The Republican presidential candidates are all lined up to speak at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference this week in Maryland, but one group is calling on the American Conservative Union to disinvite the frontrunner.
“We write to respectfully request … that Donald Drumpf be disinvited from speaking at CPAC 2016,” the anti-Trump group Make America Awesome writes in their petition, referencing the real estate mogul’s ancestral name, which was brought to light recently by comedian John Oliver.
Acknowledging that it is the ACU’s tradition to allow all Republican candidates a platform to speak, the group is hoping they will make an exception this year.
“[W]e believe that CPAC, by allowing Donald Drumpf to speak, is making a grave mistake that will do huge and lasting reputational damage to you personally, CPAC, the American Conservative Union, the conservative movement, and the Republican Party,” the letter continues.
Make America Awesome goes on the cite The Donald failing to disavow endorsements from white supremacists, which they say will cause lasting damage to the GOP; and the fact that he holds many of the same positions as Hillary Clinton, and is thus not a true conservative.
“In [the] past, CPAC has been unwilling to host “insufficiently conservative” members of the Republican Party who are demonstrably further to the right on an array of policy issues than Donald Drumpf,” the group writes, noting the organization’s issues with John McCain and Chris Christie, the latter of whom was deemed “too liberal” to speak at the event.
“We urge you to act before the end of the week to rectify this situation. It is not too late to do so, and should CPAC and/or ACU suffer reprisals for taking a principled, pro-conservative, pro-freedom stance and rejecting this purveyor of big government schemes and racial politicking, we will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you and defend your decision in rejecting him.
“If you do not, we will unfortunately be in a position of having to continue to condemn CPAC and ACU for entrenching the perception of conservatives as racists and/or racist-enablers, and doing lasting and serious damage to the Republican Party,” the group concludes.