Calls to 'fight' and echoes of Jan. 6 embraced by CPAC attendees

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Jack Posobiec set off a wave of alarm after a video of his welcome speech at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference went viral. In the video, the right-wing activist and media personality said he wanted to end democracy and finish the mission of Jan. 6, installing a God-first government.

“Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely,” he said Thursday. “We didn’t get all the way there on Jan. 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it.”

Posobiec — known for internet trolling, conspiracy theories and blustering rhetoric — said in a subsequent speech and in an interview with NBC News that his statements were largely satirical, poking fun at what he sees as a lack of democratic values from President Joe Biden’s administration.

“We are always supportive of a constitutional republic,” Posobiec said on Friday, referring to conservatives at large.

“What we’re trying to do is return it to the original system. We’re not destroying all of democracy, just their [Democrats'] democracy,” he added.

But in his speech Friday, Posobiec continued to use rhetoric evocative of a violent revolution.

"After we burn that swamp to the ground, we will establish the new American republic on its ashes, and our first order of business will be righteous retribution for those who betrayed America," he declared.

His calls for attendees to “fight,” and his support for “each and every J6-er” received standing ovations from many conference attendees, who defended the participants of the Jan. 6 insurrection in interviews with NBC News.

Posobiec has pedaled unfounded conspiracy theories about the involvement of federal agencies in fomenting the violence that occurred at the Capitol on Jan.