Conservatives gather to praise Trump,
bury differences
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[February 23, 2017]
By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservatives are
all smiles this week at an annual convention in Washington, celebrating
President Donald Trump's win, but beneath the surface lurk tensions
central to how Republicans will govern in the next two years and the
2018 election outlook.
At the four-day Conservative Political Action Conference, once a fringe
event that is now decidedly in the Republican mainstream, Trump and Vice
President Mike Pence will drop by to help fire up an estimated 10,000
activists in attendance.
Known as CPAC, the event is being held at a new MGM resort and casino
located in Maryland, just outside Washington. So Trump, a former casino
developer, should feel at home, despite certain unresolved differences
with many of his hosts over issues such as trade, taxes and small
government.
Just a month into his presidency, Trump is already being compared by
some conservatives to their icon President Ronald Reagan, who swept to
power in 1981 with a small-government, free-trade, tax-cutting agenda
that energized the Republican right-wing and molded the views of many of
the CPAC faithful.
Trump so far has been "pitch-perfect with conservatives as he starts his
administration," said Matt Schlapp, head of the American Conservative
Union, which organizes CPAC.
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Even so, some conservatives, including some at CPAC, are nervously
watching Trump.
Among other views, Trump has proposed a major expansion of government to
police immigration. He has already canceled a trade deal with
Asia-Pacific neighbors and he has sharply criticized one between the
United States, Mexico and Canada.
"I always worry any discussion about trade competition and tariffs ...
misdirects the focus," said CPAC stalwart Grover Norquist, a powerful
advocate of low taxes and small government.
On taxes, Trump has backed cuts in rates, but his position on a
Republican tax package under debate in Congress is unclear.
"Damn near the entire conservative wish list on tax policy is in his
(Trump's) tax reforms," Norquist said.
Whether Republicans and Trump can come to terms over such issues will
help determine how much real change they can effect in Washington, and
how the voters treat them in two years in the mid-term elections, when
ruling parties normally lose ground.
Some Republicans have expressed disappointment that Trump has not moved
faster on tax reform and on repealing Obamacare, the healthcare system
put in place by his Democratic President Barack Obama. Trump has not yet
publicly proposed legislation of any kind, unlike recent first-term
presidents.
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![](../images/022317pics/news_s35.jpg)
President Donald Trump reacts during a news conference at the White
House in Washington, U.S., February 16, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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Schlapp credited Trump with naming the most conservative Cabinet in
a half-century and nominating a Supreme Court justice, Neil Gorsuch,
who has conservatives' blessings.
Trump has also thrilled conservatives by working hand-in-glove with
congressional Republicans on overturning or gutting a handful of
Obama-era regulations, including one that prevented coal companies
from dumping waste into rivers and streams.
Such regulatory rollbacks and talk of tax cuts have boosted
financial markets, too, which have rallied since Trump's win.
CPAC organizers are trying to steer clear of controversy over the
alt-right movement, a loose grouping that includes neo-Nazis, white
supremacists and anti-Semites who Trump has been slow to denounce.
Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who also will speak at the
conference, formerly headed the Breitbart News Network, which
appealed to the movement.
"We don't think there's any role for the alt-right in the
conservative movement," Schlapp said in a phone interview.
Even Republican moderates, represented by the Republican Main Street
Partnership, are gushing over Trump.
"No one is unhappy with what he's doing," said Sarah Chamberlain,
president of the group with around 80 members of Congress. She noted
Pence has extended a hand to moderates, knowing they are needed to
get major legislation passed.
Chamberlain did say that Trump's personality and early White House
missteps have "taken up all the oxygen."
Nevertheless, she was optimistic, saying Trump is moving beyond
initial stumbles and "seems to be coming into his own."
(Additional reporting by John Whitesides; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh
and Leslie Adler)
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