CPAC: “There is a divide between the young and old in the party” and talk of a backlash against those who were “J-pilled”

[Dante]

I've always said MAGA will die off with or without Trump. The politics of resentments cannot keep on going. Splits are bound to occur as people turn on each other as they are apt to do -- human nature/crowd psychology.

In 2018, we had the Democratic strategist Aaron Huertas coining "the term “reactionary centrism” to describe a style of politics that prides itself on even-handedness while being disproportionately obsessed with left-wing overreach. Always deployed as an epithet, “reactionary centrism” is overused by progressives to inoculate themselves from criticism. But it describes a real ethos — a loathing of wokeness so intense it led some elite former Democrats to support Donald Trump. “After the Hunt” brings reactionary centrism to prestige cinema."

Not only do I believe Huertas was onto something, I had been saying something similar.

now:
[[[ “There is a divide between the young and old in the party,” said Aiden Hoffses, 19, who had traveled from Maine to attend his first CPAC. “We keep hearing these talking points that we’re all united and in the same movement. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I feel like I have closer views with liberals than more conservatives at this point.” ]]]

[[[ Just outside the hall, 20-somethings in rumpled suits were gathered in clusters, debating the merits of a ground invasion in Iran, the conservative backlash against those who were “J-pilled” (far-right slang for skepticism of Israeli influence), the backbreaking costs of American life, and what they saw as the slow demise of the Trump era. ]]]


‘I Think That MAGA Is Dying:’ Inside the Youth Movement at CPAC
Nathan Taylor Pemberton - March 30, 2026

At a sparsely attended Conservative Political Action Conference, young Republicans were eager to start the post-Trump era.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/30/style/cpac-scene-maga.html

 

[Frankeneinstein]

I've always said MAGA will die off with or without Trump. The politics of resentments cannot keep on going. Splits are bound to occur as people turn on each other as they are apt to do -- human nature/crowd psychology.

In 2018, we had the Democratic strategist Aaron Huertas coining "the term “reactionary centrism” to describe a style of politics that prides itself on even-handedness while being disproportionately obsessed with left-wing overreach. Always deployed as an epithet, “reactionary centrism” is overused by progressives to inoculate themselves from criticism. But it describes a real ethos — a loathing of wokeness so intense it led some elite former Democrats to support Donald Trump. “After the Hunt” brings reactionary centrism to prestige cinema."

Not only do I believe Huertas was onto something, I had been saying something similar.

now:
[[[ “There is a divide between the young and old in the party,” said Aiden Hoffses, 19, who had traveled from Maine to attend his first CPAC. “We keep hearing these talking points that we’re all united and in the same movement. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I feel like I have closer views with liberals than more conservatives at this point.” ]]]

[[[ Just outside the hall, 20-somethings in rumpled suits were gathered in clusters, debating the merits of a ground invasion in Iran, the conservative backlash against those who were “J-pilled” (far-right slang for skepticism of Israeli influence), the backbreaking costs of American life, and what they saw as the slow demise of the Trump era. ]]]


‘I Think That MAGA Is Dying:’ Inside the Youth Movement at CPAC
Nathan Taylor Pemberton - March 30, 2026

At a sparsely attended Conservative Political Action Conference, young Republicans were eager to start the post-Trump era.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/30/style/cpac-scene-maga.html

good post, its accuracy will only be determined by time, but it was thought out instead of the usual parroted trope.