“The average age of CPAC attendees now mirrors Congress,” CJ Pearson, the 23-year-old conservative influencer and former co-chair of the Republican National Committee’s Youth Advisory Council, told Vanity Fair. “With the survival of the conservative movement predicated upon the next generation, I hope that they figure out a way to turn it around.”
While the administration’s speakers may not have been the most high-profile, this year’s program strongly leaned on international personalities, perhaps a subtle diversion from the bitter infighting playing out at home. The exiled Iranian opposition figure Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi was confirmed to address crowds, alongside a “MAGA vs. Mullah Madness” panel featuring victims of the Iranian regime. Poland’s populist President Karol Nawrocki was slated to appear, joined by former disgraced British PM Liz Truss and Eduardo and Flávio, the sons of former Brazil dictator Jair Bolsonaro.
Elsewhere, CEO of United Against Nuclear Iran’s Mark Wallace and Senator Ted Cruz, both vocal supporters of the war, rounded out the lineup, proponents for an aggressive international foreign policy that sits increasingly uneasy with the young conservative movement.
Young attendees check their phones at CPAC 2026.
Photographer Jack Califano
Brett Cooper, a 24-year-old conservative commentator with a YouTube show consisting of over 1.6 million subscribers, has recently been notably vocal about the war in Iran, particularly in what she sees as the lack of transparency in the administration’s messaging. When asked why she didn’t attend the conference this year, she said: “Ironically, I have no comment because I literally don’t even know what CPAC is.”
Roger Stone, the convicted felon and CPAC veteran, once made a point of appearing at the 2021 conference, dancing alongside rapper Forgiato Blow and taking selfies with fans outside. This year, however, even he is over it.
“CPAC was the single most important gathering of conservatives in the country serving as the launching pad for the candidacy of both Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump,” Stone told me via text. Now, he says, the brand has been destroyed. As for his fondest conference memories, Stone was less forthright, leaving one to presume that what happens at CPAC stays at CPAC.
