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Dallas, TX -- CPAC 2026 is being held this weekend in Dallas, Tx. The low energy was palpable, as well as the infiltration by foreign interests.

As a simple observation, attendance was way down.

In addition, there were stark changes from previous CPACs held in Washington, D.C. For starters, almost all of the media, except for Newsmax and maybe a few other large outlets, were placed downstairs in the vendor hall, away from the main stage. This removed the podcaster crowd from the main event and celebrities upstairs.

It felt intentional.

There was also no agenda posted for the event until the last day. Therefore, journalists could not plan their days at the conference, could not make sure they heard a certain speaker, didn't even know when a well-known pundit or official was going to be on stage.

There was also no wifi in the media hall, although ethernet was provided to the booths downstairs. It was almost like CPAC management didn't want media coverage.

The foreign attendance and influence was also impossible to avoid.

"Is anyone here from Poland?" CPAC CEO Matt Schlapp asked the CPAC crowd the Saturday to a loud response, as he promoted the coming CPAC Poland event in 2026.

Large groups of citizens of other countries like Korea, Iran and elsewhere roamed the venue, waving foreign flags. It seemed that foreign participants in the conference outnumbered Americans.

The downstairs vender area known as CPAC Central was visibly smaller in terms of the number of vendors, and the size of the crowd.

There were few celebrity personalities walking the halls when compared to previous CPACs we have attended and covered.

President Trump did not attend CPAC for the first time. His absence was noticed. Infamous D.C. operative Roger Stone commented earlier in the week the reason was that many of the influencers speaking at CPAC were allegedly paid by the Chinese Communist Party.

"Something is really wrong this year," declared a well-known conservative operative we spoke with in Dallas. "CPAC is dead," they commented in disgust. "I'm worried about the mid-terms if this is going to be the energy."

However, the big news of the event was the attendance of an Iranian diaspora faction calling for the return of the monarchy.

The crowd was overflowing with supporters of Reza Pahlavi, son of the former Shah of Iran. During his speech, the venue hall was locked down and the Iranian crowd very active and emotional.

Pahlavi spoke of possible future economic cooperation between Iran and the United States to large applause. Pahlavi said a free Iran would allow America to returns her sons and daughter to work 'back home'.

"The Islamic Republic cannot reform itself."

"I have accepted the call to lead Iran", declared Pahlavi.

"Stay the course in Iran", Pahlavi asked American policy makers.

Pahlavi supporters were prevented on Saturday from entering the vender hall due to spontaneous demonstrations across the event, with this faction of the Iranian diaspora causing disruption to paying vendor customers of CPAC. The Pahlavi crowd was upset about the apparent restrictions.

This event was anything but American First.

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