William Temple led the calls for a walkout in 2016 when candidate Donald Trump was scheduled to address the Conservative Political Action Conference and claimed victory when Mr. Trump bailed on his speech over a dispute with CPAC organizers.
He was by no means alone.
Mr. Trump, who made some less-than-memorable CPAC appearances earlier this decade and earned a measly 3.5 percent support in the 2015 CPAC presidential straw poll, was by 2016 the mother of all lightning rods, with the conservative activists gathered in suburban Maryland desperately searching for an alternative presidential candidate.
Three years later, all is forgiven. CPAC thrives off its connections to Mr. Trump, with White House and administration guests peppering the speaker’s list. The president’s appearances serve as the anchor of the three-day gathering.
Mr. Temple now talks of Mr. Trump in terms of comparisons to Winston Churchill and Gen. George Patton.
“I love the guy,” said Mr. Temple, who is Washington-famous for being a CPAC mainstay, attending in Colonial garb.
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