'CPAC is now only a shadow of its former self'

'Should conservatives care about CPAC?'

Henry Olsen at National Review

The Conservative Political Action Conference has outlived its usefulness, says Henry Olsen. CPAC used to be an important annual event where conservatives of all stripes "gathered to meet, debate, and network." But under its embattled chair, Matt Schlapp, "it has devolved into a MAGA carnival where only one part of the conservative movement is welcome and dogma has replaced debate." Something needs to "topple CPAC from its decaying perch," the way Amazon replaced Sears.

Read more

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

'Fani Willis' strange, furious testimony may have blown up her case against Trump'

Jeremy Stahl and Mark Joseph Stern in Slate

The "soap opera" of Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis' romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, whom she hired to help prosecute former President Donald Trump, has been devastating "for American democracy," say Jeremy Stahl and Mark Joseph Stern. Willis' "combative testimony" defending herself this week furthered the collapse of her case over Trump's election-interference allegations "into a mess of accusations and recriminations." It's now a "tragedy and a farce at once" that benefits Trump.

Read more

'Chiefs Super Bowl party shooting: It's we, hi, we're the problem it's we"

Dion Lefler in The Kansas City Star

"Our problem isn't just guns," says Dion Lefler. "It's that too many of us are too angry at the wrong people." One thing that made Wednesday's Super Bowl party shooting so sad is the nation wasn't always like this. Americans "were hopeful, optimistic, courageous and compassionate," which "made us a beacon to the world." This "allowed us to go to parades without fear of dying in a hail of gunfire. I'd like to live in that America again."

Read more

'Mike Johnson needs a cognitive test'

Dana Milbank in The Washington Post

Republicans are trying to paint President Joe Biden as old and "senile," says Dana Milbank. But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) might be the one who needs a cognitive test. On Monday, the Republican leader flatly dismissed the Senate's bipartisan foreign aid package because it didn't include an immigration crackdown. "Apparently, he just plum forgot that he was the one" who had killed the toughest border security bill in a generation just a week earlier.

Read more