Pictured Above: “George Washington” and “The MAGA King”
On Wednesday, March 1, Fieldston Upper School students traveled to National Harbor in Maryland to attend this year’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). This was an opportunity granted to a lucky few students who are in “The Rise of The Right in Contemporary American Politics”, a spring semester history elective taught by history teacher Dr. Nancy Banks and Upper School History Department chair Dr. Jennifer Tammi. Banks first proposed the elective in 2009, in the spirit of promoting political and intellectual diversity at a school that leaned left and was in need of representation from the other side.
“When I came to Fieldston it was one of the first electives I proposed because I thought there was a real need for it,” said Banks. “We were in the Fieldston bubble, and there was not a lot of knowledge about Conservative politics and thinking. That is the genesis of the class. The reason why we thought CPAC in particular was important to attend was again to get out of the Fieldston bubble, and have the opportunity to talk to ordinary people who are interested in and concerned about these political issues. They are real people and you can have conversations with them and this is important to them. There is a tendency, myself included, to be dismissive and not listen to what their arguments are.”
Tammi shared a similar sentiment when asked about some of the most important personal and educational merits of attending the conference for students. “It gives you a chance to humanize these people and garner understanding,” said Tammi. “These people have families, they go to work.”
Banks spoke on the evolution of the conference over the years since she began attending in the early 2000s: “Post-2016, there is a lot less debate and more pro-Trump or fringe stuff. There are a lot of Conservatives that no longer attend because they don’t want to align themselves with that or confront Trump head on. Especially after January 6, a lot of people within the party are really just disgusted by the Marjorie Taylor Greene rhetoric and other January 6 supporters that are going to be there.”
Students spent all day Thursday and Friday at the conference. In the main ballroom, speeches from powerhouse conservative speakers such as Ted Cruz, Candace Owens, Matt Gaetz, Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo. In the main exhibition hall, vendors touted and sold “I Could Shit A Better President” hats while Conservative grassroots activist organizations such as The John Birch Society held booths to engage in dialogue and educate attendees on their issues.
On Friday, students grabbed breakfast with Fieldston Alumni and Conservative talk radio host Andrew Langer (‘89). Langer likened the conference to a sort of political comic con, as people come in cosplay and gather fanatically over a common – though the Marvel universe arguably has less bearing on the trajectory of our Democracy.
Banks and Tammi asked students to consider the theme of the conference, “Protecting America”, in relation to the issues most important to Conservatives. Students also framed the conference as a key indicator to gauge the direction the GOP is headed post-Trump and get a feel for 2024.
The first conference took place in 1974, and was established as a high profile gathering of prominent Conservatives to have a lively exchange of ideas, assess prospective presidential candidates, reaffirm Conservative values in community and set the Conservative agenda. It was an event meant to inspire. Today, CPAC is under fire from people both inside and outside of the party claiming it’s become a gross display of Trumpist pageantry with little to no room for anything else. The presence of counter Conservative programming and alternative conferences around the same time as CPAC showcases the divide within the party. Principles First: The Summit is an example of such programming, with Conservative intellectuals who write for The Atlantic to Harvard academics; Marjorie Taylor Greene and January 6th insurrectionists are nowhere to be found.
‘Rise of The Right’ students who attended the trip commented on the extreme tenor which CPAC has succumbed to. Joseph Ravikoff (V) who is a student in Tammi’s section of the course said. “Most people here are crazy. I think this was a highly beneficial experience to understand the internal tensions of the GOP as well as the present and future of the party. I think the GOP has become synonymous with Trumpism. I think we knew that heading in based off of what we study in class, but the conference confirmed that.” Ravikoff lamented how Trump-fueled tribalism fueled attendees’ intellectual laziness, “I tried to find a middle ground with a lot of people who I talked to. However a lot of the people who I talked to were just too extreme to find a middle ground with. It’s hard to come to a middle ground with people who don’t believe climate change is real or that Google is not run by the FBI.”
Tara Ulich (V) spoke on her worries for the direction of not only the GOP but contemporary American political culture at large. Ulich said, “what I found most interesting about the dominant rhetoric at the conference was how they were not interested in building bridges between the parties. Beyond vilifying the other side to promote their agenda, they were unable to compromise or cooperate to come to any solutions on policy. Candace Owens’s speech epitomized this.”
Form V student Isaac Green summed up the popular sentiment among students best when asked about his biggest takeaways from the trip. “This was the best field trip I’ve ever been on. Outside of the applicability of it to the course, in the sense that it brought the content and arguments we were learning about to life, It was very beneficial for Fieldston students to get out of their New York City private school classroom bubble,” said Green. “I also think it was really a great opportunity to understand the state of present American political culture. I would have personally loved to have seen more of a debate of political ideals but there was none of that here. It was really a series of political sermons with no room for questioning. But that is American politics right now on both sides of the aisle. It’s pretty concerning.”
