CPAC: Ted Cruz’s dad noncommittal on Trump, who tied him to JFK assassination in 2016

Sen. Ted Cruz isn’t at CPAC in Dallas this weekend, but his dad was working the crowd Friday at the Hilton Anatole, shaking hands outside the main ballroom.

“You’re our local celebrity!” one woman told Rafael Cruz, an 82-year-old pastor.

Cruz told  that he was at the Conservative Political Action Conference to network with fellow conservatives “and make them understand we have to be involved in what’s happening in our country.”

The elder Cruz was a vigorous surrogate for his son during the 2016 presidential campaign, deployed especially to address fellow evangelicals.

Many of those in the crowd wore red Make America Great Again hats or other Trump campaign regalia.

In the 2016 GOP primaries, Trump asserted — utterly without evidence — that Rafael Cruz conspired with Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate John F. Kennedy at the Texas School Book Depository, three miles from the Anatole.

Ted Cruz publicly put that behind him, transforming from bitter adversary to Trump wingman once the rancor of that primary faded, and at the CPAC event in Orlando in late February, where both the senator and Trump spoke, Cruz reiterated his fealty.

“Donald J. Trump ain’t going anywhere,” Cruz told activists. “That is our party and these deplorables are here to stay.”

At the Anatole, his dad, a fierce anti-communist who fled Cuba as a teen, declined to say whether he would support Trump for president in 2024.

“I’m here just to listen,” he said. “We don’t even know if Trump is going to run or not. He has not announced, and I expect he will not announce for a while. But I am here to support conservatives across the spectrum.”

Cruz said his son could not attend because “he’s speaking at another event and there was a conflict in scheduling.”

The senator’s office attributed his absence to a family commitment.

A few thousand conservative activists are at the Hilton Anatole for the Conservative Political Action Conference, which opened this afternoon.

As they filed into the huge ball room, a video played on giant overhead screens as a warm-up act with footage of President Joe Biden slipping on the steps up to Air Force One, fumbling over words, and confusing Syria and Libya.

It showed a photoshopped image of Biden on horseback with Vladimir Putin, both men shirtless. A clip of Biden telling a popular Black radio host in May 2020 that “you ain’t Black” if you’re struggling to choose between him and Trump in the election played more than once.

One clip after another showed Vice President Kamala Harris laughing at questions, especially about why she hadn’t yet visited the U.S.-Mexico border.

Cheers erupted for clips of the late Rush Limbaugh and of Ted Cruz accusing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg of stifling conservative speech. The mention of Dr. Anthony Fauci drew boos.

“Are you going to let them cancel our American flag?” demanded Virginia congressman Ben Cline, further riling the crowd after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick opened the program.