(National Harbor) On the stage, people talk about law and order, religious freedom and an ideal of government reduced to a minimum, while others have fun around a pinball machine that mocks the storming of the Capitol in the United States.
“J6 Insurrection”, which aims to be an “educational” game, is one of the most popular attractions of the 2024 edition of CPAC, the annual high mass of American conservatives, which is being held this week in the suburbs of Washington .
“You make America proud,” Donald Trump can be heard shouting through the loudspeakers, as a player tosses the small ball to score points.
The ex-president’s voice resonates as real video footage of the insurrection against Congress on January 6, 2021 by supporters of the Republican, violently protesting his defeat by Democrat Joe Biden, is filmed.
PHOTO ALEX BRANDON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A game themed around the insurrection of January 6, 2021
“I feel like the goal was to get people to act and that’s what happened,” says Jon Linowes, proud Trumpist and developer behind this game.
For this New Hampshire entrepreneur, as for many at CPAC, the more than a thousand Donald Trump supporters charged for the assault on the Capitol are “political prisoners”.
The game offers different options with names that recall Donald Trump’s slogans and the conspiracy theories dear to the “Trumpists”: “fake news”, “political prisoners” or even “prevent the theft” (of the 2020 election) .
“I wanted to show what I believe to be the reality of what happened on January 6 in the face of the dominant narrative that you see in all the media,” says Jon Linowes.
“Woke tears”
While far-right stars attract crowds, vendors sell candy, cigars, t-shirts, mugs and books, all bearing the image of Donald Trump, with images of Joe Biden representing everything in turn as a doddering old man or… as a Nazi.
You can also buy treats stamped “Make America Great Again” (Donald Trump’s famous slogan) or a “Woke Tears” bottle, ironically containing “woke” tears, a reference to this left-wing ideology on American campuses hated by conservatives. .
PHOTO ALEX BRANDON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A figurine representing Donald Trump
The concept: “woke” people forced to listen “for hours” to Donald Trump’s speeches, causing them to sob, the tears of which are collected in a bucket, jokes the founder of “Woke Tears”, JP Mohr, a 25 year old Californian.
This year, CPAC is being held eight months before the presidential election, with a likely return match between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
The turn taken by this event, once a showcase of dominant ideas within the conservative camp, testifies to the evolution of the Republican Party, largely monopolized by Donald Trump.
T-shirts display the latter’s famous photo, taken by police during his arrest last year in Georgia.
Because the ex-businessman has made his four criminal charges campaign arguments to rally his supporters in the face of what he denounces as a “witch hunt”.
“Trump is my voice. He represents what I think,” confides Ana Villalobos, a Salvadoran who lives in New York, selling hammocks for $550 also bearing the image of Donald Trump, with golden pompoms representing the former president’s blond hairstyle. president.