Conservatives across America flocked to Dallas, Texas this past weekend to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where heavy-hitters within the Republican party—including former President Donald Trump—addressed the crowd.
Nothing was missing from the litany of Republican objections to reality. Lies about everything from the 2020 election to the strawman of cancel culture were constantly spewed to applause.
Among the headliners was Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., whose off-the-cuff ramblings led to an awkward moment as he addressed the Texas crowd.
Watch below.
pic.twitter.com/qBwQWbtRHN— Acyn (@Acyn) 1625869717
Trump Jr. said:
"Texas has always led the charge. Well, til about like a couple of months ago, then Austin sort of took over. Like, I don't know, guys. Texas was leading the charge. You're still top 25, but we gotta work on that stuff, cause those people have lost their minds! Right?"
He was likely referring to Democrats in the state's legislature, who have left the Capitol—and now the state—in order to deny its congressional Republicans a quorum, thereby blocking voter suppression and anti-trans bills the GOP there has put forth.
But the crowd's response was muted, to say the least. Absent scattered chuckles and some unintelligible heckling about California, Trump Jr.'s wisecrack fell flat.
People noticed.
\u201cWhy aren\u2019t there more conservative comedians?\u201dhttps://twitter.com/acyn/status/1413626171611250688\u00a0\u2026— Brian Tyler Cohen (@Brian Tyler Cohen) 1625872649
Awkward https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1413626171611250688\u00a0\u2026— \ud83d\udca7\ud83d\ude37Suzi\ud83d\ude37\ud83c\udf0a (@\ud83d\udca7\ud83d\ude37Suzi\ud83d\ude37\ud83c\udf0a) 1625881341
Damn, that was awkwardhttps://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1413626171611250688\u00a0\u2026— Wicked Mama (@Wicked Mama) 1625901746
The transition from frantic excitement to solemn despair is everything I miss about going to open mic comedypic.twitter.com/5Y8FVmC3Xc— Andrew Maynard (@Andrew Maynard) 1625887897
Great lessons for performers here! \n\nDTJr: \u201cTexas has always led the charge.\u201d\nCHEERS\nThen he takes that energy and says \u201cExcept\u2026\u201d\nOK, if you\u2019re gonna take a cheering crowd away from the thing you just made them cheer, you better have a great joke. He did not.https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1413626171611250688\u00a0\u2026— Kilmartin- July 16/17 Alameda Comedy Club (@Kilmartin- July 16/17 Alameda Comedy Club) 1625937722
I\u2019ve seen thousands of people lose the crowd. I\u2019ve never seen a death like this. You can feel his fear.https://twitter.com/acyn/status/1413626171611250688\u00a0\u2026— Pete Dominick (@Pete Dominick) 1625893807
Jokes came rolling in.
And the crowd goes mild...https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1413626171611250688\u00a0\u2026— Darick (@Darick) 1626029684
Geez, the pandemic has been really hard on Ryan Seacrest, eh?https://twitter.com/acyn/status/1413626171611250688\u00a0\u2026— WhyAmIHere \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6\u2764\ufe0f\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddf2 (@WhyAmIHere \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6\u2764\ufe0f\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddf2) 1625873831
Me at the ravehttps://twitter.com/acyn/status/1413626171611250688\u00a0\u2026— Deep State Potato (@Deep State Potato) 1625870221
Yikes.