NC faces on the CPAC '24 stages
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and Rep. Dan Bishop both made appearances
CPAC was in D.C. this year, running from Feb. 21-24.
The annual conservative conference featured several big speakers, including former President Trump, Gov. Kristi Noem, Kari Lake, and Argentina’s President Javier Milei but also familiar North Carolina faces like Lt. Governor Mark Robinson and Rep. Dan Bishop (NC-09).
Milei’s speech made the rounds on social media and is worth a watch:
Bishop, who is running for North Carolina Attorney General, joined Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and former White House Senior Adviser Stephen Miller (Trump admin. 2017-21) for a panel looking at immigration and big tech accountability and censorship.
“We have to fight back. That's what Ken Paxton's example has been in Texas,” Bishop said, adding that NC has not elected a Republican Attorney General since 1896.
“The state Attorney General tool is one of the most effective tools in the bag. We've got to fight back,” said Bishop.
“It's another aspect of what Ken just said, that among people who tend to be conservative, the fact that someone brings a charge, no matter how crazy or how inventive or novel the application of a particular statute to allege a crime, people tend to be repelled or pull back. They pull back in respectful fear or disconnection,” Bishop said. “When you see the corruption we've seen in the system, that no longer can be the case.”
We got to lean in. We've also got to use every tool at our disposal to fight them back,” Bishop said. “That's why I'm going to run for North Carolina's Attorney General.”
Robinson used his time on the CPAC stage to highlight how Republicans turned around the massive debt the state was in when they came into power in 2010 and are now seeing $5B surpluses.
He also spent time calling out media bias and the media’s slanted coverage of him.
“They [media] always mention my name in conjunction with social issues and how I hate everybody,” Robinson, the first Black lieutenant governor of North Carolina said. “According to them, I hate everybody. I hate people who walk and talk and walk upright... Oh, I hate people who drive cars.”
I don't hate anybody because what I'm doing is not about hate,” he said. “What you're doing shouldn't be about hate either. We should be operating because of what we love.”
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One panel of significance covered elections and border security, which featured remarks and discussion with House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-TN) and former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Mark Homan.
Speaking on the number of suspected terrorists that were encountered at the border, Green said, "I think every American should be scared to death. Not only is it the terrorist threat, we've had almost 400 in this presidency where there were 11 last time, but it’s the 24,000 Chinese nationals who came in last year, 20,000 Since October 1, the highest year. Before that was 1800.”
"You don't leave China with the social credit score system unless the CCP knows about it,” Green said. “They're flying to South America and Central America and they're coming up here; they're paying $60,000 to the cartels, which is enriching the cartels, terrible organizations, they're subhuman. And we're basically feeding them money and letting these individuals come into the United States.”
"I'm not suggesting that China is going to be attacking the United States, but if we defend Taiwan, I can't imagine there aren't people in there who are going to be tracking our railheads and looking at our ports," Green said, expanding on his remarks. "And who knows what else. We've had mass waves of Chinese terrorists storming military installations with cameras. So look, it's a desperate threat."
Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows 24,048 individuals from China were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border during the fiscal year 2023. That number has been reported to be more than 12 times higher than in 2022 and a 7,000% increase from the 323 individuals logged by border patrol in 2021.
"Joe Biden is the first president in the history of this nation who came in office and unsecured border on purpose," said Homan, who had worked border patrol under six different administrations. "Let me tell you something, President Trump had illegal immigration down to the 45-year low. Illegal immigration was down 83% to 90%.”
Border patrol data put the number of illegal immigrants that have come across the U.S. border with Mexico since Biden took office at almost 7.3 million; greater than the total population in 36 U.S. states.
Homan continued hitting the fentanyl crisis, “President Trump's policies saved lives...Since Biden's been in office, there's been over 1,700 dead migrants crossing the border, a historic record, and 112,000 dead Americans from fentanyl poisonings."
He also cited a 600% increase in sex trafficking of women and children since Biden took over.
Homan also said illegal immigrants released inside the U.S. “shouldn’t get too comfortable because we’re coming looking for you.”
"I don't care what your opinion is on illegal immigration when you cause a crisis this big, on purpose. It's the biggest national security threat this nation has been ever had," he said.
Homan’s remarks on “looking” for illegal migrants is in line with Trump’s recent statements about mass deportations if he is re-elected in the fall, statements he repeated during CPAC.