Former President Donald Trump's appearance at the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference will be "the biggest story" coming out of the four-day event, Matt Schlapp told Newsmax on Wednesday.
The chairman of the American Conservative Union and host of CPAC noted Trump, in speaking at the event Saturday, would break "the Reagan record" of 13 appearances.
"It's a big deal that Donald Trump is coming to beat the Reagan record," Schlapp told "National Report."
"The fact that he's going to be with us on the same day that he's going to be in South Carolina to declare a great victory in South Carolina is very meaningful to the people here."
Trump joins a large roster of GOP speakers at the event in Washington, D.C. Rival candidate and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley will not be among them.
"Donald Trump … shows up each and every time, he listens to them," Schlapp said of attendees.
"We want four more years of that, and I think that's the biggest story coming out of CPAC," he declared.
CPAC will also have a straw poll that will include the question of who should be the GOP vice president nominee — and Schlapp said he expects Trump will be interested in the results.
"I think he is going to watch these speeches here, and I think he's going to look at the results of this straw poll," he said. "And then he's going to have his other barometers, too."
During the interview, Schlapp heaped praise on Newsmax.
"Conservatives have been very depressed because places they've gone to get news have really let them down," and are "on the prowl to try to find places to get news that will shoot straight with them and tell them what's really going on," he said. "Newsmax has become that for a lot of people."
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Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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