Welcome to a new week of Washington Secrets. We are in a reflective mood today, looking back at CPAC and why the big divides were such a small story in the end. (It comes down to demographics.) Plus, we have an exclusive for you with news that Greg Bovino, Border Patrol’s immigration enforcer before his early retirement, is writing a book, plus just how much you can earn in five hours a week if you are Matt Schlapp!
Wesley Pokluda was getting his bearings at the Conservative Political Action Conference amid the hubbub of activists and the booming audio coming from the stage where Steve Bannon was broadcasting War Room and making the case against war in Iran.
“It only looks like it’s gonna get worse,” said the history major at Texas A&M University about the conflict. “So I don’t think it’s for Americans’ best interest.”
Secrets bumped into Pokluda last week. At 20 years of age and an opponent of the war, the student was something of a rarity on two counts at CPAC.
Where headlines had focused on the possible splits in the Trump movement — over the war in Iran, the Epstein files, Washington’s relationship with Israel, the pace of deportations, artificial intelligence — the reality was different.
This year’s CPAC brought together a self-selecting crowd, dominated by older age groups, as displayed by the occasional trundle of mobility scooters through the foyers and corridors.
It was a far cry from a decade ago. Then the gathering was known for wild parties and a frantic dating scene.
Reporters churned out stories with headlines such as: “The Tinder Guys of CPAC, the friskiest Republican bash of the year.”
Fast forward a decade and the rise of Charlie Kirk’s conservative youth movement has changed the demographic.
“This is Turning Point for boomers,” said one disappointed 20-year-old woman, who asked that her name not be used.
That has implications not just for hook-ups, but for policy questions and CPAC’s famous straw poll.
Take Iran. An informal survey (based on pinto beans dropped into jars in the exhibitor hall) on the Iran war does not produce the results you might expect from an “America First” audience. For every bean dropped into the “Do you support the war in Iran? No” jar, about seven or eight had been dropped into the Yes jar, according to Secrets’ entirely unscientific eyeballing.
Part of that is down to the hundreds of people wearing “Persians for Trump” T-shirts. They provided much of the event’s noise and energy.
READ MORE: CPAC faces relevancy issue with youth activists over Iran war
They clogged escalators, chanting “King Reza Pahlavi” and “Thank you, Trump” before their exiled crown prince addressed the conference on Saturday. They want the war to continue until they get their country back.
But there is a generational divide, too. Gen Z is the cohort least likely to approve of the war in Iran. Take them out of the equation and CPAC turns into a gathering of people more likely to back Trump in his foreign adventure.
Instead, the divide came less from the audience but more from the stage. The likes of Bannon (at one point arguing with Iranian opposition supporters about what was best for their country) and Matt Gaetz, the former member of Congress, warned that the United States risked slipping into a forever war.
The other sign of a skewed demographic came on Saturday, with the release of CPAC’s famous straw poll. Attendees were asked who they would like to be the 2028 Republican nominee for president.
At one level, the results were astounding.
JD Vance, Trump’s vice president, came top with 53%.
Yet that represented an 8-point drop from last year, while Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of state and national security, improved from 3% in 2025 to 35%.
Rubio has moved into the limelight with the military operation to capture the Venezuelan president and the war in Iran. It is no surprise he is surging.
However, the straw poll has Rubio on about double the support he has elsewhere. A recent J.L. Partners poll put him at 17%.
Just like the pinto beans in the jar, the self-selecting audience at CPAC probably doesn’t represent the broader movement. And Secrets suspects that a younger, noninterventionist crowd would have boosted Vance’s numbers.
Greg Bovino says cheese
Greg Bovino, Border Patrol’s former commander at large, with the big coat that definitely does not give off a Nazi vibe, got one of the noisiest, rock-star receptions at CPAC when he was brought on stage by podcaster Benny Johnson.
He was in demand for the rest of the conference, and Secrets spotted him being interviewed in one of the convention’s coffee shops. As the interview wrapped up, the female journalist asked the burly bruiser for a photograph, handing Secrets her phone.
Bovino moved naturally to put his arm around her in a classic pose. Much to her horror.
No, no, no, she said. Before keeping a full foot of space between them.
Secrets then interviewed Bovino and got the Secrets scoop: That he is writing a book on the past year’s deportation proceedings in order to “memorialize” the hard work and dedication
And no, Secrets never asks interviewees for a photograph. That’s for dilettantes.
Secrets Scoop: Greg Bovino is writing a book on Trump’s deportation operation
Nice work if you can get it
Matt Schlapp is chairman of the American Conservative Union, which runs CPAC. It makes him one of the most powerful figures in the conservative movement and, it seems, one of the best compensated.
The group’s most recent 990 filings reveal he was paid $837,444 for the fiscal year ending in March 2024, numbers first reported by Raheem Kassam over at the National Pulse.
Organizing such a big bash is, of course, a demanding and absorbing job. So hats off to Schlapp, who did it all while working five hours a week, according to the filing.
Lunchtime reading
Progressive capitalism for the post-Trump era: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) argues that Democrats have to design and deliver a plan for “genuinely inclusive prosperity” across the nation.
Mike Johnson takes the wheel: A second WaPo story today, but this is one of those rare pieces that gives a live X-ray of how power works in Washington.
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