Trump’s base clings tight despite rising tide of troubles

Bloomberg

Donald Trump had a rough week. His former lawyer told a House committee that the president is a cheat and a racist who has committed fraud, hours before Trump returned empty-handed from a high-stakes summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un in Hanoi.
Yet just down the Potomac River from Washington, at an annual gathering of influential conservatives, none of that mattered.
On stage and in meeting rooms of a convention center at National Harbor, Maryland, attendees alike donned bright red “MAGA” hats as speakers praised the president lavishly as the savior of the nation.
“I see the greatest president in history,” Mike Lindell, an avid Trump supporter and the chief executive officer of My Pillow Inc., said as he addressed a session of the Conservative Political Action Conference. “Of course he is, he was chosen by God.”
The split-screen scenes from the nation’s capital capture Trump’s predicament as he begins turning to a re-election race. His approval ratings remain stuck underwater nationally and he faces an onslaught of investigations by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and congressional Democrats. But he holds an unassailable grip on a Republican Party that’s increasingly welcoming of the far right.

Hero’s Welcome
Trump is set to appear to a hero’s welcome on Saturday at CPAC, where eight years ago he was booed. His critics in the conservative movement have either become supporters or been largely excommunicated from the gathering. The leader of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, used the occasion to praise figures with views that once were relegated to the fringes, but who have since been assimilated into the party mainstream.
“You see people like Candace Owens like Charlie Kirk — we need more leaders like that,” McDaniel said at the conference. “These rising stars are the future of the party.”
Owens recently drew a backlash for saying that “if Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, OK fine,” and that his problem was “he had dreams outside of Germany.”
Kirk is a culture warrior who has accused liberals of endorsing infanticide. Both landed speaking slots at CPAC, along with activist-provocateur James O’Keefe and YouTube duo Diamond and Silk, while conspiracy theorist Jacob Wohl walked the halls.
Trump skeptics in the conservative movement were aghast. “Then the Party doesn’t deserve to have a future,” Joe Walsh, a former Republican congre-ssman turned radio host
responded on Twitter.
“Some future. Some party,” tweeted Bill Kristol, a conservative writer and longtime Republican operative. Commentator and radio host Erick Erickson ridiculed the lineup.
In some ways, Erickson embodies the party’s dichotomy — once a leader of the “Never Trump” movement, he endorsed Trump for re-election last month, saying he still struggles with the president’s moral failings but likes his policies.
CPAC kicked off as Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, testified in public and private at the Capitol, providing a road map of witnesses —Trump associates and employees — that he said could corroborate his assertions that Trump engaged in various acts of crime and fraud.
In the extraordinary Wednesday hearing at the House Oversight Committee, Cohen, who worked for Trump for a decade and was the RNC’s deputy finance chairman until eight months ago, told Congress he lied on the president’s behalf to cover up his misdeeds. He pleaded guilty to nine felonies, including lying to Congress, and has been sentenced to three years in prison.