There was a massive train wreck in Washington, DC, this weekend, and it had nothing at all to do with locomotives and everything to do with a crowd of Never Trumpers assembling to shout into the dark void that has come to symbolize their movement. Even worse, their summit crashed and burned spectacularly when organizers falsely and quite publicly accused a Trump supporter of calling in a bomb threat.

Let me explain. 

As you know from RedState’s extensive coverage, CPAC also took place in DC over the past few days, drawing in a dazzling array of speakers from the Trump administration—including JD Vance, Elon Musk and Tom Homan—and culminated in President Trump taking a well-deserved victory lap in front of his supporters. It was a high-energy event and the activists in attendance were pumped and ready to celebrate.

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Across town, however, the vanquished remnants of the Never Trump movement gathered to collectively lick their wounds under the guise of a “Principles First” summit. The agenda included speeches from relics like John Bolton, Adam Kinzinger, George Conway and Chris Christie, and the audience seemed to be made up of establishment Republicans who were distraught that the party passed them by and was given new life by Trump and his supporters. Sounds fun, right?

Things took an interesting turn Sunday when organizers of the “Anti-Trump CPAC” reported there had been a bomb threat and the event had to be evacuated, tweeting: “Hotel security, private security, and [Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia] have made the decision to evacuate Summit floor so that the area can be secured.”

They then accused J6 defendant Enrique Tarrio, who was pardoned by President Trump on his first day in office, of being the one to make the threat.

The threat to the event came from an online poster with the moniker “Enrique T” — similar to the name of the ex-leader of the notorious Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio — and said it was made “to honor the J6 hostages,” an apparent reference to those imprisoned over crimes tied to the Jan. 6 riots, summit organizers said.

Tarrio had been near the event, but denied any involvement in the matter and revealed he had been the target of multiple death threats following the accusation of the Never Trump cabal.

Due to the @Principles_1st statement falsely accusing me of a bomb threat I have received a large amount of credible death threats over the past hour. I have canceled all plans and speaking engagements for the next week. I apologize how this affects the host and attendees of…

— Enrique Tarrio (@NobleOne) February 23, 2025

@Principles_1st statement falsely accusing me of a bomb threat I have received a large amount of credible death threats over the past hour. I have canceled all plans and speaking engagements for the next week. I apologize how this affects the host and attendees of those events. Your tickets will be refunded.

One of Tarrio’s followers pointed out that the Principles First X account repeatedly revised their original accusatory tweet, eventually removing Tarrio’s name altogether. Perhaps they sensed some legal trouble was headed their way for making a false statement that led to death threats.

Considering they edited the post three times, seems fishy AF. hopefully you are able to sue them. Sorry you’re going through this. Not right. And stay safe! pic.twitter.com/7hJ6TwgfXC

— Rockstar24 (@RockstarCat2024) February 23, 2025

It would seem that the Principles First brain trust, so desperate were they to appear relevant in a political world that has rejected them, actually believed that someone making a bomb threat — in DC no less –would sign their name to that threat. It’s also very convenient that this small gathering, having been completely overshadowed by CPAC, would have a headline-grabbing event like a bomb threat befall their event. As the kids these days would say, this is “sus.”