CPAC 2021 is officially underway and, as usual, you have a unique mix of individuals gathering and speaking at the yearly event. I have attended a number of these and I have found that there are some hidden gems of speeches that most of the gathered crowd and media do not always pick up on and today’s Day One gathering is no different.

Enter the speech given by Senator Marsha Blackburn from the state of Tennessee.

Sen. Blackburn did not throw fire and brimstone in her 12 minutes on stage but reminded the crowd gathered at the event in Florida and watching at home that China is a country we should be very wary of. This is a message that President Donald Trump constantly spoke of and acted on and Sen. Blackburn was correct to remind us of this going forward.

What I found really interesting about this speech is that she wrapped this warning into one of the most talked-about subjects today which is cancel culture led by Big Tech. From the Senator’s speech…

If you go on Twitter today, the Supreme Leader of Iran, Xi Jinping of China, Putin, and other despotic leaders are on there spewing their hate and vitriol they have not been fact-checked or banned that I can find.

This is a brilliant point wrapped up in the cancel culture topic raging today that I feel is often overlooked. American tech companies were willing to ban or throttle the voice of the President of the United States as he was walking out the door but cower in fear to despots around the world. Jack and Zuck are also more than happy to throttle any idea or post that is not preapproved by AOC but will say nothing about leaders with a tyrannical streak.

She also continued on in her speech…

Dealing with China means we have to bring manufacturing back to the United States of America. We have to continue support what President Trump was doing and hold China to account. We have to end these Confucious institutes so that they can not steal the minds of our college students and spread their propaganda. We have to continue to block Huawei and thank goodness President Trump did that to make sure that their spyware is not getting into your electronics and networks.

This is a point that needs to be pounded home again and again. China is the country that should be at the top of the list for Americans to keep their eye on. Donald Trump brought this issue front and center in both of his campaigns for President and during his four years in the White House. Prior to 2016, Republicans would at best give some mild lip service to what the Chinese were doing across the board in their dealings with the west. Hopefully Sen. Blackburn’s speech today is an indication that time has passed.

While the Senator’s speech most likely won’t make the highlight reel of Day One activities at CPAC, it is an important reminder that even though conservatives do not hold control of Congress or the Presidency we have a helluva lot of work to do. Hopefully, we heed the former President’s message on this and Senator Blackburn will keep coming back to this to remind us and keep vigilant.

You can watch Sen. Blackburn’s complete speech here.