[Salon] CPAC urged to probe more sexual misconduct claims against chair Matt Schlapp

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave...when first we practice to deceive.”

Don’t know why that came to mind, other than the total hypocrisy revealed here with CPAC chair’s serial sexual misconduct. Though his doesn’t seem to have risen to the level of CPAC favorite Donald Trump’s. Also very revealing of such utter hypocrisy and contempt of the law, so characteristic of Conservatives. Which isn’t to say that non-Conservatives don’t do the same, and can be equally hypocritical. Only saying that for a group with self-declared “Traditional Conservatives,” ever-preening of its “moral clarity,” itself a post-WW II American fascist phrase complementing Machiavelli’s “Virtù”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virt%C3%B9, both propagated by Leo Strauss and the “Traditional Conservatives” (CIA officers) who founded National Review magazine and the Conservative Movement, it’s necessary to “translate” the language that they use to see their "true meaning.”

As I do, having Orwell’s various writings on “language” in mind. But here is a “translation” in the “positive sense” of Machiavelli’s virtù attributed to Straussian Harvey Mansfield: "According to Machiavelli, virtù includes pride, bravery, skill, forcefulness, and an amount of ruthlessness coupled with the willingness to do evil when necessary.^[2]”With this attributed to J.G.A. Pocock: “and the negative image of virtù as realpolitik passed into the wider European consciousness over the centuries that followed.^[9]Complemented by Thomas Hobbes’s ideology contained within “Leviathan," with each taken to its logical extreme, and together, you have “generic fascism,” with only minor national differentiations.

I don’t usually quote the Bible lest someone take me for the “Christian Right.” But these quotes which certainly fit CPAC, on many levels, not just this on Schlapp, scream at us, as a quick glance at this shows: https://www.openbible.info/topics/hypocrisy

I wonder how this will be taken in Israel by their Fascist Right (Conservatives), of the religious variety, which CPAC is so closely allied to?: https://www.conservative.org/cpac/israel/

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23271726/cpac-goes-to-israel

This might be a clue: https://cpac.substack.com/p/matt-schlapp-joins-elaine-beck-on

And this, revealing of the “network,” the MAGA/CPAC forces are at the center of: https://www.cpachungary.com/en/agenda

So just like in the U.S., the “religious fascists” in Israel won’t bat an eye, as its “ideological adherence” to “virtù,” which matters most to such ideologues, not adherence to religion based “virtue,” overrides any “traditional religious morality,” as they profess to represent. How to tell the difference? While I’ve been mocked here on occasion for using such a word as “genealogy” in the context of political ideas, and references to “political theory” as necessary to truly understand “politics,” (as one of the few things I am in agreement with Leo Strauss and Willmoore Kendall on, though I approach it as a method of analysis, versus their propagation of right-wing, fascist, political theory as their objective), blame it on the U.S. Army. And what they teach as a required “Knowledge Outcome” in Psychological Operations training. Which mine was all concentrated in a short time frame in the early 1990s, making it maybe more memorable. Or, perhaps due to my preceding, voluminous study of ideology and propaganda, as “Political Warfare,” given the times I grew up in, of both “Left” and “Right,” from the time I read the children’s version of Shirer’s book, retitled as “The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler,” giving me a perverse interest in the subject.

And all of which gave me a greater insight, I would argue, when it came time to both know, and to oppose, the ideological “origins” of U.S./CIA “torture” and “Martial Law,” in its U.S. Military Commissions manifestation, as Ernst Frankel expressed so well in the opening line here on "The Prerogative State.” Or, as we call it here in the U.S., the “Unitary Executive State,” as advocated for so vigorously by “Traditional Conservatives” like Barry Goldwater, and his fellow Traditional Conservatives. And, only later, by their ideological offspring in the Democratic Party as they began in that party by modeling themselves in the form of Goldwaterites, calling themselves “Neoconservatives.” No need for that in the Republican Party after 1964 as thereafter, these Uber-militarists, were known by their original self-identifying name; Conservatives, and in the details of their self-description, identified themselves for us, as generic fascists, without using that word, as defined as “What is Conservatism?” Because that “political war” has been so successful that there is now bi-partisan support for “Perpetual War," only shows the social psychology effect of “political mimicry.” In other words, the fascists self-described below in “What is Conservatism,” won. And it can correctly be said today in the U.S.: "We’re all Goldwaterites Now.” And that spells our fast approaching doom!

So I would argue that since “political warfare” theory, taken far beyond what always existed to some degree as mere “propaganda,” is the embodiment of contemporary political campaigns, it is necessary to know something of “political warfare theory.” Whether Arthur Finkelstein conceived his “Six-Party Theory” independently beginning in 1972 in getting Nixon elected, or it originated out of one-time CIA officers James Burnham’s and Willmoore Kendall’s “political theory” calling for “Perpetual Political Warfare,” or, he was simply clever enough to see how the tactics of “regime change” by the CIA in Brazil and Bolivia was transferable to U.S. campaigns, it is necessary to understand the “ideological origins” of it. And the first file below explaining “How to Analyze Propaganda” is a first step to that. And the second by Orwell on how to understand what the ideology of James Burnham really meant. He being today one of the two most influential ideologists in the “genealogy" of Trumpism (the “New Right”), as is claimed by "Traditional Conservative Trumpites.”

With both, along with Buckley, all openly having articulated a “Revolutionary Rightist” (fascist) political theory, as survives in their writings. And all three now celebrated as “American Conservatism: Reclaiming an Intellectual Tradition,” which in fact was, ideologically, “American Militarism.” With that “Intellectual Tradition” so celebrated by Conservatives today in fact being the ideological cornerstones of the "Military Industrial Complex!” Which tells one of two things for those celebrating such “Radical Militarists” while professing to oppose “American Militarism.” Either they’re stupid in the extreme, or duplicitous in the extreme. Or maybe they just need to study a little of the “ideology of propaganda,” and the underlying “political theory” of what is called Conservatism to realize what dupes they are in falling for the propaganda of Kendall, Burnham, and Buckley in the first place!

https://www.ffri.hr/~ibrdar/komunikacija/seminari/How%20to%20analyse%20propaganda%20(Chapter6).pdf

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/08/26/matt-schlapp-cpac-sexual-misconduct-allegations/

CPAC urged to probe more sexual misconduct claims against chair Matt Schlapp
A senior board member of CPAC’s parent organization resigned as he urged more scrutiny of Schlapp’s alleged conduct
Isaac Arnsdorf
Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, speaks on the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on Thursday, March 2, in Fort Washington. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, speaks on the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on Thursday, March 2, in Fort Washington. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
A senior board member of the parent organization behind the prominent Conservative Political Action Conference who resigned on Friday urged an independent investigation into additional allegations of sexual misconduct against Chairman Matt Schlapp.
The vice chairman of the board of the American Conservative Union, Charlie Gerow, announced his resignation on Friday in a letter to other directors that called on them to authorize an investigation including any additional allegations that they or staff have become aware of, according to multiple people familiar with the letter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Earlier this year, Schlapp was sued for alleged sexual battery and defamation by a Republican campaign operative who claimed that the CPAC leader groped his crotch during a campaign trip last fall. Schlapp has denied the claim.
In addition to that lawsuit, some board members and staffers have been told about other incidents involving Schlapp, 55, and two younger men, multiple people with direct knowledge of the situation said.
In one incident, a staffer said Schlapp attempted to kiss him while drinking late after a work function in 2017. The staffer also provided documentation from that night to The Washington Post showing physical contact that the staffer said was unsolicited.
In another incident, Schlapp allegedly made unwanted physical advances on someone else’s employee during a CPAC business trip in Palm Beach, Fla., in early 2022, according to multiple people informed of the incident. The alleged victim did not respond to requests for comment.
Schlapp did not respond to requests for comment.
“These allegations are completely fabricated and represent a blatant attempt by Mr. Gerow and disgruntled individuals to force Mr. Schlapp to step down,” Matt Smith, a member of the ACU executive committee, said in a statement Saturday. “ … Only when it became clear that he was not going to be reelected to the board did he fabricate these false allegations.”
In a statement released after his resignation Friday, Gerow said: “I will continue to pray that the difficulties they are encountering will be dealt with openly and honestly. I am calling on my former colleagues to authorize an independent investigation into the charges against Matt Schlapp, to conduct an independent forensic audit of the organizations finances, to obtain a written opinion of counsel that the organization is in full compliance with its own bylaws and all applicable law and to thoroughly review all the exit interviews of the large number of staff who have recently left.”
CPAC did not respond to requests for comment on the new sexual harassment allegations. But in response to Gerow’s resignation, CPAC said in a statement on Friday: “CPAC remains committed to compliance. Having a board that is unified toward the goal of defeating the left and winning on important issues and in the next election is critical to saving America.”
Longtime member Morton Blackwell said he was not aware of any other allegations of sexual misconduct against Schlapp but acknowledged “there are problems, and I am looking forward to the next board meeting so we can discuss them.”
Gerow’s resignation is the third by a member of the board’s eight-member executive committee in recent months. When ACU Treasurer Bob Beauprez quit in May, he wrote a resignation letter saying he had “lost confidence” in the organization’s financial statements, blamed Schlapp for excessive staff departures, and suggested that violations of the organization’s bylaws could expose the organization to lawsuits or criminal prosecution.
In the lawsuit filed in January in Virginia, GOP operative Carlton Huffman accused Schlapp of groping his genitals while driving Schlapp to his hotel in Atlanta after campaigning for Senate candidate Herschel Walker. Call logs, texts and videos provided by Huffman and his confidants to The Post and in his lawsuit matched his account, and six family members and friends and three Walker campaign officials confirmed to The Post that he told them about the alleged incident that night or the next day.
Schlapp has acknowledged drinking with Huffman that night but denied making any sexual advances. The lawsuit is in the discovery phase.
Gerow’s resignation letter also raised concerns about the organization’s potential liability for legal costs in the Huffman case, according to people familiar with the letter.
In a previous message to the board that was obtained by The Post, Gerow said he was repeatedly refused requests to inspect the organization’s finances, in particular hoping to review the insurance coverage for the legal costs. Gerow’s message said he received a response from CPAC’s general counsel, David Safavian, saying he could not copy any documents, which Gerow said conflicted with D.C. law giving the directors of nonprofit organizations the right to “inspect and copy the books, records, and documents of the corporation.”
“Any failure to comply with D.C. or other law and our bylaws potentially provides the ‘ammo’ to fire at us,” Gerow said in his earlier message to the board. “Sadly, this follows several warnings from other directors and former officers about our noncompliance with our own by laws and the laws under which we operate.”
Safavian then replied with a message, apparently intended for someone else, saying he planned to take Gerow off the board at a meeting this month.
Safavian did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Another former employee, Regina Bratton, notified the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in January of plans to sue over claims that she was fired in retaliation for complaining about a co-worker’s sexist and racist comments. Schlapp and CPAC have not responded to questions about Bratton from The Post.
ACU was founded in the wake of Barry Goldwater’s loss in the 1964 presidential election to nurture the conservative movement. The flagship CPAC conference has become a blockbuster gathering for activists and politicians. Schlapp became chairman in 2014 and expanded into international conferences while making himself a prominent surrogate for former president Donald Trump.
Isaac Arnsdorf is a national political reporter for The Washington Post who covers former president Donald Trump, the “Make America Great Again” political movement and the Republican Party. Twitter
Beth Reinhard has been a reporter at The Washington Post since 2017. She previously worked at The Wall Street Journal, National Journal, The Miami Herald and The Palm Beach Post. Twitter

[Salon] CPAC urged to probe more sexual misconduct claims against chair Matt Schlapp - The Washington Post

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave...when first we practice to deceive.”

CPAC urged to probe more sexual misconduct claims against chair Matt Schlapp

A senior board member of CPAC’s parent organization resigned as he urged more scrutiny of Schlapp’s alleged conduct