‘At least Putin is a Christian, not like Biden’: Why hard-line US conservatives are looking the other way on Ukraine

Attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference this weekend were more concerned with masks, vaccines and cancel culture than Russia’s bombardment of Ukrainian cities

‘The Maga base has a lot more respect for Putin’s brand of macho nationalism than Zelensky’s struggle to preserve Ukraine’s fledgling democracy.’ Picture: Getty

“Putin Welcomes CPAC to Orlando,” read the banner that trailed from a plane flying high above the manicured grounds and sprawling hotel complex that is home to CPAC 2022.

The banner circled and dipped above the Floridian hellscape of conference centres, theme parks, all-you-can-eat junk buffets and all-you-can-stomach displays of MAGA grievance.

The annual Conservative Political Action Conference is a Grand Guignol tableau of the insane, the irrelevant, the investigated and the indicted.

Not so ...