February 12, 2025 • 29 mins
In this episode ofWake Up with Patti Katter, I sit down withMercedes Schlapp, a seasoned political strategist and former White House communications director, to discuss the impact ofCPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference).
CPAC is one of the most influential conservative gatherings in the world, bringing togetherleaders, policymakers, and grassroots activists to discuss the future of conservative values, policy, and governance. Mercedes shares insights into the event’s role in mobilizing movements, shaping political discourse, and providing a platform for key voices in the conservative space.
During our conversation, Mercedes also reflects on her own journey in politics and media, offering a behind-the-scenes look at her experiences advocating for conservative principles.
At the end of the episode, I highlight some of the incredible guests I’ve interviewed in the past—leaders, veterans, and changemakers—who embody the spirit ofresilience, leadership, and service.
🔹Listen now to hear Mercedes Schlapp’s take on CPAC’s influence and why it remains a critical force in conservative politics.
📍Learn more at CPAC’s official website.
👉Visit pattikatter.com for more inspiring conversations.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Welcome to Wake Up with Patty Katter Patty Katter, a place
where light overcomes darkness. Here we share powerful stories
of people who embraced their strength and came out on top.
Get ready to wake up, discover your purpose, and rise.
(00:23):
Hello everybody. Welcome back to Wake Up with
Patty Katter Today. I have Mercedes Schlapp on the
show. Welcome.
Patty, it's great to be on with you.
Thanks for having me. Thank you.
You know, what I'd really love to do is just have you tell my
listeners in your own words a little bit about where you're
from and what you're doing today.
(00:44):
Yeah, well, I was born and raised in Miami, FL.
I won't go into so many details of a big Cuban family.
And then, you know, always had this passion.
My my father was a political prisoner in Cuba and he fought
against the communist and reallyhad to fight against this
authoritarian regime. He served a jail sentence of six
(01:05):
years and really taught us as young children that we have an
obligation to fight and protect our freedoms and that our
Republic, our American Republic are these democratic values are
are very fragile and you can lose them very quickly.
And so I felt very much called and really in in what I have
(01:26):
done in my vocation as to reallybe involved in politics.
And so I've been in politics for50, since I was 15 years old and
working presidential campaigns. And then as I got older, had the
opportunity to work in 2 White Houses under two different
presidents, President George W Bush and my favorite president,
(01:46):
Donald J Trump as his senior advisor for strategic
communications and was assistantto the president and really was
one of the greatest honors of mylife.
And being able to work in The West Wing, I would walk in every
day, just be so humbled to be able to serve the American
people in that capacity. And, and with it.
(02:07):
Then after, you know, we, Matt and I have five children.
We met in the first White House and we have five daughters.
And the second time around, it'sso funny because everyone's
like, are you going to go back? Are you going to go work for
Trump? And I was like, I love him.
I think he's the greatest president, but you know, we're
trying to finish raising our five daughters, which we know is
an everyday task. And I work alongside with my
(02:30):
husband at CPAC, which has is literally the, I would say, I
don't say oldest because it makes us sound old, but the
oldest most influential conservative organization in the
world right now, which has just been an incredible thing to see.
We are involved in the grassroots roots movement and in
(02:54):
the conservative movement and really pushing back against the
woke ideology and standing up for freedom and standing up for
our military and law enforcementand in standing up for economic
prosperity for all Americans. And we, you know, President
Trump, the first time he ever engaged in politics, believe it
(03:16):
or not, was back in 2013 and gave his first political speech
at CPAC. So ever since, Trump has spoken
there 14 times. I think he he beat Ronald
Reagan's record of 13 times. And, and really I think, and
Trump would tell you that CPAC has been very much a part of
(03:37):
his, of, of his support of him being able to enter that
national stage, that political stage.
And we have been very strong in supporting his efforts and in
ensuring that he would not only have a successful election and
getting involved in that, but also now ensuring that he has a
(03:57):
successful presidency a second time around.
You know, what's scary to me is all of the counter propaganda
that there is against Trump because if anybody actually
listened to his entire, you know, speech, they would not
jump to those conclusions and only take those little tidbits
out. I think that the major benefit
of me attending C PAC this year,which I'm very excited about, is
(04:21):
to actually go into here in person some of these individuals
speaking and telling their stories.
It's not just these little clipsor tidbits.
So now tell me a little bit about when you were starting C
PAC. You know, was it tiny?
Was it big? Tell me you did.
Did it always have such a a big momentum and traction?
(04:45):
Well, I got to tell you it it's actually CPAC has been around
since 1967, believe it or not. And it was William F Buckley, a
very famous conservative thoughtleader who started the
organization. It was very DC based.
So they would do these, what they would say, these annual
conferences. They were fighting for
(05:06):
conservative principles even back then in 1967, Barry
Goldwater was part of it. So it's got a very rich history
and as I mentioned, Ronald Reagan would go every single
year to speak. And then when my husband took it
over as chairman 8 years ago, itactually was in a position where
it was almost bankrupt and it was really struggling
(05:28):
financially. My, my husband became chairman
and at that point he revamped itcompletely.
And with the, the incredible board members that are part of
the team and the incredible teamas well, they were, they, there
was a vision. And the vision was that this,
these ideas, these conservative ideas, the, the MAGA ideas, you,
(05:49):
you can even say this idea of the sovereign nations of peace
in the world, of economic prosperity for all, of human
rights and freedom for all individuals.
Those key values of family, of protecting the family, of
protecting our children, of protecting our God-given rights
and protecting our faith, all ofthat so critically important in
(06:12):
not only in in America, which ofcourse we've done to fight and
to preserve for, but across the globe.
So now what's happened is CPAC, what used to be just simply a
conference once a year be exploded and all of a sudden
became CPAC in Hungary, CPAC in Australia, CPAC Brazil, Mexico,
(06:32):
Japan is real. The list goes on and on of how
many Cpac's we have already had.We just had a CPAC Argentina
with President Javier Malay, whois obviously a very, very
popular figure as well. And So what we learned is that
these other nations wanted what we had here in America, which is
(06:54):
how do you organize from a grassroots perspective?
How do you elect conservative leaders?
How do you fight against fake news and these media outlets
that are pushing disinformation and, and how do you rebuild
these government coalitions in these countries?
So while we have this, the what I call is going to be the CPAC
(07:15):
in the US is obviously the center, the most important.
There is still so much going on outside of CPAC.
We call it CPAC 365. We are constantly in the
forefronts of ensuring that the president's message gets out,
that we're fighting for what is what is anti communist, anti
globalist and pro freedom in America.
(07:36):
Which I absolutely love. I often get the question of why
do you also talk about international policy?
Because I do think that's so being the caregiver of somebody
who was wounded in war, I know that that war did not just start
here in America. You have to go elsewhere.
So I would like it if you could tell in your own words why it is
(07:57):
that it is important, because there are a lot of my listeners
who are kind of struggling with that like, oh, America first, of
course America first, but but there's more.
Well, we need America first, andthen we need these other
countries to also be Italy first, Hungary first, Japan
first. We need them to unite with us to
be the anti China, to be the anti Russia, to be able to fight
(08:20):
our adversaries. And the reality is, is that when
President Trump has more allies internationally, it only helps
him. It only helps America.
And So what we're doing is that because of Joe Biden's absence
of leadership, for example, Latin America has pretty much in
many of these countries been taken over by the communists,
(08:42):
been taken over with investmentsby China.
I mean, China is trying to basically extend its tentacles
to be in this region that the UShas ignored for a very long
time. And now you're seeing, for
example, Secretary Marco Rubio there, or Secretary of State
first stop after he is had been appointed and confirmed.
(09:04):
Where does he go? Latin America, What does he do?
He tells the Panamanian government, Listen back out of
China, the US has to be have, you know, priority in the Panama
Canal. This is national security issues
that we're dealing with. And why is it that President
Trump, for example, started talking about Greenland, which
all of a sudden Americans think,why are we doing that?
(09:26):
Well, it is a national security priority.
It has a lot of natural resources.
Guess who's trying to get into Greenland, China?
So we also are dealing with the when we have these instabilities
across the globe. I'll give you the situation in
the Middle East. If we, if we had, if we didn't
have a strong relationship with Israel, you would have still
(09:48):
seen Hamas in a, in a still dominating in that area.
But what did we just learn today?
What we learned today is that Iran had seriously thought about
and moving forward to assassinate President Trump.
They actually had two planes. They had a decoy plane and the
plane that President Trump was on.
(10:09):
What did they learn? They learned that Iran had been
been able to smuggle in these Iranian operatives that possibly
have access to surface to air missiles.
This is scary. This is scary stuff that we're
seeing here. This is real stuff.
So the fact that yes, we definitely want to be America
first. We definitely need to focus on
(10:30):
taking care of the people here, Americans, our veterans, our
military. That is a priority.
We also need to understand our outside adversaries and
understand that they got to be kept in check and that that we
need to know that they are not dominating in certain regions
that the US needs to be engaged in.
(10:51):
I'm not saying engaged like democracy building or any of
that stuff or nation building. I'm saying that in the absence
of US leadership, which we saw under Joe Biden, we saw a much
stronger China, a much stronger Russia, a much stronger Iran.
Absolutely. And it is scary.
I mean, there were so many timesover the last four years people
(11:15):
were asking like, where's our president?
What is he doing besides eating ice cream?
But that's another story. Yes, that is fun.
So as a mother, I'm sure that a lot of your fuel comes from
being a mother and wanting to protect your, your children.
What about the moms out here whoare listening, who are thinking
(11:37):
like, wow, I, I really can't do anything because I don't know
what to do. Or, you know, maybe a little bit
kind of shy, I guess when it comes to because I do meet a lot
of both men and women who don't want to ruffle any feathers.
But I do know more women lately who are kind of afraid to speak
up against things because even the schools that their kids are
(11:59):
attending, if they're afraid that if they speak up against
some of the woke ISM there that they'll kind of be ousted or
whatever. What do you say to them?
Well, look, I think I do think that being a mother is by far
the most incredible responsibility and one of the
most beautiful gifts that God can ever give any of us.
(12:20):
And being able to shape their minds and being able to have
these very honest conversations,even with our children about
what is happening in the world, what is happening in America,
what is happening in our communities.
And so, look, I think we have anobligation to stand up for what
is right. I, you know, each person is
different. Not everyone needs it's to be,
you know, running a podcast or working for, working in politics
(12:44):
or working for a political organization.
I think we all bring different talents to the different spaces
we're in. And I think for mothers, I think
we have an obligation as parentsto protect our children.
That is our responsibility. It is our duty.
And what I have seen is that President Trump has really
inspired all of us to keep just fighting and to keep speaking up
(13:05):
and to not be shut down. I mean, we saw this president
who literally was almost assassinated twice, who was
literally the Democrats did everything they could in their
power to put him into jail by weaponizing the Department of
Justice and using these horrific, I would say almost
communist authoritarian prosecutors and judges to take
(13:28):
him down. And yet he was able to stand up
and keep fighting. And I think that's a message for
all of us. And I think, you know, one thing
is to tell your kids as well, you know, look, if this is
happening in your school, like just be aware.
Like that is complete propaganda.
That is not, you know, the truthon what is right and what is
wrong. And we can't be afraid, you
(13:50):
know. And I think that parents, some
parents have a choice that they're able to take their kid
out, put him in Catholic or Christian School or religious
school or home schooling. But not everybody has that
opportunity to do that. But I do think that with these
policies that you're seeing President Trump moving forward
with, for example, the banning of biological men in girls
sports, these are steps in the right direction that is putting
(14:14):
a lot of pressure on these localschool districts to stop the
craziness. And I think piece of this too is
that nowadays you have a great organizations like Alliance
Defense for Freedom. They literally like will help
parents that if they, there's one case of a girl that I think
they pressured her so much to become a boy at the school.
(14:35):
The teacher didn't even tell theparent.
And then the parent basically filed a lawsuit against the
school district. And you got to, I mean, at the
end of the day, it is the Democrats.
They've done what they could to destroy the innocence of our
children, to over sexualize everything and to indoctrinate
our children. And that obviously the election
(14:56):
proved that that is not where the American people are, and
that we have to be empowered as parents to do what is right for
the sake of our children, for the sake of our society, and for
the sake of our civilization. Absolutely.
Now, if somebody were interestedin learning more about CPAC,
first of all, let's get into thelittle bit of nitty gritty when
(15:17):
it comes to CPAC. So if I were to attend, because
it's my first time, I'm attending this year and I'm very
excited. So many of my friends go, but
what do I expect? What is going to happen when I
walk in those doors? Wow.
Well, let me tell you something.You want to talk about meeting
like minded people. Oh my goodness, you will meet
like minded Great American patriots.
I don't know how many marriages have come out of CPAC.
(15:39):
I just interviewed this incredible couple who've been
married for over 20 years and they met at CPAC.
They're always like you either meet your husband or wife at
church or you meet them at CPAC.Like it's so amazing, it's so
wonderful. You get multi generation, I
mean, it is young, old children,single, married and it really is
(16:01):
a chance for you to not only network and meet like minded
individuals, but also understandthat you're going to learn.
I, I don't know how many people have left CPAC and then decided,
you know what, I'm going to run for local office, I'm going to
run for state office, I'm going to run for school board.
I'm going to get involved in becoming a precinct chair and
helping out during the election.You get almost like this refuel,
(16:26):
this energy of saying I can do great things and I, you know, I
don't just need to sit back. I can do make a difference in my
local community. And I think that that is, I
think one of the inspirations and that I receive every time I
have people go to CPAC. And it's funny because I met a
lot of people that are like, well, I mean, isn't it
invitation only? I'm like, no, you can buy buy
(16:47):
the CPAC ticket at cpac.org. It's not expensive.
And and be able to really understand like what we're
doing. It literally gives you the
facts, the data, the, you know, the armor to, to be ready to
deal with these fights that we're dealing with in our
society. And with that being said, then
(17:08):
of course, you know, President Donald Trump will be speaking at
CPAC. We have several cabinet members,
including now Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins
will be joining us. And we tackle all sorts of
topics. It's not just like we're up
there doing rally speeches, rah,rah, rah.
No, it is going in depth into these different topics that are
(17:29):
impacting our society. What are we doing to effectively
make change in Congress, in the local and state levels?
It's, it truly is a comprehensive, I would say like
political lessons on what we, what we have been able to
accomplish thus far, but also the conservative movement moving
(17:52):
forward. And ensuring that we remain in a
strong position to not only do the work that that President
Trump is working on right now and support his efforts, but
also get ready for the midterm elections, which will be upon us
in two years. Absolutely.
And even after that, the next four years after President
Trump, because we don't want everything undone that we've
(18:14):
done. That is, that is so right.
That is so right. All right.
So if somebody wants to buy a ticket for CPAC, where do they
go for that? Just go to cpac.org and if
you're on social media, follow us at CPAC at Mercedes Schlapp
at M Schlapp, which is my husband, Matt Schlapp.
As for us, it's truly a family affair.
(18:35):
My daughter's work during CPAC, my oldest, who's now 22, almost
graduating from college or 21, Ishould say.
She started working at CPAC at 12 years old and, and there's
opportunities to volunteer as well.
I mean, it is you'll have Media Row where you have all these
great radio podcast personalities there you've got,
(18:57):
I mean, it just is so much energy and power all in one
place, bringing together together the best and the
brightest conservatives from across the country and also from
across the globe. Thank you.
You know, I do have one more question because I teach
podcasting to individuals. I've been in the podcast world
(19:17):
for quite a long time. What happens if you are a a
podcaster or a radio host and you want to participate in
Broadcast Row? What do we do?
Because I know for me, I had to kind of figure it out and there
were still a few questions that I wasn't sure of the answers.
And your team's been really great at answering them.
But tell us a little bit more about that, if you would.
(19:39):
So if you are a podcaster, I don't know if all the slots have
been filled already, but you just go to press OPS, that's
press PRESSOPS, press OPS at conservative.org.
And we have our team, Hannah, Roger, Turner, Johnson, they're
all working very hard to make sure that we're able to
(20:00):
accommodate the folks to get it,get that done.
So absolutely we we are trying to grow our podcast row.
It's really kind of the, we always do radio row.
But this is very exciting to nowmove into the podcast.
Hemisphere, so we'll see how that that goes, but I I'm sure
it's going to keep growing as wekeep doing these C packs.
Thank you. I'll do my best to share the
(20:21):
word. So thank you very much,
Mercedes, for being on the show.And I do appreciate your time
and I'm so thankful that there'speople like you stepping up to
do the right thing for America and for the whole.
World. Well, thank you as well and
thank you for all you do for ourmilitary and our veterans.
And you know, God bless this great country.
We're just, it's, it's amazing that we can be living during
(20:44):
this just historic time in America.
Thank you. Absolutely.
Thank you very much. When the world watched the
heartbreaking withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, lives were
shattered, families were displaced, and children were
left with nothing but uncertainty.
Out of that chaos came a missionof duty and compassion to stand
(21:05):
by those who once stood with us.The Black Feather Foundation is
committed to helping refugee children heal and thrive.
Through sports, health and education programs, we're giving
these children a chance to dreamagain, to become citizens and
leaders of tomorrow. This is a call to action.
How you can help? Visit our website,
(21:26):
theblackfeatherfoundation.org. Volunteer.
Join us in making a difference for these families.
Donate. Every contribution goes directly
to programs that bring hope to these children.
Together we can and turn despairinto opportunity.
Well, it was really great to have Mercedes Schlapp on the
show this week. I do want to talk about the last
(21:48):
few shows, however, and so I'm going to take a couple minutes
and do that right now. Last week I interviewed Morgan
Laurette. Morgan is a Army veteran who
went to work for Blackwater. He wrote a book and we talked
about human trafficking. Human trafficking is a really
(22:09):
hot topic right now, but some. People just don't understand.
The logistics of it, what's being done, who's funded it, and
all of that. So if you did not listen to that
show, please go back and listen to the episode with Mark Morgan
Laurette. Just before Morgan's interview,
I interviewed a Marine Corps veteran, Zach Tidwell.
(22:31):
Zach suffered from depression after his time in the military.
He served as a Marine. He had a very unsuccessful
attempt at suicide. He shot himself in between the
eyes and went permanently blind as well as half deaf.
Zach then had a horribly difficult recovery, as you can
(22:52):
imagine. He talks about that, and guess
what he's doing now? Now, if you Fast forward forward
through all of that trauma, Zach's using his story to help
other people. He's also writing code and he's
making apps for smart devices tohelp those in the disabled
community. So kudos to Zach.
(23:14):
I think that's amazing work he'sdoing.
Travis McVeigh is a United States Marine Corps veteran.
He is the CEO of Heroes Vodka. Travis shares his story of his
time in the military as well as business advice and knowledge of
(23:35):
what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur.
Mike Roger. He is the founder and the CEO of
the US Patriot Chamber in Tampa,FL.
He's an Army veteran and he loves to discuss bridging the
gap for veterans in the workforce.
Gabriel Wren. He is a military veteran who
(23:57):
served in three branches. He served in the Marines, the
Army, and the Air Force. He's now a film producer and a
director. Then we have Hollywood heard
Nick Palmagiano and Dan Mercer. All three of them had a huge
part in making the TV series Office Joe Office Joe is a
(24:20):
comedy with A twist of reality. You're not going to want to miss
it. Check it out if you haven't seen
it. Pat Milltek.
Pat is AUFC Hall of Famer. He talks about organic and
healthy living and the importance thereof.
Glenn Williams was on the show. That was a really emotional
show. Glenn is a retired policeman and
(24:44):
he now talks about healing, trauma and law enforcement.
Shannon Book is a music artist. He served as a Petty Officer
first class. He is a survivor of child abuse
and has quite the story to share.
Steve Stratton. He is a Army veteran, Special
Forces Intelligence, went to cybersecurity and now as an
(25:08):
award-winning author. David Reed.
He served in the US Army. He is Force Protection Training
Division Doctorate of Training and Education as his background.
He served on Air Force One during Reagan's time and
service, and he's so nice. He actually sent me some
(25:29):
matchbooks and some letterhead and such from Air Force One from
when President Reagan was president.
We've had my best friend Candace, says Ceslio.
At least one of my best friends,Candace, was on the show.
We talked about her time in the Army, what she's been up to.
I've talked with a Marine veteran who is now an attorney
(25:55):
for those who are trying to get their disability ratings from
the VA. His name is Bill Strabensky and
he's been a friend for several years now.
One of the more fun episodes waswith Jonathan Michael Fleming.
Jonathan creates and does these killer cadences.
(26:19):
If you don't know what a cadenceis, think about the you know,
the sing songy kind of marching that you hear like. 123.
Four. Yeah, don't even make me do it.
Anyways, he makes those. They're really cool.
Go back and listen to that show.Johnny Shattuck, a dear friend
of mine, he's a Navy veteran, he's struggled with cancer, and
(26:40):
he is a hostage negotiator. Then I had the Satterly's on the
show. I had Jen one week and Tom
another week. So Tom and Jen Satterly, they
talked about healing on the homefront.
Tom was AUS Army Delta guy. Anyway, I could go on and on
because we have so many pages ofepisodes that were recorded for
(27:05):
Wake Up with Patty Catter. You can listen to those archives
by going to pattycatter.com. Slash.
Let me tell you here Slash podcast and you'll see all of
the old episodes or an easier way is just go to
paddycatter.com and click listen.
(27:25):
Now you're going to see the latest episode at the top of the
page, and if you Scroll down just a little bit, you'll see
all of the show archives. Everybody.
Thank you for tuning in. Make sure you.
Listen on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings, as well as
throughout the week. So anyways, until next time,
please follow me over on social media at Patty Catter via
(27:48):
Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or XI should say have a
great week. Thanks for tuning in to Wake Up
with Patty Catter. Patty Catter If you enjoyed
these stories of resilience and leadership, visit
pattycatter.com to connect with Patty and learn more.
Until next time, stay inspired and keep pushing forward.
(28:17):
For every generation, it has started with the call to serve,
discovering the purpose and the belonging earned with the title
learning to dig deep and push through adversity together,
(28:37):
defending our nation and its people.
It is a life of great worth and reward.
But Marines are never really finished serving.
Their commitment comes full circle, visible in communities
across our country. This is Semper Fidelis, always
(29:02):
faithful, always Marine, markinga path for the next generation.
Welcome to Wake Up with Patty Katter Patty Katter, a place
where light overcomes darkness. Here we share powerful stories
of people who embraced their strength and came out on top.
Get ready to wake up, discover your purpose, and rise.
(00:23):
Hello everybody. Welcome back to Wake Up with
Patty Katter Today. I have Mercedes Schlapp on the
show. Welcome.
Patty, it's great to be on with you.
Thanks for having me. Thank you.
You know, what I'd really love to do is just have you tell my
listeners in your own words a little bit about where you're
from and what you're doing today.
(00:44):
Yeah, well, I was born and raised in Miami, FL.
I won't go into so many details of a big Cuban family.
And then, you know, always had this passion.
My my father was a political prisoner in Cuba and he fought
against the communist and reallyhad to fight against this
authoritarian regime. He served a jail sentence of six
(01:05):
years and really taught us as young children that we have an
obligation to fight and protect our freedoms and that our
Republic, our American Republic are these democratic values are
are very fragile and you can lose them very quickly.
And so I felt very much called and really in in what I have
(01:26):
done in my vocation as to reallybe involved in politics.
And so I've been in politics for50, since I was 15 years old and
working presidential campaigns. And then as I got older, had the
opportunity to work in 2 White Houses under two different
presidents, President George W Bush and my favorite president,
(01:46):
Donald J Trump as his senior advisor for strategic
communications and was assistantto the president and really was
one of the greatest honors of mylife.
And being able to work in The West Wing, I would walk in every
day, just be so humbled to be able to serve the American
people in that capacity. And, and with it.
(02:07):
Then after, you know, we, Matt and I have five children.
We met in the first White House and we have five daughters.
And the second time around, it'sso funny because everyone's
like, are you going to go back? Are you going to go work for
Trump? And I was like, I love him.
I think he's the greatest president, but you know, we're
trying to finish raising our five daughters, which we know is
an everyday task. And I work alongside with my
(02:30):
husband at CPAC, which has is literally the, I would say, I
don't say oldest because it makes us sound old, but the
oldest most influential conservative organization in the
world right now, which has just been an incredible thing to see.
We are involved in the grassroots roots movement and in
(02:54):
the conservative movement and really pushing back against the
woke ideology and standing up for freedom and standing up for
our military and law enforcementand in standing up for economic
prosperity for all Americans. And we, you know, President
Trump, the first time he ever engaged in politics, believe it
(03:16):
or not, was back in 2013 and gave his first political speech
at CPAC. So ever since, Trump has spoken
there 14 times. I think he he beat Ronald
Reagan's record of 13 times. And, and really I think, and
Trump would tell you that CPAC has been very much a part of
(03:37):
his, of, of his support of him being able to enter that
national stage, that political stage.
And we have been very strong in supporting his efforts and in
ensuring that he would not only have a successful election and
getting involved in that, but also now ensuring that he has a
(03:57):
successful presidency a second time around.
You know, what's scary to me is all of the counter propaganda
that there is against Trump because if anybody actually
listened to his entire, you know, speech, they would not
jump to those conclusions and only take those little tidbits
out. I think that the major benefit
of me attending C PAC this year,which I'm very excited about, is
(04:21):
to actually go into here in person some of these individuals
speaking and telling their stories.
It's not just these little clipsor tidbits.
So now tell me a little bit about when you were starting C
PAC. You know, was it tiny?
Was it big? Tell me you did.
Did it always have such a a big momentum and traction?
(04:45):
Well, I got to tell you it it's actually CPAC has been around
since 1967, believe it or not. And it was William F Buckley, a
very famous conservative thoughtleader who started the
organization. It was very DC based.
So they would do these, what they would say, these annual
conferences. They were fighting for
(05:06):
conservative principles even back then in 1967, Barry
Goldwater was part of it. So it's got a very rich history
and as I mentioned, Ronald Reagan would go every single
year to speak. And then when my husband took it
over as chairman 8 years ago, itactually was in a position where
it was almost bankrupt and it was really struggling
(05:28):
financially. My, my husband became chairman
and at that point he revamped itcompletely.
And with the, the incredible board members that are part of
the team and the incredible teamas well, they were, they, there
was a vision. And the vision was that this,
these ideas, these conservative ideas, the, the MAGA ideas, you,
(05:49):
you can even say this idea of the sovereign nations of peace
in the world, of economic prosperity for all, of human
rights and freedom for all individuals.
Those key values of family, of protecting the family, of
protecting our children, of protecting our God-given rights
and protecting our faith, all ofthat so critically important in
(06:12):
not only in in America, which ofcourse we've done to fight and
to preserve for, but across the globe.
So now what's happened is CPAC, what used to be just simply a
conference once a year be exploded and all of a sudden
became CPAC in Hungary, CPAC in Australia, CPAC Brazil, Mexico,
(06:32):
Japan is real. The list goes on and on of how
many Cpac's we have already had.We just had a CPAC Argentina
with President Javier Malay, whois obviously a very, very
popular figure as well. And So what we learned is that
these other nations wanted what we had here in America, which is
(06:54):
how do you organize from a grassroots perspective?
How do you elect conservative leaders?
How do you fight against fake news and these media outlets
that are pushing disinformation and, and how do you rebuild
these government coalitions in these countries?
So while we have this, the what I call is going to be the CPAC
(07:15):
in the US is obviously the center, the most important.
There is still so much going on outside of CPAC.
We call it CPAC 365. We are constantly in the
forefronts of ensuring that the president's message gets out,
that we're fighting for what is what is anti communist, anti
globalist and pro freedom in America.
(07:36):
Which I absolutely love. I often get the question of why
do you also talk about international policy?
Because I do think that's so being the caregiver of somebody
who was wounded in war, I know that that war did not just start
here in America. You have to go elsewhere.
So I would like it if you could tell in your own words why it is
(07:57):
that it is important, because there are a lot of my listeners
who are kind of struggling with that like, oh, America first, of
course America first, but but there's more.
Well, we need America first, andthen we need these other
countries to also be Italy first, Hungary first, Japan
first. We need them to unite with us to
be the anti China, to be the anti Russia, to be able to fight
(08:20):
our adversaries. And the reality is, is that when
President Trump has more allies internationally, it only helps
him. It only helps America.
And So what we're doing is that because of Joe Biden's absence
of leadership, for example, Latin America has pretty much in
many of these countries been taken over by the communists,
(08:42):
been taken over with investmentsby China.
I mean, China is trying to basically extend its tentacles
to be in this region that the UShas ignored for a very long
time. And now you're seeing, for
example, Secretary Marco Rubio there, or Secretary of State
first stop after he is had been appointed and confirmed.
(09:04):
Where does he go? Latin America, What does he do?
He tells the Panamanian government, Listen back out of
China, the US has to be have, you know, priority in the Panama
Canal. This is national security issues
that we're dealing with. And why is it that President
Trump, for example, started talking about Greenland, which
all of a sudden Americans think,why are we doing that?
(09:26):
Well, it is a national security priority.
It has a lot of natural resources.
Guess who's trying to get into Greenland, China?
So we also are dealing with the when we have these instabilities
across the globe. I'll give you the situation in
the Middle East. If we, if we had, if we didn't
have a strong relationship with Israel, you would have still
(09:48):
seen Hamas in a, in a still dominating in that area.
But what did we just learn today?
What we learned today is that Iran had seriously thought about
and moving forward to assassinate President Trump.
They actually had two planes. They had a decoy plane and the
plane that President Trump was on.
(10:09):
What did they learn? They learned that Iran had been
been able to smuggle in these Iranian operatives that possibly
have access to surface to air missiles.
This is scary. This is scary stuff that we're
seeing here. This is real stuff.
So the fact that yes, we definitely want to be America
first. We definitely need to focus on
(10:30):
taking care of the people here, Americans, our veterans, our
military. That is a priority.
We also need to understand our outside adversaries and
understand that they got to be kept in check and that that we
need to know that they are not dominating in certain regions
that the US needs to be engaged in.
(10:51):
I'm not saying engaged like democracy building or any of
that stuff or nation building. I'm saying that in the absence
of US leadership, which we saw under Joe Biden, we saw a much
stronger China, a much stronger Russia, a much stronger Iran.
Absolutely. And it is scary.
I mean, there were so many timesover the last four years people
(11:15):
were asking like, where's our president?
What is he doing besides eating ice cream?
But that's another story. Yes, that is fun.
So as a mother, I'm sure that a lot of your fuel comes from
being a mother and wanting to protect your, your children.
What about the moms out here whoare listening, who are thinking
(11:37):
like, wow, I, I really can't do anything because I don't know
what to do. Or, you know, maybe a little bit
kind of shy, I guess when it comes to because I do meet a lot
of both men and women who don't want to ruffle any feathers.
But I do know more women lately who are kind of afraid to speak
up against things because even the schools that their kids are
(11:59):
attending, if they're afraid that if they speak up against
some of the woke ISM there that they'll kind of be ousted or
whatever. What do you say to them?
Well, look, I think I do think that being a mother is by far
the most incredible responsibility and one of the
most beautiful gifts that God can ever give any of us.
(12:20):
And being able to shape their minds and being able to have
these very honest conversations,even with our children about
what is happening in the world, what is happening in America,
what is happening in our communities.
And so, look, I think we have anobligation to stand up for what
is right. I, you know, each person is
different. Not everyone needs it's to be,
you know, running a podcast or working for, working in politics
(12:44):
or working for a political organization.
I think we all bring different talents to the different spaces
we're in. And I think for mothers, I think
we have an obligation as parentsto protect our children.
That is our responsibility. It is our duty.
And what I have seen is that President Trump has really
inspired all of us to keep just fighting and to keep speaking up
(13:05):
and to not be shut down. I mean, we saw this president
who literally was almost assassinated twice, who was
literally the Democrats did everything they could in their
power to put him into jail by weaponizing the Department of
Justice and using these horrific, I would say almost
communist authoritarian prosecutors and judges to take
(13:28):
him down. And yet he was able to stand up
and keep fighting. And I think that's a message for
all of us. And I think, you know, one thing
is to tell your kids as well, you know, look, if this is
happening in your school, like just be aware.
Like that is complete propaganda.
That is not, you know, the truthon what is right and what is
wrong. And we can't be afraid, you
(13:50):
know. And I think that parents, some
parents have a choice that they're able to take their kid
out, put him in Catholic or Christian School or religious
school or home schooling. But not everybody has that
opportunity to do that. But I do think that with these
policies that you're seeing President Trump moving forward
with, for example, the banning of biological men in girls
sports, these are steps in the right direction that is putting
(14:14):
a lot of pressure on these localschool districts to stop the
craziness. And I think piece of this too is
that nowadays you have a great organizations like Alliance
Defense for Freedom. They literally like will help
parents that if they, there's one case of a girl that I think
they pressured her so much to become a boy at the school.
(14:35):
The teacher didn't even tell theparent.
And then the parent basically filed a lawsuit against the
school district. And you got to, I mean, at the
end of the day, it is the Democrats.
They've done what they could to destroy the innocence of our
children, to over sexualize everything and to indoctrinate
our children. And that obviously the election
(14:56):
proved that that is not where the American people are, and
that we have to be empowered as parents to do what is right for
the sake of our children, for the sake of our society, and for
the sake of our civilization. Absolutely.
Now, if somebody were interestedin learning more about CPAC,
first of all, let's get into thelittle bit of nitty gritty when
(15:17):
it comes to CPAC. So if I were to attend, because
it's my first time, I'm attending this year and I'm very
excited. So many of my friends go, but
what do I expect? What is going to happen when I
walk in those doors? Wow.
Well, let me tell you something.You want to talk about meeting
like minded people. Oh my goodness, you will meet
like minded Great American patriots.
I don't know how many marriages have come out of CPAC.
(15:39):
I just interviewed this incredible couple who've been
married for over 20 years and they met at CPAC.
They're always like you either meet your husband or wife at
church or you meet them at CPAC.Like it's so amazing, it's so
wonderful. You get multi generation, I
mean, it is young, old children,single, married and it really is
(16:01):
a chance for you to not only network and meet like minded
individuals, but also understandthat you're going to learn.
I, I don't know how many people have left CPAC and then decided,
you know what, I'm going to run for local office, I'm going to
run for state office, I'm going to run for school board.
I'm going to get involved in becoming a precinct chair and
helping out during the election.You get almost like this refuel,
(16:26):
this energy of saying I can do great things and I, you know, I
don't just need to sit back. I can do make a difference in my
local community. And I think that that is, I
think one of the inspirations and that I receive every time I
have people go to CPAC. And it's funny because I met a
lot of people that are like, well, I mean, isn't it
invitation only? I'm like, no, you can buy buy
(16:47):
the CPAC ticket at cpac.org. It's not expensive.
And and be able to really understand like what we're
doing. It literally gives you the
facts, the data, the, you know, the armor to, to be ready to
deal with these fights that we're dealing with in our
society. And with that being said, then
(17:08):
of course, you know, President Donald Trump will be speaking at
CPAC. We have several cabinet members,
including now Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins
will be joining us. And we tackle all sorts of
topics. It's not just like we're up
there doing rally speeches, rah,rah, rah.
No, it is going in depth into these different topics that are
(17:29):
impacting our society. What are we doing to effectively
make change in Congress, in the local and state levels?
It's, it truly is a comprehensive, I would say like
political lessons on what we, what we have been able to
accomplish thus far, but also the conservative movement moving
(17:52):
forward. And ensuring that we remain in a
strong position to not only do the work that that President
Trump is working on right now and support his efforts, but
also get ready for the midterm elections, which will be upon us
in two years. Absolutely.
And even after that, the next four years after President
Trump, because we don't want everything undone that we've
(18:14):
done. That is, that is so right.
That is so right. All right.
So if somebody wants to buy a ticket for CPAC, where do they
go for that? Just go to cpac.org and if
you're on social media, follow us at CPAC at Mercedes Schlapp
at M Schlapp, which is my husband, Matt Schlapp.
As for us, it's truly a family affair.
(18:35):
My daughter's work during CPAC, my oldest, who's now 22, almost
graduating from college or 21, Ishould say.
She started working at CPAC at 12 years old and, and there's
opportunities to volunteer as well.
I mean, it is you'll have Media Row where you have all these
great radio podcast personalities there you've got,
(18:57):
I mean, it just is so much energy and power all in one
place, bringing together together the best and the
brightest conservatives from across the country and also from
across the globe. Thank you.
You know, I do have one more question because I teach
podcasting to individuals. I've been in the podcast world
(19:17):
for quite a long time. What happens if you are a a
podcaster or a radio host and you want to participate in
Broadcast Row? What do we do?
Because I know for me, I had to kind of figure it out and there
were still a few questions that I wasn't sure of the answers.
And your team's been really great at answering them.
But tell us a little bit more about that, if you would.
(19:39):
So if you are a podcaster, I don't know if all the slots have
been filled already, but you just go to press OPS, that's
press PRESSOPS, press OPS at conservative.org.
And we have our team, Hannah, Roger, Turner, Johnson, they're
all working very hard to make sure that we're able to
(20:00):
accommodate the folks to get it,get that done.
So absolutely we we are trying to grow our podcast row.
It's really kind of the, we always do radio row.
But this is very exciting to nowmove into the podcast.
Hemisphere, so we'll see how that that goes, but I I'm sure
it's going to keep growing as wekeep doing these C packs.
Thank you. I'll do my best to share the
(20:21):
word. So thank you very much,
Mercedes, for being on the show.And I do appreciate your time
and I'm so thankful that there'speople like you stepping up to
do the right thing for America and for the whole.
World. Well, thank you as well and
thank you for all you do for ourmilitary and our veterans.
And you know, God bless this great country.
We're just, it's, it's amazing that we can be living during
(20:44):
this just historic time in America.
Thank you. Absolutely.
Thank you very much. When the world watched the
heartbreaking withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, lives were
shattered, families were displaced, and children were
left with nothing but uncertainty.
Out of that chaos came a missionof duty and compassion to stand
(21:05):
by those who once stood with us.The Black Feather Foundation is
committed to helping refugee children heal and thrive.
Through sports, health and education programs, we're giving
these children a chance to dreamagain, to become citizens and
leaders of tomorrow. This is a call to action.
How you can help? Visit our website,
(21:26):
theblackfeatherfoundation.org. Volunteer.
Join us in making a difference for these families.
Donate. Every contribution goes directly
to programs that bring hope to these children.
Together we can and turn despairinto opportunity.
Well, it was really great to have Mercedes Schlapp on the
show this week. I do want to talk about the last
(21:48):
few shows, however, and so I'm going to take a couple minutes
and do that right now. Last week I interviewed Morgan
Laurette. Morgan is a Army veteran who
went to work for Blackwater. He wrote a book and we talked
about human trafficking. Human trafficking is a really
(22:09):
hot topic right now, but some. People just don't understand.
The logistics of it, what's being done, who's funded it, and
all of that. So if you did not listen to that
show, please go back and listen to the episode with Mark Morgan
Laurette. Just before Morgan's interview,
I interviewed a Marine Corps veteran, Zach Tidwell.
(22:31):
Zach suffered from depression after his time in the military.
He served as a Marine. He had a very unsuccessful
attempt at suicide. He shot himself in between the
eyes and went permanently blind as well as half deaf.
Zach then had a horribly difficult recovery, as you can
(22:52):
imagine. He talks about that, and guess
what he's doing now? Now, if you Fast forward forward
through all of that trauma, Zach's using his story to help
other people. He's also writing code and he's
making apps for smart devices tohelp those in the disabled
community. So kudos to Zach.
(23:14):
I think that's amazing work he'sdoing.
Travis McVeigh is a United States Marine Corps veteran.
He is the CEO of Heroes Vodka. Travis shares his story of his
time in the military as well as business advice and knowledge of
(23:35):
what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur.
Mike Roger. He is the founder and the CEO of
the US Patriot Chamber in Tampa,FL.
He's an Army veteran and he loves to discuss bridging the
gap for veterans in the workforce.
Gabriel Wren. He is a military veteran who
(23:57):
served in three branches. He served in the Marines, the
Army, and the Air Force. He's now a film producer and a
director. Then we have Hollywood heard
Nick Palmagiano and Dan Mercer. All three of them had a huge
part in making the TV series Office Joe Office Joe is a
(24:20):
comedy with A twist of reality. You're not going to want to miss
it. Check it out if you haven't seen
it. Pat Milltek.
Pat is AUFC Hall of Famer. He talks about organic and
healthy living and the importance thereof.
Glenn Williams was on the show. That was a really emotional
show. Glenn is a retired policeman and
(24:44):
he now talks about healing, trauma and law enforcement.
Shannon Book is a music artist. He served as a Petty Officer
first class. He is a survivor of child abuse
and has quite the story to share.
Steve Stratton. He is a Army veteran, Special
Forces Intelligence, went to cybersecurity and now as an
(25:08):
award-winning author. David Reed.
He served in the US Army. He is Force Protection Training
Division Doctorate of Training and Education as his background.
He served on Air Force One during Reagan's time and
service, and he's so nice. He actually sent me some
(25:29):
matchbooks and some letterhead and such from Air Force One from
when President Reagan was president.
We've had my best friend Candace, says Ceslio.
At least one of my best friends,Candace, was on the show.
We talked about her time in the Army, what she's been up to.
I've talked with a Marine veteran who is now an attorney
(25:55):
for those who are trying to get their disability ratings from
the VA. His name is Bill Strabensky and
he's been a friend for several years now.
One of the more fun episodes waswith Jonathan Michael Fleming.
Jonathan creates and does these killer cadences.
(26:19):
If you don't know what a cadenceis, think about the you know,
the sing songy kind of marching that you hear like. 123.
Four. Yeah, don't even make me do it.
Anyways, he makes those. They're really cool.
Go back and listen to that show.Johnny Shattuck, a dear friend
of mine, he's a Navy veteran, he's struggled with cancer, and
(26:40):
he is a hostage negotiator. Then I had the Satterly's on the
show. I had Jen one week and Tom
another week. So Tom and Jen Satterly, they
talked about healing on the homefront.
Tom was AUS Army Delta guy. Anyway, I could go on and on
because we have so many pages ofepisodes that were recorded for
(27:05):
Wake Up with Patty Catter. You can listen to those archives
by going to pattycatter.com. Slash.
Let me tell you here Slash podcast and you'll see all of
the old episodes or an easier way is just go to
paddycatter.com and click listen.
(27:25):
Now you're going to see the latest episode at the top of the
page, and if you Scroll down just a little bit, you'll see
all of the show archives. Everybody.
Thank you for tuning in. Make sure you.
Listen on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings, as well as
throughout the week. So anyways, until next time,
please follow me over on social media at Patty Catter via
(27:48):
Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or XI should say have a
great week. Thanks for tuning in to Wake Up
with Patty Catter. Patty Catter If you enjoyed
these stories of resilience and leadership, visit
pattycatter.com to connect with Patty and learn more.
Until next time, stay inspired and keep pushing forward.
(28:17):
For every generation, it has started with the call to serve,
discovering the purpose and the belonging earned with the title
learning to dig deep and push through adversity together,
(28:37):
defending our nation and its people.
It is a life of great worth and reward.
But Marines are never really finished serving.
Their commitment comes full circle, visible in communities
across our country. This is Semper Fidelis, always
(29:02):
faithful, always Marine, markinga path for the next generation.
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