Florida Senator, Marco Rubio has cancelled is speech at the Political Action Conference( CPAC 2021) over family issues.
Marco Rubio who had been scheduled to give the first speech of the day at 8.45 am on Saturday, was taken off the schedule, with no immediate explanation.
Just over twenty minutes after the scheduled start time, Mr Rubio tweeted out that an “unexpected family issue” meant that he was unable to make it to the event.
To fill time, CPAC2021 organisers played a video package that included segments repeating the big lie about the 2020 election being stolen from Donald Trump, and Korean conservatives discussing blockchain technology voting.
Senator Rubio added in his tweet that he was really looking forward to speaking and had told Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, that the event should be permanently moved to Florida.
CPAC, which has been running since 1973, is traditionally held in the Washington, DC area, but Covid-19 restrictions saw it move to Orlando this year.
Mr Rubio included a gif of a “Welcome to Florida” sign surrounded by palm trees, that also disconcertingly looked like it was being submerged by the ocean.
The first day of CPAC 2021 featured speech after speech praising Donald Trump, confirming the grip he maintains on the Republican Party.
Prominent moderate conservatives were left off the agenda this year, in favour of Trump acolytes determined to show their fealty by firing up the base ahead of Donald Trump’s speech on Sunday afternoon.