There’s much to be said about the booing of Mona Charen, who used her platform at the Conservative Political Action Conference both to challenge Republicans for excusing misconduct by men in their own party and to hammer organizers for inviting French nationalist politician Marion Marechal-Le Pen. As a statement on the conservative movement’s evolution, Charen’s requisite security escort out of the conference is fertile ground.
With few exceptions, Charen was one of the only CPAC speakers this year bold enough to diverge from Trumpism in her remarks on the main stage. And whether or not you agree with what she said, we should at least agree it was okay for her to say it.
Oddly enough, in defending Le Pen’s speaking slot, American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp tweeted, “Part of [CPAC] is hearing people out. Debate is good for democracy and we are honored to have her address our activists.”
In the spirit of those sentiments, perhaps the crowd should have heard Charen out. No matter. If a Trump-friendly audience wants to boo one of his critics, even if she happens to be conservative, that’s fine.
But the conservative movement’s pre-eminent gathering should always include voices like Charen’s, especially in an era when all of us are paying constant lip service to the marketplace of ideas, insisting rightfully to college students that competition produces better conversation and better outcomes. Given that the mere prospect of Trump attending the conference was so controversial he was a no-show just two years ago, it’s clear the conservative movement is evolving and evolving fast. To transform without allowing anyone to subvert fervent groupthink is dangerous and unwise. That goes for CPAC and for the broader ongoing conversation.
In her remarks at the conference, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said the Trump administration “is committed to upholding those freedoms of expression and exchange of ideas, and we will be continuing to advance this notion that the place to have fights, so to speak, is in the battle of ideas.”
“Good ideas are always going to win,” DeVos insisted.
If the Trump loyalists who flock to CPAC agree with that principle, they should welcome Charen’s contributions to the conference.
