NEW YORK (AP) – Milo Yiannopoulos represented the conservative movement’s struggle with powerful and conflicting forces in the early days of Donald Trump’s presidency, even before he lost his job and speaking slot in this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference.
The 33-year-old British professional provocateur is among the new players in Trump’s Republican Party, which is increasingly defined by a say-anything populism and a loose affiliation with white nationalists. Yiannopoulos, both loved and hated for his divisive comments about women, minorities and Muslims, offered a pointed message to political leaders on Tuesday even as he apologized for making explosive statements about sexual relationships between boys and men.
“America is crying out for somebody who will say the unsayable,” he declared. He added, “The populist, nationalist revolution that is happening, the anti-political correctness pro-free speech revolution that is happening all over the Western world, is not going anywhere.”
Indeed, the conservative movement is in flux as thousands of adherents prepare to gather in suburban Washington for its largest annual gathering.
Not long ago, the conference showcased the far-right fringe and the Republican Party’s rigid devotion to conservative ideology. Yet in the age of unfiltered Trump, CPAC may be outflanked by the likes of Yiannopoulos and the president’s chief counselor, Steve Bannon, whose confrontational brand of Republican politics ignores decades of conservative orthodoxy on key issues.