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American political party

Political party in United States

The Transhumanist Party is a political party in the United States. The party's platform is based on the ideas and principles of transhumanist politics, e.g., human enhancement, human rights, science, life extension, and technological progress.[3][4][5]

The Transhumanist Party was founded in 2014 by Zoltan Istvan. Istvan became the first political candidate to run for office under the banner of the Transhumanist Party when he announced his candidacy for President of the United States in the United States presidential election of 2016.[4] As part of his campaign Zoltan and a cadre of transhumanist activists and embedded journalists embarked on a four month journey in the coffin-shaped Immortality Bus, which traveled on a winding cross-country route from San Francisco to Washington D.C. The Transhumanist Party has been featured or mentioned in many major media sites, including the National Review,[6] Business Insider,[7] Extreme Tech, Vice,[8] Wired,[9] The Telegraph, The Huffington Post,[4] The Joe Rogan Experience,[10] Heise Online,[11] Gizmodo,[12] and Reason.[13] Political scientist Roland Benedikter said the formation of the Transhumanist Party in the USA was one of three reasons transhumanism entered into the mainstream in 2014, creating "a new level of public visibility and potential impact."[14]

Following the end of the 2016 presidential election, after Zoltan's 2016 presidential campaign was completed, Gennady Stolyarov II became the Chairman of the party and the organisation was restructured. Under Chairman Stolyarov, the party adopted a new Constitution,[15] which included three immutable Core Ideals in Article I, Section I:[16]

New positions were founded, including Pavel Ilin became Secretary, Dinorah Delfin Director of Admissions and Public Relations, Arin Vahanian as Director of Marketing, Sean Singh as Director of Applied Innovation, Brent Reitze as Director of Publication, Franco Cortese as Director of Scholarship, and B.J. Murphy as Director of Social Media.[17] Restructured advisor positions included Zoltan Istvan as Political and Media Advisor, Bill Andrews as Biotechnology Advisor, Jose Cordeiro as Technology Advisor, Newton Lee as Education and Media Advisor, Keith Comito as Crowdfunding Advisor, Aubrey de Grey as Anti-Aging Advisor, Rich Lee as Biohacking Advisor, Katie King as Media Advisor, Ira Pastor as Regeneration Advisor, Giovanni Santostasi as Regeneration Advisor, Elizabeth Parrish as Advocacy Advisor, and Paul Spiegel as Legal Advisor.

The U.S. Transhumanist Party held six Platform votes during January, February, March, May, June, and November 2017, on the basis of which 82 Platform planks were adopted.[18] The U.S. Transhumanist Party holds votes of its members electronically and is the first political party in the United States to use ranked-preference voting method with instant runoffs in its internal ballots.[19]

In May 2018 the New York Times reported the U.S. Transhumanist Party as having 880 members.[20] On July 7, 2018, the U.S. Transhumanist Party reached 1,000 members and released a demographic analysis of its membership.[1] This analysis showed that 704 members, or 70.4%, were eligible to vote in the United States, whereas 296 or 29.6% were allied members.

During this time, the Transhumanist Party hosted several expert discussion panels, on subjects including artificial intelligence,[21] life extension,[22] art and transhumanism,[23] and cryptocurrencies.[24] Chairman Stolyarov has also hosted in-person Enlightenment Salons, which were aimed at cross-disciplinary discussion of transhumanist and life-extensionist ideas under the auspices of the U.S. Transhumanist Party.[25][26][27]

On August 11, 2017, at the RAAD Fest 2017 conference in San Diego, California, Chairman Stolyarov gave an address entitled "The U.S. Transhumanist Party: Pursuing a Peaceful Political Revolution for Longevity", which provided an overview of the U.S. Transhumanist Party's key principles and objectives.[28] In October 2017 Hank Pellissier founded the "Transhuman Party" following a trademark dispute with Zoltan Istvan's continued ownership of the 'Transhumanist Party' trademark. In response to Pellissier, the U.S. Transhumanist Party published its FAQ, where a significant portion was devoted to explaining the history of the U.S. Transhumanist Party, its current interactions with Zoltan Istvan and the scope of his involvement, and the reasons for his continued ownership of the 'Transhumanist Party' trademark.[29] The Transhuman Party became defunct in late 2017 due to lack of activity and its domain name and Facebook page were acquired by the US Transhumanist Party.[2]

By September 2017 the Party had appointed a number of international ambassadors, from Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Egypt, England, Hong Kong, India, Nigeria, and Scotland.[30] On November 9, 2017, in a virtual presentation at the TransVision 2017 conference in Brussels, Belgium, Chairman Stolyarov gave an overview of the U.S. Transhumanist Party's achievements in 2017 and future aspirations.[31] On March 31, 2018 Chairman Stolyarov was interviewed by Nikola Danaylov, a.k.a. Socrates, of Singularity.FM during a three-hour session, the longest of all of Danaylov's interviews.[32]

The Transhumanist Party presidential primary attracted media attention from BioEdge[33] and the Milwaukee Record.[34] While some media outlets reported Zoltan Istvan was considering running again,[35] ultimately he did not join the party's primary. After a protracted primary process with nine candidates, featuring numerous debates,[36] Johannon Ben Zion was elected as the party's nominee. After winning the primary, Ben Zion gave his acceptance speech at RAAD Fest 2019 in Las Vegas.[37] and filed with the FEC.[38] Shortly thereafter, film producer, entrepreneur, and longevity organizer Charlie Kam became Ben Zion's running mate. On October 19, 2019, Ben Zion spoke to the DC Transhumanists meetup in Arlington, VA.[39] On November 3, 2019 he spoke at the Foresight Institute's Vision Weekend Event in San Francisco. On November 24, 2019 he spoke to undergraduates at Princeton University as part of the Princeton Envision conference.[40] On March 4, 2020, Ben Zion participated in the Free & Equal Elections Foundation's Open Presidential debate in Chicago, Illinois.[41] Zoltan Istvan also participated in the debate, running as a Republican.[42]

On June 12, 2020, it was announced that Ben Zion had left the Transhumanist Party, with him declaring that his belief in Techno-progressivism was incompatible with the party, and that he would instead be pursuing a run for the Reform Party nomination. Kam was declared the replacement presidential nominee.[43][44] In June 2020 Charlie Kam participated in a panel with London Futurists and in July 2020 his campaign received press coverage in the Daily Express.[45] On August 21, 2020, Kam announced his selection of Elizabeth (Liz) Parrish as his Vice-Presidential running mate.[46]

A few days after his departure from the party, Ben Zion published a video purporting to show him eating a cellular culture of his own skin cells which reportedly were grown in the lab of a startup he is affiliated with, Quixotic Life Sciences.[47][48] In a statement disavowing the stunt published on the USTP website, it was noted that USTP officers previously warned Ben Zion that he would be disavowed if he pursued this reckless project.[49]

A core tenet of the USTP platform is that more funding is needed for research into human life extension research and research to reduce existential risk. More generally, the goal is to raise awareness among the general public about how technologies can enhance the human species.[18][51] Democratic transhumanists and libertarian transhumanists tend to be in disagreement over the role of government in society, but both agree that laws should not encumber technological human progress.[52]

The Transhumanist Party platform promotes national and global prosperity by sharing technologies and creating enterprises to lift people and nations out of poverty, war, and injustice.[53][54] The Transhumanist Party also supports LGBT rights, drug legalization, and sex work legalization. The party seeks to fully subsidize university-level education while also working to "create a cultural mindset in America that embracing and producing radical technology and science is in the best interest of our nation and species."[4][55]

In terms of foreign policy and national defense, the party wants to reduce the amount of money spent on foreign wars and use the money domestically.[3] The party also advocates managing and preparing for existential risks, completely eliminating dangerous diseases, and proactively guarding against abuses of technology, such as nanotechnology, synthetic viruses, and artificial intelligence.[3][4]

The USTP expressly supports the rights of Artificial General Intelligence entities that are sentient and/or lucid. The Transhumanist Bill of Rights Version 3.0 recognizes 7 levels of sentience, and requires entities to exist at level 5 or higher to be considered as having rights. At level 5, the main criterion is that the entity be "lucid", meaning the entity is "meta-aware", or aware of its own awareness.[56]

The various policy points of the US Transhumanist Party's platform have attracted both praise and criticism from sociologist Steve Fuller. For example, Fuller has praised the centrality of morphological freedom in the US Transhumanist Party's bill of rights,[57] but on the other hand he has also written that the party is too critical of the US Department of Defense, which he argues could be an ally for some transhumanist initiatives such as human enhancement and existential risk reduction.[58] In 2018 the party as a whole was reviewed favorably as an example of a successful "niche" party by Krisztian Szabados, a director at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.[59]

The Transhumanist Party in Europe is the umbrella organization that supports the national level transhumanist parties in Europe by developing unified policies and goals for the continent.[61][62] Among them is the UK Transhumanist Party, which was founded in January 2015.[63][64][65] In October 2015, Amon Twyman, the party's leader at the time, published a blog post distancing the UK party from Zoltan Istvan's campaign.[66]

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Transhumanist Party - Wikipedia

Sherri Tenpenny is an influential religious-right anti-vaccine activist who has testified before the Ohio state House, appeared on Charlie Kirks podcast, and been a speaker at multiple ReAwaken America events, where she has shared the stage with the likes of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Eric Trump, Mike Lindell, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, and Alex Jones.

Despite the fact that Tenpenny is an osteopathic doctor with no expertise on vaccines, she regularly appears on right-wing programs where she spreads wild conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines.

Recently, she has begun to claim that COVID-19 vaccines are designed to create quantum entanglement between those who take them and the internet in an effort to turn humanity into transhumanist cyborgs.

The stated goal is to depopulate the planet and the ones that are left, either make them chronically sick or turn them into transhumanist cyborgs that can be manipulated externally by 5G, by magnets, by all sorts of things, Tenpenny said during an appearance on The Stew Peters Show Thursday night. I got dragged through the mud by the mainstream media when I said that in May of last year in front of the House committee in Columbus, [Ohio]. Well, guess what? Its all true.

The whole issue of quantum entanglement and what the shots do in terms of the frequencies and the electronic frequencies that come inside of your body and hook you up to the Internet of Things, the quantum entanglement that happens immediately after youre injected, she continued. You get hooked up to what theyre trying to develop. Its called the hive mind, and they want all of us there as a node and as an electronic avatar that is an exact replica of us except its an electronic replica, its not our God given body that we were born with. And all of that will be running through the metaverse that theyre talking about. All of these things are real, Stew. All of them. And its happening right now. Its not some science fiction thing happening out in the future; its happening right now in real time.

This article was originally published by Right Wing Watch and is republished here by permission.

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Anti-vaxx 'expert' claims vaccines will turn people into ...

Arin Vahanian

Its something nearly all of us have heard (or have even said) at some point in our lives: Doesnt he look great for his age? Or how about, Its hard to believe that she is 85! At first glance, it may seem like an act of kindness to say such things. Indeed, I am all for making people feel better about themselves and encouraging people to be better and to do better, in life. However, if we observe the thought process behind such statements, we may find that it is dishonest to say such things. No matter how good someone may look in their advanced age, the facts remain that a 20-year-old will always look better than an 80-year-old. It is also true that a 20-year-old will be healthier than an 80-year-old.

But why am I stating the obvious? After all, isnt aging inevitable? Also, shouldnt we have some compassion for the elderly? While admitting the reality of the current situation in regard to aging and aging-related diseases and having compassion for others is very important, we need to take a deep look at how our views, beliefs, and actions may actually be preventing us from helping many millions of people avoid needless pain and suffering. These very same views, beliefs, and actions may be condemning those same people to years or decades of poor health and may also be preventing us from achieving improvement and mastery in life.

Please dont get me wrong. I am not saying that we should destroy peoples self-esteem or make the already difficult situation of aging even worse by being insensitive and cruel. However, I am saying that our current beliefs about aging may be preventing us from getting people the help they need so that they can live more productive, healthier, and happier lives. Ultimately, that is what it is all about: helping people to be better and to live better.

It is not shallow to want humans to live longer, healthier lives, and to look, feel, and actually be younger and healthier. It comes from a deep caring for the human condition. I can completely understand why we would say that someone looks great for their age. It is because we find it very difficult to come to terms with the absolute horror of aging, so we try to devise ways to deal with it without actually dealing with it, while making others, and ourselves, feel better about our current plight.

Anyone who has been to a nursing home or retirement home can attest to this. Anyone who thinks that aging can be graceful should visit a nursing home and take a look at all the people unable to move around, feed themselves, or think coherently. Needing assistance with performing basic bodily functions is anything but graceful.

Even though we know deep down inside that it is wrong to insinuate that losing basic bodily functions can be graceful or inspirational, we continue to perpetuate the lie. Why? Because on some level, we need to try to make sense of the cruelty of biology, and we need some way to deal with the horrible prospect of aging and death.

However, no great challenge plaguing humanity was resolved through flowery prose, euphemisms, or by hope alone. Indeed, the entire scientific community joined forces to come up with vaccines for COVID-19 in a matter of months. Sure, it wasnt perfect, and the road was anything but a smooth one, but humanity is capable of great things when we have many people working together on a common goal. Recently, that goal has been the eradication of COVID-19. Why couldnt the next goal be eradicating aging-related diseases?

Now, I understand that the problems of aging-related diseases and aging are infinitely more complex and difficult to tackle than a virus. However, just because something is difficult or complex does not mean we should give up, especially when the stakes are so high. In fact, one could argue that the stakes have never been greater. We could easily perform a thought experiment and visualize the benefits to society in terms of reducing pain and dramatically increasing the quality of life, not to mention ensuring that our economies and societies are healthier and more robust as a result of not having to expend enormous amounts of money, time, and resources to treat people suffering from aging-related illnesses.

Critics of life extension, the prospect of reversing aging, or even Transhumanism itself, may lash out with criticisms such as, If there werent enough problems on Earth, now theyre going after the one thing we cant solve! I have discussed and dispelled the numerous objections to longevity and longevity research in my previous articles, so I wont bring them up here again. However, I will say that while I respect each persons opinions about life extension and longevity, no one has the right to choose how long human beings get to live. Certainly no one has the right to prevent humanity from living happier, healthier lives.

Despite what ones opinion may be about spending time, money, and resources on fighting aging and aging-related diseases, the fact remains that biology does not care how wealthy or poor you are. Dementia does not care if you have been a generous andkind person in life. Aging and aging-related illnesses can and do affect everyone who is lucky enough to become old enough to experience them.

The proper response to the criticisms is to stand tall and to maintain, with scientific data and evidence (of which there is an abundance), the many benefits that society would receive if we were to reverse or eliminate aging and aging-related illnesses. Or, even better, to actually do something about it! We need every available man and woman in the fight against aging-related diseases.

If we are honest with ourselves, the reality of the situation is that we have concocted this myth of aging gracefully so that we can help ourselves deal with the tragedy of aging-related diseases and offer some dignity to those who are suffering from aging-related diseases. In fact, I would go so far as to say that is entirely understandable why we would do this; when faced with something we cannot currently cure, or resolve (the problems of aging, deterioration, and death), it would be downright foolish to deny the problem or to pretend there is a resolution for it, when there isnt. However, we are doing no one any favors by throwing in the towel and resigning ourselves to a state of affairs in which the final years (and in some cases, the final decades) of life are full of pain and decay.

No one should have to succumb to aging-related diseases the way our elderly are currently doing. Understandably, there is much outrage when a young person is killed by a random act of violence, or when war causes a massive loss of life. However, where is the outrage when our loved ones suffer for years, only to shrivel and die, lost in their own loneliness and hopelessness?

A world in which we have vanquished the specter of aging-related illnesses means a world without many millions experiencing massive agonyand pain at the hands of aging, a world where we need not watch our loved ones deteriorate and then perish, and a world without thedespondency and dread that often accompany old age.

The most logical way to approach the subject of aging and aging-related illnesses is not to say that one should approach aging with dignity. There is no dignity in being fed through a tube or in wasting away in a hospital bed, only to later be buried in a wooden box or be burnt to ashes. The most logical way to approach the subject of aging and aging-related diseases is to treat it as we would treat poverty, crime, or any other problem that plagues humanity. We must define the problem and then work on a solution. But if we delude ourselves and somehow try to manipulate society into thinking that suffering and then dying from aging-related illnesses is graceful, we will never solve the problem. We will keep dancing around the problem. We may make ourselves feel better about it temporarily, but the biggest problem is that while we avoid the issue, we ourselves face extinction by the hands of time. Instead of arguing that one can age gracefully, we should be arguing that watching our loved ones suffer and die from aging-related illness is undignified and unacceptable, and that we as a society will do something about it.

Even if we never completely solve the problem of aging and death, if we could at least reduce the massive suffering inflicted upon humanityby the biological process of aging, we will have done humanity a great service. And that would hopefully be a stepping stone to eventually eliminating aging-related illnesses for good. Indeed, there are many millions of elderly languishing in nursing homes or hospitals today, who are hoping and praying for a cure to what ails them. It would truly be a noble cause to offer the elderly some real hope through scientific breakthroughs that promise to cure their suffering and pain. This is the promise of Transhumanism that humanity can be better, and do better. One of the ways we can do better and be better is to banish aging-related diseases to the dustbin of history, thus allowing human beings more time and more opportunities to do great things in life.

Arin Vahanian is the Vice-Chairman of the U.S. Transhumanist Party.

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The Myth of Aging Gracefully - transhumanist-party.org

Guardians of the Galaxy didnt sell as well as Square Enix expected upon its launch last year.

The publisher shared its disappointment in a financial results briefing earlier this month, but pledged to make up for the slow start through further sales in 2022. Its a shame for Guardians of the Galaxy, which GamesRadar+ rated four stars and deemed to be up there with the best the Marvel movies have to offer. But if developer Eidos Montreal is freed up from making a sequel, that could spell good news for fans of the studios other series, Deus Ex.

Despite strong reviews, the games sales on launch undershot our initial expectations, said Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda. However, sales initiatives that we kicked off in November 2021 and continued into the new year have resulted in sales growth, and we intend to work to continue to expand sales to make up for the titles slow start.

Eidos Montreal was asked to apply its talent to Guardians of the Galaxy after 2016s Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The game had been the first major product in an intended Deus Ex Universe - an ongoing, expanding and connected world that would span several Deus Ex games. But as Square Enix redirected the efforts of its top Western studios towards the Marvel license, Deus Ex fell by the wayside.

Its fair to say that Square Enixs Marvel initiative hasnt been the immediate pop-cultural slam dunk it had hoped for - but the publisher isnt struggling. While net sales in the HD Games segment that included Guardians of the Galaxy and Outriders were lower than during the same period in the previous fiscal year, the company benefitted from the sharp growth in Final Fantasy 14 subscribers that surrounded Endwalker.

Perhaps now, with Guardians of the Galaxy in the rear view mirror, the publisher might look to revive its Deus Ex Universe. The series enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in the wake of Cyberpunk 2077, which sold players on a similar kind of non-linear transhuman fantasy.

The Guardians of the Galaxy find their way towards the top of our list of the best superhero games.

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Guardians of the Galaxy launch sales "undershot expectations" - Gamesradar

It is now 13 years since Harry Parker stepped on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, creating a blast that would result in the loss of both legs. Alongside the physical pain of the subsequent weeks, months and years, he also had to cope with a profound change in his sense of self. He compares the experience to that of Gregor Samsa, the subject of Franz Kafkas The Metamorphosis the strangeness of not being who you used to be, turned into something that sets you apart from those around you.

Equipped with two hi-tech prosthetic limbs, Parker can now walk holding hands with his wife and carry his children on his shoulders. From the outside, it would be easy to conclude that he has adapted extraordinarily well to the event and he says that being an amputee feels normal. But he still considers himself to be a different person a new body with a new identity who is 12% machine.

It is this transformation that forms the emotional and intellectual heart of Parkers fascinating new book, Hybrid Humans, which examines the cutting edge of medical technology and the implications of these developments for our identities. The term hybrid human is personal: it sits more comfortably than other potential descriptions for his experience, Parker says compared with disabled at the one extreme or cyborg at the other.

The term may have the ring of futurism for many readers, but hybrid humans have been around since antiquity. Just consider Tabaketenmut, the daughter of an Egyptian priest who lived about 3,000 years ago. She seems to have lost her big toe to gangrene, which would have been a huge impediment to walking. (The big toe carries 40% of our body weight as we propel ourselves forward.) To solve this problem, she was equipped with an articulated prosthesis, made from wood and leather, with holes that could have laced the artificial toe to the foot. Ancient Romans, meanwhile, created prosthetic limbs from bronze and wood.

Parkers writing is elegant and often lyrical. He is particularly eloquent when describing the psychology of hybridity how the mind melds with the machine. The brain, we hear, can quickly enlarge its body map to encompass a tool, creating the sense that it is a physical part of us. It is the reason that drivers duck when their car passes under a low barrier in some sense, we have become the vehicle. Even an object such as a smartphone can become an extension of our mind as we come to rely on it for memory storage and communication.

This neural flexibility is common to all human beings. We are set up for plug and play, Parker says. But the emotional connection between an amputee such as Parker and the prostheses they wear is necessarily much more profound than most peoples experiences of technology. His legs may not be made of flesh, but they are critical for his humanity. When I am without them, I feel less alive, he writes.

Awe-inspiring innovations have made Parkers current life possible. His right knee, for example, is controlled by a microprocessor, with sophisticated sensors that can gauge the forces on the leg and guide its movements. It is, he says, like having another brain within his limb. And Parker gives us a taste of even more astonishing developments from the technological frontier, describing technologies such as exoskeletons fitted over the body that could allow people who are paralysed to walk again, and robotic skin, fitted with sensors, that could restore a sense of touch to people with spinal cord injuries.

Such successes are often overhyped by the media, but Parker avoids this trap. Newspapers and websites may breathlessly celebrate the use of bionic eyes that can allow people with visual impairments to see again, for instance, but Parker points out that the resolution is very low. At best, someone using these devices can make out a few shapes that may help with navigation. And there are risks. Bionic eyes use metal electrodes implanted in the brain to communicate their signals. The electrical discharge can damage neural tissue, rendering them less effective over time. Scientists may find solutions to these problems such as electrodes coated with stem cells that may sprout roots into the living tissue but progress is made of small steps rather than giant leaps.

Unlike many technology writers, Parker also recognises the social inequalities that are inherent in these innovations. Organisations such as the NHS cannot invest in the most up-to-date prostheses, meaning that the latest technology must be bought with private riches. For some, the necessary funds may come through insurance or compensation but if you are born poor, with a congenital disorder, you may never make use of any of these technological developments within your lifetime. (My mother, an amputee, is still using the same basic design of prosthetic leg that she was given more than four decades ago.) Parker points out that it is often the very people who are most likely to suffer disability who are the least able to afford the best treatment which, of course, makes it harder to find a way out of the poverty trap.

His scepticism is particularly welcome when he meets some transhumanists, the followers of a philosophical movement that advocates the use of technology to overcome the limitations of our evolved brains and bodies. Among their many plans, they suggest that we all be fitted with brain implants that could give us instant access to vast stores of knowledge or link us up to other brains to create telepathic communication. Some transhumanists even hope that technology will allow us to beat death by, for example, uploading our consciousness to an artificial intelligence, so that we are no longer reliant on our ageing and fragile wetware.

For now, these are far-fetched dreams, and its not just the practical challenges of creating this technology that bothers Parker; the goals themselves seem undesirable. I cant imagine the pain, anxiety and frustrations of being a sentient being uploaded to a hard drive what it would be like never again to feel rain on my face, or the visceral feeling of my family when we all bundle together on the sofa for a hug. And doesnt the possibility of death add meaning to our lives that would be lost with technological immortality?

As someone who has lived as a hybrid for more than a decade, Parker never forgets the realities of everyday life, which encompass both pain and beauty. This may be a tour of the scientific avant garde, but the focus is always on the human heart and mind.

David Robson is a science writer and author of The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Transform Your Life (Canongate)

Hybrid Humans: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Man and Machine by Harry Parker is published by Profile Books and Wellcome Collection (14.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

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Hybrid Humans by Harry Parker review man and machine in harmony - The Guardian

CPAC the Conservative Political Action Conference runs at the beginning of every year and its always an interesting event, to say the least.

Its often attended by Republicans, right-wing commentators, prominent media personalities and other right-wing activists. The event began in 1974, but has really picked up steam in the last decade, even more so after Trumps election. This year, its in - person at The Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida. Speakers include former U.S. President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and Sean Hannity

On that note here are the top 10 of the most outrageous things which have ever happened at CPAC.

1. Member of Happy Science cult talks at CPAC 2021

Hiroaki Jay Aeba, a prominent Japanese conservative, will be speaking at CPAC 2021 he first spoke at the event in 2011. Aeba is the chairman of the Japanese Conservative Union, a right-wing political organization, and he helped found CPAC Japan, which has been running for the last four years in Tokyo. Seems above board - but Aeba is also a prominent member of the Happy Science cult, a Japanese cult who claims to be the incarnation of multiple gods.

2. Trump Jr makes #MeToo a CPAC joke, CPAC 2019

In 2019, Donald Trump Jr took part in a panel at CPAC, with other prominent right-wing commentators, including Charlie Kirk, who founded Turning Point, a right wing organisation catering to students and young people. Don Trump JR then suggested that Jerry Falwell Jr, one of the other panellists, should have been called Trump, (she was named Reagan). He then bizarrely said hashtag me too, which is almost unsurprising for Don Jr.

3. Diamond and Silk notice the last four letters of Democrats spells rats, CPAC 2020

Who could forget Diamond and Silk, two entertainers or right-wing commentators (its unclear what exactly they do), who have been Trump stalwarts since Day One. Theyre frequent guests on Fox News and InfoWars, and in 2020, they made a bizarre speech at CPAC where they pointed out that the last four letters of Democrats spelled rats, which is technically true but not really that noteworthy. They also pointed out that the last four letters of Republican spell out I can, which also just doesnt feel that special.

4. Trump admits that he isnt concerned at all about Covid-19, CPAC 2020

In 2020, CPAC was held just before the coronavirus pandemic caused states to lockdown. During that time, people were worried about potential superspreader events and even after people who had been at CPAC tested positive for Covid-19, Trump said that he wasnt concerned at all about the spread of the pandemic, which seems to have been an omen for darker times ahead.

5. Trump kisses a flagpole and mocks Greta Thunberg, CPAC 2020

In 2020, Trump kissed a flagpole and mocked Greta Thunberg during his speech, during which he also called prominent Republican senator Mitt Romney a low life. He also complimented Joe Bidens wife, while insulting now president Joe Biden, and then delved back into insulting the media. Pretty standard stuff for Trump, but it was still pretty bizarre to watch it altogether.

6. Trump admits he is balding, CPAC 2018

In 2018, Trump admitted during a keynote address that he was balding and that he does try a lot to hide a certain bald spot.

7. Ann Coulter upsets everyone, CPAC 2007 and 2008

Ann Coulter, the right-wing media personality, made several offensive remarks during her appearances at CPAC in 2008, but potentially one of the strangest was saying that the best thing that had ever happened to the campaign of Barack Hussein Obama was when he was born half black. The year before, she also called another media personality a homophobic slur.

8. Republican governor says he would rather go Waterboarding than listen to 70 political speeches, CPAC 2013.

While CPAC has been running for several years, media coverage of the event really started to pick up after Trump was elected. But previous years also had their fair share of controversy see Salons roundup of the most offensive remarks made on stage at CPAC 2013. The most outrageous of which might have come from Bobby Jindal, the former governor of Louisiana, who said that he would rather be waterboarded a controversial and common torture technique - than listen to 70 political speeches at CPAC, an event that he had chosen to both go to and actively participate in.

9. Nigel Farage and Marion Marechal-Le-Pen appear, CPAC 2018

Nigel Farage of UKIP and Marion Marechal-Le-Pen both spoke at CPAC in 2018 Marechal-Le-Pen warned attendees of the dangers of transhumanism, which is commonly used to refer to a movement of people who want to live forever with the aid of technology and science, but obviously wasnt what Le Pen was referring to. Farage took the opportunity to attack George Soros and praised Viktor Orban, the far-right prime minister of Hungary, for having the courage to stand up to him.

10. Organisers booed for asking attendees to wear masks, CPAC 2021

On the first day of CPAC 2021, when organisers told conference-goers to wear masks as they should at a primarily indoor event, they were booed off the stage. This is despite the fact that it is against the law to not wear a mask indoors in Florida at the moment, particularly in a gathering of the size of CPAC.

More: Marjorie Taylor Greenes despicable transphobic display proves she has no understanding of the Equality Act

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10 of the most outrageous things that have ever happened at CPAC - indy100