NATIONAL HARBOR, MD — Former Democrat Brandon Straka, the founder of the #WalkAway movement, hit the stage at CPAC on Wednesday with roaringly funny one-liners to a very appreciative crowd. Straka spoke on the importance of being brave enough to stand up for what you believe in, even if it isn’t popular. He talked about his transformation from a narrative-swallowing leftist to a Trump-supporting conservative.
“I thought Rachel Maddow was telling the truth!” he said. “But the media lies.” Straka described the moment he realized the media had been lying to us about President Trump “making fun of a handicapped person.” Straka believed the media lie until someone showed him a video of Trump using the same gestures to mock lots of people he doesn’t like. Context is everything.
Straka is a dynamic and hilarious speaker. A former hairdresser, he cracked, “Maxine Waters’s wigs are a hate crime against my retinas.” The crowd loved it. But the loudest applause came after Straka revealed that the #WalkAway movement he founded for Democrats to leave the party has 500,000 members. “Hell hath no fury like a gay man scorned by the Democrat Party,” he said. “They really pissed me off.”
Commenting on the extreme identity politics of the left, Straka noted that the #WalkAway group contains gay, trans, and lesbian members but “we like straight white people in our movement too.” He decried the “hateful divisive left” that separates people and causes constant division.
.@BrandonStraka is now addressing how to recognize the left’s propaganda to the #CPAC2020 crowd! #LeadRight pic.twitter.com/QuGJ4vBaIW
— CPAC 2020 (Text CPAC to 56479) (@CPAC) February 26, 2020
Straka’s message is resonating with Democrats who no longer feel at home in their party. He is reaching out to those people every day and winning votes for the sane side.
@BrandonStraka's message to closet Trump supporters who are afraid of losing friends/family over their support for President Trump #CPAC2020 pic.twitter.com/gUNvhLZDbd
— Savanah Hernandez (@sav_says_) February 26, 2020
Megan Fox is the author of “Believe Evidence; The Death of Due Process from Salome to #MeToo,” and host of The Fringe podcast. Follow on Twitter @MeganFoxWriter
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