Oh come on, this is just too on the nose.
Despite having unleashed a mob of his bloodthirsty supporters upon the Capitol in his desperate pursuit to steal the election last month, ex-President Donald Trump is being fêted at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) almost as a god-king – a characterization that may have once been seen as an exaggeration of conservatives’ loyalty to Trump until this happened:
#CPAC #AmericaUncancelled pic.twitter.com/mVqBuF2blY
— William Turton (@WilliamTurton) February 26, 2021
That’s right: You’re witnessing an actual golden statue of the former president being paraded around CPAC’s convention halls.
Perhaps the idol shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise; the CPAC theme this year is “America Uncanceled,” and its panel lineup shows how the convention, which began on Thursday, is largely serving as grievance-fest for Trump and his foot soldiers, with little focus on an actual policy agenda.
“The idea that we’re going to come up with some kind of conservative platform at CPAC, it rings a little hollow,” American Conservative Union chair and CPAC organizer Matt Schlapp told the Washington Post. Instead, the convention runners aim to “cover the facts” about the 2020 election that Schlapp claims the media had “canceled.”
In essence, the event promises to boost Trump’s lies about the election being “rigged” against him through voter fraud (it wasn’t). The former president will give a closing speech at the convention, and the golden statue will stand proud.
Once the video of the statue went viral, comparisons to the biblical fable of the golden calf that drew God’s wrath at the Israelites were inevitable:
I think there’s something about this in the Bible. https://t.co/Rx5qaFzKZT
— Diana Butler Bass (@dianabutlerbass) February 26, 2021
We take you live now to CPAC pic.twitter.com/vNV6BbD9Fu
— Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) February 26, 2021
Seriously, did these folks not read the Old Testament? pic.twitter.com/cjGReyGMYv
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) February 26, 2021
Odds @SachaBaronCohen is inside? https://t.co/WlbGdJMygA
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) February 26, 2021
A golden statue of Trump is as good a summary of CPAC as one could possibly make. pic.twitter.com/tW0zFobjyh
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) February 26, 2021
Who wore it better? Golden Trump or Golden Calf? pic.twitter.com/Fjd9XjJs8V
— David Rothschild (@DavMicRot) February 26, 2021
The golden calf jokes aren’t subtle and wry when they make it all obvious like that https://t.co/mNQzwjgGsh
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) February 26, 2021
