplay his father's failed attempt at a coup. Yesterday, my father was indicted for a coup d'. Etat. Attempted coup d', etat, we say. That is the Disneyland coup d'. Etat. So this is a great argument because he's basically saying that if his dad were a real dictator, he would have done a better job at taking over the government. Which is funny because it basically means that he was too incompetent to make it work, but also too incompetent to cover up his attempt. Which checks out because, you know, in our episode the Joker Bombs Brazil, which we did with Caio Almendra and Andrew Fishman from the Intercept Brazil, you really kind of get a sense of, like, an entirely incompetent organization that printed plans for a coup on, like, the office printer and shit like that. Very messy.

[Jake Rockatanski]

I would like to know what a Disneyland coup d' etat looks like. I mean, is it like the seven Dwarfs sort of like charging the Magic Castle when you come in? I mean, what does that look like, Pluto?

[Julian Fields]

Just like, holding Mickey's severed head over the crowd. The blood of the bourgeois. At the end of his little speech, Eduardo Bolsonaro started complaining that there are laws in Brazil which allow a presidential candidate to be rendered non eligible, which is very funny, because, honestly, if we had that in the United States, I don't think we'd be quite in this mess. And you can hear Schlapp in this clip jumping in to bring up Trump at the end, despite the fact that Trump was not disqualified from running for a second term, even though he was convicted. So it's, you know, he basically, after this, you won't hear it, but he changes the topic extremely fast and, like, moves to the next speaker because he realizes, oh, wait, I Don't think I'm making the point that I want to make. You don't have this law here that turn someone non eligible. We have that in Brazil. A court in Brazil can turn anyone in non eligible person. So you cannot run in the election.

[Matt Schlapp]

Well, that's why they wanted to put Donald Trump in jail, right?

[Julian Fields]

Yeah. That's kind of a big talking point, by the way. Now it's like, yeah, they tried to jail him so he couldn't run again. And I mean, I don't know, we're just like floating in this kind of gray area where it's like, yeah, of course they wanted to prosecute Trump for his crimes, despite the fact that other politicians are constantly getting off scot free. But also like, we should do that. We should do it for all these politicians. I mean, they would all be in jail. We wouldn't have to deal with any of these fucking people. Nancy Pelosi would be in fucking jail for insider trading. All these people would be in jail. Crimes against humanity.

[Jake Rockatanski]

These guys like, can't, they can't let go of the past. It's like Trump won like kind of, in my opinion, sort of against all odds, you know, you know, two non consecutive terms, and yet they're like, well, and they almost didn't let him.

[Julian Fields]

You know what I mean?

[Jake Rockatanski]

It's like, dude, you guys won. Should be elated. But they can't let go of these past grievances because like Julian was saying earlier, trying to actually discuss and debate current Republican policy is it's a soup. And so the only thing really to hold on to is your anger at the other party for their perceived aggression against your guy.

[Julian Fields]

Well, the narrative has to contain victimhood. Right. Because you want these people to keep fighting.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Yeah.

[Julian Fields]

And so there has to be like a strong opponent. Right. Some evil force that continues to be powerful and work against you instead of like deeply cowardly jellyfish spined motherfuckers and. Or people on the verge of death who look like they're kind of peering from inside of their collar.

[Travis]

Yeah, they're. The way they constantly talk about themselves, about how they're being an oppressed underdog is just running into the fact that they won and control everything. They have total control over the federal government, but somehow they still have to whine about how they're being oppressed and not as powerful as they want to be. It's so. It is a strange incoherent soup.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah. I mean, we've seen this obviously is like when a person takes control properly of a Country and, like, just installs themselves forever. They are still constantly undermined by the secret threat. Threat of communism, you know, and. And this is used as an excuse to, like, you know, purge people of the federal government of their jobs and then eventually, I mean, you know, purge some. Some people. You know, we don't want these. There's too many. There's too many of these people that don't like me around.

[Antoni Monsieur]

Yeah.

[Travis]

They can't say, all right, we won. So that actually, you know what that means? Actually, the system works, and we take full responsibility for everything that happens from here on out.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah, no, of course not. Matchlap then turned to the Korean delegation, who were also complaining that their candidate was being unfairly attacked through their judicial system. In their opinion, his attempt at suspending parliament by instating martial law, which then led to his impeachment, was, in fact, the real coup. Apologies in advance for the crackling sound in parts of this clip. A cameraman for a right wing media outlet was unwrapping a chocolate bar.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Oh, my God.

[Steve Bannon]

Come on.

[Julian Fields]

I know, I know, I know. The Treatlerite allegations are hard to beat.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Oh, my God. This man is trying to get podcast content. He's out here. He's out here in the field trying to break, you know, get a real scoop, and he can't avoid the unwrapping of Treat.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah.

[Matt Schlapp]

So, Ambassador Tan, you know, you're facing similar problems in Korea where there's a lot of irregularities. And it seems like a tool that's used in more countries is when you have a political disagreement with someone, you impeach them, you prosecute them, you try to convict them.

[Ambassador Tan]

You're exactly right. It sounds like they're some common themes here across countries. And in South Korea, you have a coup in process and insurrection happening where the rightfully elected president, President Yoon, has been impeached. And they used a mechanism inside of Korea that's only supposed to be used for things like treason, to arrest him, to throw him into solitary confinement. And now his case is before the Constitutional Court. And the person who wants to take over the country, Lee Jae My, the head of the Democratic Party of Korea, He's a communist. He has allegedly been forking over millions of dollars to North Korea, wants to turn the country over towards the Chinese Communist Party as well. And what's very ironic is many times the things they accuse President Yoon of are the very things they're doing themselves. They're saying he's an insurrectionist when they're trying to topple him from the rightfully elected presidency.

[Julian Fields]

Okay?

[Jake Rockatanski]

I couldn't understand anything that was happening in that clip because all I could listen for was the crinkle. Okay? That clip was 1 minute and 26 seconds. And this man is fumbling with that candy for the entire time. I could just imagine his sweaty big fingers, you know, trying to be quiet and he's like, but I really, I really need this snack.

[Antoni Monsieur]

And I remember thinking to myself when he was talking that like, everybody else around the table and in the audience checked out entirely because he spoke for like 80 seconds. That was way too long and way not interesting for them.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah, they don't fucking know the ins and outs of whatever the fuck is happening in Korea. Like, come on, just say you love Trump. Koreans love Trump.

[Antoni Monsieur]

He did a good job mentioning North Korea because, like, everybody, like, paid attention.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah. Wait, they're bad. Oh, yeah, Chinese communists. Yeah, we know that. Bad, bad. That's bad. Yeah. I think that from now on, like, all right wing talking points should have to have, like, a soundtrack of like, someone like, unwrapping and slurping on a little treat in the background just to just to really kind of show. Show people what this country is about.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Yeah, like straw. Like straw penetrating Capri sun. But like, this is so funny. Like, I wonder if when they're planning CPAC next year, they're like, ah, forget the international. No, but that didn't do very well. The low attendance. People looked bored, like. Cause you're right, all they're there to do is to be like, we're winning. Go Trump. Everybody loves Trump. Trump's so awesome that other countries don't even care about their own problems. They're worried about us and Trump and what's he gonna do? And they love him.

[Antoni Monsieur]

Well, that's.

[Julian Fields]

That's the thing about the international summit is it wasn't really for people. Like, some people did wander in and there was some audience, but it was more for like, this immense amount of people that had traveled from all around the world. It was like every weird European crusty fascist, like, smelling like piss and decaying and just like young kind of Hitlerite types, like, everybody had really gathered there. I heard. So many different languages. In fact, I think there was a point in the food court where I believe, like, some Austrian guys were just making fun of the place for being called Gaylord, which, you know, haha, that's funny. But yeah, no, what's really happening here is the building of a kind of international coalition of far right parties that, you know, to be fair, are gaining a Lot of ground. So I think that's the point. Like, yes, the Americans are checking out, but this was like a smaller room. It was before CPAC even officially started. And the general audience that wandered in, I mean, they were just kind of of extra because the people really there were, I think, you know, kind of there in a way to, like, absorb how to win, you know. And I think that America's got a good blueprint now for some of these people on how to assert power in their own countries. So that's how I felt this thing was, which is incredibly creepy and fucked, because I guess this was like the first proper international summit as Match Slap discussed. Like, they had always had some international speakers, but this year it really felt like, you know, a kind of coalition of different countries that could all basically agree on some of the most awful talking points. So after everybody agreed that this was very unfair and the poor Korean Trump was being treated very unfairly, it was time for Richard Grinnell to regale everybody with an incredibly drawn out story about. About flying to Venezuela to get American hostages released. And during his speech, you could tell Steve Bannon was bored out of his mind, because the story basically amounted to, we flew to Venezuela, we picked up six Americans, and then we flew back. But he told it over 12 minutes as if it were like Black Hawk down, including a point where he hugged one of the released hostages and, like, cried. But he also had to be like, no homo. You know, I'm a tough guy, but I still teared up. And I don't know, the whole thing just sucked so bad. And it was clearly, like, Grinnell trying to sound like he was very cool and important because I guess he's gonna be the guy who is sent out by Trump to, like, get back the hostages, which just involves usually following through on already agreed upon hostage exchanges and stuff like that. Anyways, when Grinnell was finally done, Bannon briefly made fun of him, saying that he was three quarters of the way through the story and, quote, thought it was the takeover of the Kennedy center, which didn't get many laughs because, like, not as many people are that tuned in to, like, I don't know, American crisis moments. And Bannon definitely, like, knows all of them, has read a lot about these kinds of things. So he then shifted gears and used Grinnell's story as a jumping off point for his own alarming message.

[Steve Bannon]

And what that shows, and what your story showed in the coup in Korea and what happened to Bolsonaro, I mean, we're at war.

[Julian Fields]

Bannon went on to Explain that the opponents of the far right want to jail and kill all their beautiful boys.

[Steve Bannon]

Remember, if Donald Trump did not win on November 5, they were going to drop a superseding indictment the next day. Donald Trump. The indictments of Jack smith came to 300 years in prison. And they wanted Donald Trump to die in prison, just like they want President Bolsonaro to die in prison, just like they want President Yoon to die in prison. The stakes were playing.

[Julian Fields]

Look at Rick.

[Steve Bannon]

We couldn't be playing for higher stakes. And they don't think they've lost yet. The deep state, the administrative state, what's happening in this very city next door, we have 600 volunteers who are the tip of the spear of the precinct strategy and. And getting out the vote. And they're geared up. Why are they here a day early for cpac, which is their big annual gathering? They understand we're still at war. This story is far from over. They indicted one of the best men in this world yesterday in Brazil on nothing to send him to prison to die, just like they want Trump to die, just like the Chinese Communist Party wants you to die.

[Julian Fields]

Moments before, Bannon was next door in another ballroom, speaking to his grassroots volunteers who continue working on what he calls the precinct strategy. This is his long game. So here is from a 2021 ProPublica article.

[Travis]

When the January 6th insurrection failed, Bannon continued his campaign for his former boss by other means. On his War Room podcast, which has tens of millions of downloads, Bannon said President Trump lost because the Republican Party sold him out. Out, quote, this is your call to action, Bannon said in February, a few weeks after Trump had pardoned him of federal fraud charges. The solution, Bannon announced was to seize control of the GOP from the bottom up. Listeners should flood into the lowest rung of the party, structure, the precincts. It's going to be a fight, but this is the fight that must be won. We don't have an option, Bannon said on a show in May. We're going to take this back village by village, precinct by precinct. Precinct officers are the worker bees of political parties, typically responsible for routine tasks like making phone calls or knocking on doors. But collectively, they can influence how elections are run. In some states, they have a say in choosing poll workers, and others, they help pick members of boards that oversee elections. After Bannon's endorsement, the precinct strategy rocketed across far right media. Viral posts promoting the plan racked up millions of views on pro Trump websites, talk radio, fringe social networks, and message boards and programs aligned with the QAnon conspiracy theory. Suddenly, people who had never before showed interest in party politics started calling the local GOP headquarters or crowding into county conventions eager to enlist as precinct officers. They show up in states Trump won and in states he lost, in deep red rural areas, in swing voting suburbs and in populous cities.

[Julian Fields]

So this technique continues to be his focus, and he continues to rally people to slowly kind of invade from the bottom, which is. Which is cool, and I mean smart. This man has a will to power, like this man knows how to grassroots organize. I don't think there's anything to learn from here. Bannon ended his speech at the CPAC International Summit by thanking Matt Schlapp for having Trump's back when the entire GOP establishment wanted to move on after he lost the election to Joe Biden.

[Steve Bannon]

People don't understand when you had CPAC down in Florida and did that, during COVID and everything like that, there was all this back chat, right? This is. This is the. This is the dead enders, right? These are the dead enders on the Trump movement. Trump's finished. Trump's over. This is that grassroots. They've basically been destroyed. You know, we're gonna have all these other candidates. It took courage, and it's that courage that. Remember, courage is that virtue. Upon all the other virtues rest. And when I look in South Korea, I see courage. When I look at the Bolsonaro, I see courage. When I see Rick Grinnell, I see courage. That's the defining thing.

[Julian Fields]

It's not policy.

[Steve Bannon]

It's, do you have the guts and the balls to sit there and go, we're gonna win and you're not gonna defeat us?

[Julian Fields]

Throughout Bannon's speech, I was sitting next to an ancient European fascist who smelled like piss and kept cheering. A guy with a Make Europe Great Again polo shirt was directing his cameraman in the aisle. Another man had a tote bag celebrating Bolsonaro Malay and Trump. So it has the Brazilian flag and the Bolsonaro slogan, Deus patria familia liberdadi, which is God, country, family, and liberty. Then there's Make America Great Again, Trump and the American flag. And finally there's the Argentine flag with Viva la libertad carajo by Javier Milei, which is like, you know, long live liberty, damn it, or freedom.

[Jake Rockatanski]

All the best slogans from all the best countries.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah. We then had to sit through a long discussion among the different European far right factions about the evils of what they kept calling Volk ideology, Marxists, and how Brussels was terrified of Their coalition because it threatened the EU's liberal elites. The whole thing left me feeling pretty queasy. In some ways. Bannon was seeing his efforts yield real results. Europe's far right was ascendant. They've been winning. They really have. I mean, it is insanely worrying how quickly votes are starting to trickle into far right parties in a variety of countries. I know that in France, Antonia, the situation is pretty bad. I mean, do you want to speak on that for a moment?

[Antoni Monsieur]

Oh, yeah, yeah. But last summer we had parliamentary elections that were not on schedule because we had the European elections before all across the continent. And the far right, the Front national, the National Rally had about like 35% of the vote, I think. And it's a one round election, so it kind of gives you a sentiment of, of the electorate. And this is the moment Macron decided to call for new unscheduled parliamentary elections, which everyone thought would, you know, go the wrong way. And in the first round, they arrived first, the far right, but then there was kind of a coalition on the left which allowed the left to arrive first in the second round and the far right became third, which was a huge moment of relief for us. But still, we have presidential election in two years. Macron will not be able to, because of term limits. He won't be able to present himself. So it's all up in the air, you know, like, the civic discourse is more and more shaped and media discourse is more, more and more shaped by the far right. Every day is getting worse. So, yeah, I don't know if this is Bannon's making, because, you know, we have our own problems, but I guess there's a wave, you know, going through all of the west and more that, that we are not immune to.

[Julian Fields]

It doesn't help that, like, Macron went out of his way after the election to not make the left's victory. Integrated into the process. Right. He was supposed to, by tradition, name a prime minister from that left coalition. And he's refused to do that. Right?

[Antoni Monsieur]

Yeah. Because basically the parliament is split into three, three thirds. Like you have the third. One third is the left left, which is a coalition of the Greens, the quote unquote, Socialist Party, which is a social liberal type party, like Democratic Party in the US and the Francis Ho Mis, which is the actual left wing party. Then you have the center with like the coalition of parties around Macron, and then you have the far right and it's basically like, it's roughly like 3/3, almost equally dispersed. And so you need to have a coalition to have a prime minister between. Between two of these three thirds. And Macron didn't want the left to govern because they campaigned on overturning most of the things he had done. So he turned to a coalition between the far right and the center, even though the left arrived first, and it lasted for about a couple of months, and then a new prime minister is now in power and is. I think he's caught up in a scandal of covering pedophile actions in a Catholic school in the south of France. So I think covering it up for very long. Yeah, covering up. And so, yeah, yeah, that's. That's a really weird situation. So there's a chance we might go back to the polls this summer.

[Julian Fields]

Damn, you hate to see the liberals decide to hand it to the right when, you know, faced with the decision between ceding anything to the left and just basically saying, hey, this seems to.

[Antoni Monsieur]

Happen over and over again. Right?

[Julian Fields]

I don't know, man.

[Antoni Monsieur]

Why do they do that?

[Julian Fields]

I have no idea. Better not look into it. I was glad we had arrived a day early to CPAC because it allowed us to attend this summit. Very few journalists were even aware it was happening. Only Politico has an article dedicated to this momentous gathering of ghouls. Here's what Ben Jacobs had to all.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Speakers at the international summit tried to tie their country's struggles to those conservatives say they face in the United States. Liz Trust, who was briefly British prime minister in 2022, complained about how unelected judges were ruining Great Britain. Balas Orban, an aide to Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban, said that the Hungarian leader's vision was the same as Trump's. No migration, no gender and no war.

[Julian Fields]

I love the idea of just not having gender.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Like, I'm sorry, no gender, we're all soup.

[Julian Fields]

That doesn't even make sense. They've really gone off the rails with all the gender stuff. Like, it's insane. Like the amount of times that I heard the word voke because they can't pronounce woke and cancel culture.

[Antoni Monsieur]

Maybe it's because you want to say Volk.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah, exactly. When they say it does sound like they're saying Volk ideology. But then they actually do want Volk ideology. They don't want Volk ideology. Orban also named enemies, quote, the Volk, Hydra, usaid, Brussels, George Soros, the Rockefeller Fund, Gates Foundation, Hollywood, the whole network. This prompted Grinnell to jump back in and say that Elon Musk was cutting off all money going to left wing NGOs and wokeness. He further praised Musk, saying, thank God for Elon. He's saving our money and making the world better. Which, that checks out, right? That's what you found in your episode on him, right? Is that he's saving money and making the world better. Right, Travis?

[Travis]

No.

[Julian Fields]

Good. By the time Amichai Chikli, the Israeli Minister of Diaspora affairs, started speaking, I had already grown restless and was walking around the room. Some of the most gung ho CPAC attendees had slowly trickled in to check out the summit, including a group of five boomers in yellow sequined jackets with giant glittering red letters hanging around their necks. If you put the boomers in the right order next to each other, their outfits spelled out Trump, of course. And I imagine myself, like, holding them like the little guy in Street View, just dropping them in the right order. There we go. Another woman was dressed as the Statue of Liberty with lettering on the back of her dress that said Trump Tribe of Texas. Like I mentioned, the room was a real hodgepodge of MAGA freaks, ancient European fascists, weird Latin American fascists, and young strivers, like, kind of trying to make their name. And this, like, rising scene. The Israeli minister thanked Hungary for their immigration policies, basically not letting Muslim people in because it made their capital what he called one of the safest, least anti Semitic cities in Europe. So that's really cool. Israel's like, so down. He explained that Israel was fighting a, quote, spiritual war against the evil terrorist Hamas. This prompted Matlap to further compliment Israel and the Hungarian politician to explain that the left supported Islamism and anti Semitism, which is something that you hear a lot in France as well. Right. Like they have like a term in France, Islamo leftists. Islamo gaussist. Yeah, Just insane. Just the new version, it's like the new version of like, Judeo Bolsheviks. But it's because of Israel, like, joining this coalition, they've managed to like, flip it on its head and it's like, well, yeah, okay, we're recreating, like, everything that Hitler stood for, but not against Jewish people, because Israel is on our side too. Which really misses the point that like, like Israel is an insane fascist nation as well, and that they just want to do exactly the same thing, but to very. To different people.

[Antoni Monsieur]

Yeah, the, the Islamo gisting is, is really real here. And it kind of contaminated the whole left, this accusation because, you know, since we, since there was a coalition last summer between the left and the Social Democrats, like all the center right people have tried to, like, Detach the, the Social Democrats from the left, left from the Francis Somis saying that, you know, like, because of support from the Palestinian cause, they are anti Semitic and basically to break the alliance and to allow for Macron or maybe the far right to, to win, you know, the next, the next time. And so it's extremely problematic now for, for any alliance among the left.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah, I mean, I think they learned from the Jeremy Corbyn thing, like this is how you cleanse the supposed left of any kind of actual left influences and just turn it into a kind of Keir Starmer style centrist party that might be Macron, that, you know, that might as well be a right wing party. It's insane. It's very, very sad what's happening. Also, you briefly spoke with a French politician, right. And you described a moment where you both kind of went over the fact that like, spoilers, you know, Steve Bannon during his speech on the main stage did a Hitler salute. And we'll get to that in part two of our adventures. But the point is that this obviously generated a lot of uncomfortable moments because there were tons of Israelis there, like wearing their Kippas. Like there was a real kind of showing of people with like kind of outwardly indicated Judaism. So. Yeah. Can you kind of describe what happened when you spoke to the, the French politician in a cafe?

[Antoni Monsieur]

So she's the number two in the, in one of our two far right parties in France. So she's the co leader of this movement and she was there at cpac. And so Steve Bannon the previous day had made a Nazi celebration salute during, during his speech, at the end of his speech. And so I was talking to her like how, how do you call what. What Steve Bannon did? Right. And she said, I think it was a Nazi gesture, but it's not like something that sums up what CPAC is. It's not all that CPAC is. So that's why I'm staying. And she said that in the context of Jordan Bardela, who's the leader of the National Rally in France, the main far right party, and she's his competitor. So he's like, yeah, but whenever the media doesn't like something which was a Nazi salute, he's trying to make appeals like more pleasing to the media. So he's going to go in the direction of what the media wants. That's why he canceled his speech, because that's what he did. He cancelled a speech he was supposed to be giving the next day after Balance salute. And so what her name is Sak Nafo. She's European Parliament elected official. And she said that, you know, if CIPAC was anti Semitic, if CIPAS was Nazi, do you think this guy. And she pointed to Amir Shikli, who's the Israeli Minister of Diaspora. He was entering the cafe we were in, and he's like, do you think he would be meeting. He would be staying here? And what happened was that Hamichi Shikley actually was going to meet guys from the fbo. FPO is the Austrian far right party founded by actual Nazis in the 50s, and whose president. I checked, whose president called himself last year the Volks councilor. Volks councillor, Chancellor of the people, and the only one person who ever used that name for himself who was named Adolf Hitler.

[Julian Fields]

So straight up, it's like, would you think the Israelis would be here if it was? And he sits down with, like, the nude.

[Antoni Monsieur]

I don't.

[Julian Fields]

From Austria. It's so awesome.

[Antoni Monsieur]

I don't like using gotchas on far right people because it doesn't work. But this is a big one, right?

[Julian Fields]

That is an insane moment. Do you think that he. And then he sits down and shaves his. Shaves his beard into a little mustache?

[Antoni Monsieur]

Yeah.

[Julian Fields]

Ah, fuck, man. What a cursed world. Mercedes Schlapp then went on to praise an organization called Patriots for Europe. Their Hungarian vice president, King Gagal, was in attendance. Their French president, Jordan Bardella, would cancel his speech, as we mentioned, at CPAC a few days later after Steve Bannon performed a Nazi salute during his speech on the main stage. But we're gonna get to that a little bit deeper.

[Antoni Monsieur]

You have an outsized role in this, right?

[Julian Fields]

We need to tease it. Oh, that's right. I'm gonna tease the next episode. I'll tease it. I'll tease the next episode in saying that I was the one who noticed it live. Some people did not believe me, including Ohtani. So I went and found the video as we were like, in the cab going back home. And I was like, no, no, no, I'm gonna find it. And finally I found it. And he was like, oh, yeah, okay, yeah, that is Nazi salute. And so I was the first to post it online. So all those fucking liberal accounts that circulated afterwards, they had the exact same cut from the exact same video. I gonna call you out for stealing my video, okay? This is about me, not the Nazi threat, not a fascist takeover. My views. Me.

[Travis]

Me should have watermarked it.

[Julian Fields]

That's so true. Just like a big annoying watermark that just says Julian Field across it.

[Travis]

That's right.

[Julian Fields]

Being a totally normal guy. Online, the main struggle of patriots for Europe is that the EU has a a cordon sanitaire, or sanitary cordon, which is essentially an agreement between centrist pro European groups to deny the far right jobs, such as presidencies and vice presidencies of the European Parliament's committees. So of course the far right wants this sanitary cordon cut. This was brought up by another far right politician in attendance, Carlo Fidanza of Italy. By this point, the conversation had wandered too far into the weeds for most Americans, who were slowly trickling out of the weeds. At one point, Mercedes Schlapp remarked, sounds like you need a Doge in Europe. Which just sent chills down my spine. Like, the last thing we need is the I am become meme guy to come and do his shit in Europe. Like just go back to fucking South Africa. Specifically South African jail.

[Antoni Monsieur]

I'm looking into this, the doge thing, and apparently you need to pronounce doggy. Like, yeah, yeah, apparently that's. Yeah, yeah. You have to say doggy.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah, I will not be saying that.

[Antoni Monsieur]

That's how they call it, actually among themselves. So this is like one piece of information that I want people to know and get crazy about.

[Julian Fields]

Censor him. Please censor him. After a painful speech by the head of CPAC Japan, which had to be live translated, the summit was finally over. And by the way, I later looked into this guy, J aeba, and it turns out that's an entire rabbit hole in and of itself. So briefly, he's a member of a cult founded in the 1980s called Happy Science, and they are far right nationalists, military expansionists, and historical revisionists. The guy behind it, Ryuho Okawa, claims to be the incarnation of a supreme being. It seems that between Falun Gong, the Moonies, and Happy Science, Republicans will ally with absolutely any cult as long as they hate the Chinese Communist Party. So anyways, Happy Science started a political party called the Happiness Realization Party, which J aeba was the head of. And then the Happiness Realization Party in turn founded the Japanese Conservative Union, which J aeiba is the chairman of. And AEBA also runs CPAC Japan. So anyways, back to the story. Night had fallen over the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center. Antoni had long since abandoned me to go interview a federal worker for his story about Elon Musk and Dogi. You happy? I know it's a piece of shit. I headed downstairs to get my media pass that would grant me access to the rest of the conference over the next three days. But while I'd been at the summit, a giant line had formed at the booth. CPAC had granted media passes to 250 people, many of them fringe right wing outlets. There had also been a glitch with their computers, slowing the entire process down further. I was looking at an extremely long wait. Towards the end of the line, I ran into friend of the show Dave Weigel and chatted with him for a bit, ultimately deciding that I'd just pick up my badge tomorrow when the wait would surely be much. While I wandered around the geodome, I spotted a couple of freaks we've covered on this podcast in the past. Namely Jack Posobiek, who was chatting with some attendees in a hallway. And Mike Lindell, who was on the expo floor signing copies of what Are The Odds? His 2019 book about his journey. QUOTE From Crack Addict to CEO and the COVID is so awesome. It's one of those like visual illusion, like plasticky things where if you kind of like tilt it one way, he's like his old crack cell.

[Jake Rockatanski]

No.

[Julian Fields]

And then you tilt it again and it's his new happy self. Yeah. I have this book by the way.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Oh my God, it was free.

[Antoni Monsieur]

It was free. You could just pick it up and get it.

[Julian Fields]

I have the book, I am very happy to say. And I picked up next to that book when I went and picked it up for free. Cause it was just sitting there. I also got a T shirt that you can see behind me that is the GI Joe logo, but instead of GI Joe it says let's go Brandon. So another for my collection. Mm. Okay. The expo floor was clearly still getting set up for tomorrow when the larger CPAC would be kicking off. A frail little old lady asked me to take a picture of her in front of a giant bus parked in the middle of the expo floor. Make sure Donald Trump is in it, she told me, referring to the enormous decal on the side of the vehicle. I politely complied and she seemed satisfied. That night back at the hotel, I couldn't sleep. I fantasized about moving back to Europe. Then I remembered Europe is going to shit too. So I fantasized about my skin splitting and my muscular structure shooting out of it like a rocket, shimmering, slick and red as I I rose high above the crust of the earth and exploded into liquid stardust. I thought of the tiny red droplets suspended in the vast unknowable blackness. This did not help me sleep, so I played Marvel Snap on my phone until like 3am Nice.

[Jake Rockatanski]

I've been there, dude. Sometimes when I'm lying awake at Night, thinking about all of the horrible futures that await me. I imagine a giant guillotine swinging down and severing my head so that I don't have to. I don't have. That's like, oh, well, there's no blood in your brain. You can't think about anything anymore.

[Julian Fields]

The next day, I'd find out my press pass had been disabled.

[Jake Rockatanski]

What?

[Julian Fields]

The end.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Wait a minute.

[Julian Fields]

1.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Wait, wait, wait.

[Julian Fields]

No. Nope, that's it. I'm doing a. I'm doing a cliffhanger.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Wait, so you're gonna have to pull, like, a Snake Plissken and, like, break back into cpac.

[Julian Fields]

I'm gonna have to pull something.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Oh, man. Wow. This is probably one of my favorite episodes we've done in a while. This is fantastic. Horrifying, but fantastic.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah, and Ohtani will have to get you again on a time delay for the second one, which we'll record next week. I mean, this week has been a truly horrifying experience for me, being sick after returning from this awful conference and then having to write this. And I also wrote an article for Jacobin. By the way, please go check out my stuff on Jacobin. You can find it at my Twitter. Julian Field F E E L D But I wrote a very long article about QAnon and its legacy in culture and politics. But also, very soon I should have a piece coming out, a short piece coming out on CPAC that I wrote for Jacobin. So just as Mr. Musk is become meme, I am become journalist.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Mm. Go check it out. It's a great. It's a great article. It's.

[Julian Fields]

Thanks, Jake.

[Jake Rockatanski]

It's a good. It's a really solid sort of like. Kind of like check in of like, where we are, where QAnon is, how it's been fold into the general, you know, general republicanism, how conspiracy ideology has become mainstream. I mean, it's just. It's terrifying. But it's a really good sort of like, I don't know, like, you know how. You know how when kids are growing up in movies, you'll see parents make a little tick on the wall, you know, to show how, you know, how tall they've gotten.

[Julian Fields]

This.

[Jake Rockatanski]

This is like that for, like, conspiracy, like, far right conspiracies as they've kind of been folded into politics? Really good job, dude.

[Julian Fields]

I think it's also useful for people who just, like, have not followed QAnon at all. Like, you can send it to a total normie, and, like, I run through any concept you need along the way. Without like getting, you know, stuck in and. Yeah, that's it. Antony. Thanks for the cold. It sucked. And you know, I mean, but we're.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Glad you guys had each other at least.

[Julian Fields]

It is. It is true that there were many moments where I was. Was like. If Antony weren't around to at least like decompress after this with me, I would fucking. I would have been losing my mind way, way worse. I probably would have shut down after a couple days. Just gone into some sort of fugue state.

[Antoni Monsieur]

I spent three more days in D.C. after that and they were miserable. I didn't want to tell you about this, but. Yeah, like, very, very bad.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah, that city is horrible. And I feel like that. And just the kind of greater Virginia area. If we can get like the Pentagon and the Chile and like all these things just kind of. If we could. Mr. Xi, please allow me to request a tactical intervention. All right, well, that's it. And thank you for listening to another episode of the QAA podcast. Please do support us so we can do more of this. Patreon.comqaa you can just pay us five, five bucks a month, which is, you know, with Bidenflation. That's. I mean, that's not even a fucking beer. So go, go and sign up and you'll get access to our entire archive of premium episodes. Anthony, where can people find you online?

[Antoni Monsieur]

They can find me on Twitter ntonimonsui and I write in print only magazines. So unfortunately you won't be able to read me any anyway.

[Julian Fields]

Sad, sad, sad, sad stuff. But yes, if you are French, go pick up a copy of Society and read Antoni's great pieces. A very, very good journalist.

[Jake Rockatanski]

An aging art form where ink printed on paper. A lot of people aren't doing it anymore. A lot of people don't know how to read unless off a screen.

[Julian Fields]

I do like that. Like the American press Ops woman called you man Sui. That is how it's spelled. M A N S U Y. For people.

[Antoni Monsieur]

A new gender.

[Julian Fields]

Wow.

[Jake Rockatanski]

No gender. No gender.

[Julian Fields]

No gender. You're not allowed to have gender anymore. Gender is illegal. For everything else we have a website. QAAPodcast.com listener until next week.

[Antoni Monsieur]

And may the deep dish bless you.

[Julian Fields]

And keep you such a sultry, beautiful voice. Thank you, Anthony. Bye.

[Jake Rockatanski]

We gotta send you some deep dishes.

[Julian Fields]

Yeah.

[Antoni Monsieur]

Thanks to you that I found out what it was.

[Julian Fields]

Was.

[Jake Rockatanski]

Oh yeah. I don't know if Lumal Nadi's delivers internationally. I'll have to double check. I don't think they do.

[Antoni Monsieur]

We have autocued content based on your preferences.

[Matt Schlapp]

You know, they say in one of American traditions, the best shall be last. That's not a. It's actually from the Bible, but that's not meant to be insult towards anyone but Jay Ieba from. What'd you say?

[Julian Fields]

I was gonna say it's the first shall be last.

[Matt Schlapp]

But what did I say? I feel like Dan Quinn.

[Jake Rockatanski]

You know what they meant, though.

[Matt Schlapp]

Oh, I feel like Joe Biden.

[Julian Fields]

It's the best is yet to come.

[Antoni Monsieur]

And the first shall be last.

[Matt Schlapp]

Okay, I need more coffee.

[Antoni Monsieur]

That's right.