--- title: Donald Trump Drops Out of Controversial CPAC Speech description: Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has dropped out of his Saturday speaking slot at the Conservative Political Action Conference canonical: https://time.com/4248043/donald-trump-controversial-cpac-speech-cancel/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-04T17:43:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:38:16.938Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Drops Out of Controversial CPAC Speech og:description: Trump's speaking slot was met with backlash from his conservative opponents og:url: https://time.com/4248043/donald-trump-controversial-cpac-speech-cancel/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea58c526cb042202/69888044f887dcf038e94e61/donald-trump-cpac.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Conservatives Gather For Annual CPAC Convention og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Drops Out of Controversial CPAC Speech twitter:description: Trump's speaking slot was met with backlash from his conservative opponents twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea58c526cb042202/69888044f887dcf038e94e61/donald-trump-cpac.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Drops Out of Controversial CPAC Speech  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Mar 4, 2016 5:43 PM CUT  Donald Trump addresses the 42nd annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Feb. 27, 2015 in National Harbor, Maryland. Donald Trump addresses the 42nd annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Feb. 27, 2015 in National Harbor, Maryland.Alex Wong/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Mar 4, 2016 5:43 PM CUT Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has dropped out of his Saturday speaking slot at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a move that follows an uproar from opponents over his initial inclusion in the annual event. “Very disappointed \[Donald Trump\] has decided at the last minute to drop out of #CPAC — his choice sends a clear message to conservatives,” the official CPAC Twitter account [posted on Friday](https://twitter.com/CPAC/status/705801139388817408 "undefined"). Trump’s campaign announced that he would, instead, appear at a rally in Wichita, Kansas ahead of the state’s caucuses on Saturday. He will then travel to Orlando, Fla. for another event. “Because of this, he will not be able to speak at CPAC as he has done for many consecutive years,” the press release stated, adding that Trump looks forward to returning next year. Trump had been scheduled to speak on Saturday morning, which was met with backlash from [conservatives trying to stop Trump’s rise](http://time.com/4244074/never-donald-trump-movement-super-tuesday/ "undefined") to the party nomination. Opponents felt his inclusion in the event rewarded the businessman’s outlandish campaign and would further help him win over more mainstream conservatives, [Politico reported this week](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/donald-trump-cpac-super-tuesday-220146 "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4248043/donald-trump-controversial-cpac-speech-cancel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4248043/donald-trump-controversial-cpac-speech-cancel/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Drops Out of Controversial CPAC Speech","datePublished":"2016-03-04T17:43:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:38:16.938Z","description":"Trump's speaking slot was met with backlash from his conservative opponents","url":"https://time.com/4248043/donald-trump-controversial-cpac-speech-cancel/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea58c526cb042202/69888044f887dcf038e94e61/donald-trump-cpac.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea58c526cb042202/69888044f887dcf038e94e61/donald-trump-cpac.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Conservatives Gather For Annual CPAC Convention","caption":"Conservatives Gather For Annual CPAC Convention","creditText":"Alex Wong/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4248043/donald-trump-controversial-cpac-speech-cancel/","name":"Donald Trump Drops Out of Controversial CPAC Speech"}}]}] ```