Trump — who dramatically dropped out of CPAC on Friday afternoon, earning a stern rebuke from the conference conveners — had scarcely been mentioned in the formal speeches at CPAC.
But in private conversations held in the corridors, cafes and restaurants at the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center, the bombastic billionaire, who leads the Republican race for president, was the near-universal topic of conversation.

“I’ve heard a lot of delegate math theories” to stop Trump, said Shaun McCutcheon, a well-known Republican donor and Trump backer.

“I don’t see anything stopping us,” said McCutcheon, who brought the McCutcheon v. FEC case to the Supreme Court that overturned major campaign funding limits.

McCutcheon, like many others at the convention, is “infuriated” by the GOP establishment’s increasingly desperate efforts to stop Trump.