In an unorthodox election year, conservative Republicans had something to get pumped up about this last weekend in Denver. While some pollsters claim Colorado has lost its political classification as a battleground state this election cycle, RedState.com, an unabashedly conservative blog, chose Colorado’s biggest city to rally – and in some cases even console – conservatives. RedState hosted its annual “Gathering” event in Denver Aug. 12-14, drawing a convergence of conservative Republicans from across Colorado and the country on the downtown Grand Hyatt Hotel. The eighth annual event was a star-studded conservative spectacle focused around an intensive series of lectures on activism, economics, and policy, but not without a heaping-helping of 2016 Republican restlessness.

Trump a product of conservative talk radio and blogging?

Attendees to the convention were mostly libertarian-leaning and conservative Republicans, and many of them represented a segment of the GOP angry with politics as usual – and this year, perhaps with a presidential nominee deemed un-usual.

The gathering was quickly arraigned by mainstream GOPers for being an event fueled by the self-destructive “Never-Trump” movement. The content produced on the RedState website is often critical of the Republican nominee – even now, well into the general election where realistic choices for president are limited to two: Democrat or Republican. And some of the featured speakers headlining the event like conservative radio host Glenn Beck are well known for their open criticisms of Donald Trump.

Becks remarks at the event reflected the gathering’s overall tone of defiant opposition to the Republican nominee. Beck was featured as the Friday keynote speaker, preaching to the audience about the importance of being a “constitutionalist,” not a “conservative.”

“The GOP is over,” Beck said during a brief news conference Friday before taking the main stage. “[Donald Trump is] absolutely uncontrollable. So now that they realize, ‘Oh, crap. He won’t listen to us’ now suddenly they’re against him. You made your bed. Enjoy it while it lasts … I think he’s wholly unsuitable to be president. I don’t think there’s anything he can do to change my mind.”

In the news conference Beck lamented he felt responsible for Trump’s nomination by ratcheting voters anger up too high.

But in his speech later on, Beck expressed he has nothing against supporters of the Donald, but was adamant that he was nonetheless both very anti-Clinton and anti-Trump.

“I know, as a recovering alcoholic, that the truth will set you free,” Beck said in a very vulnerable and emotional speech. “This election is between two choices that suck.”

But it wasn’t all anti-Trump at the RedState gathering. A smattering of signature “Make America Great Again” baseball caps could be seen floating atop the heads of some of the attendees walking about the Grand Hyatt, perhaps each acting as a small token of reality, linking those inside the event center’s walls to the mainstream politics taking place outside.

Rocky Mountain awkwardness

Several Colorado politicos graces the hallways of the RedState gathering and demonstrated an overall feeling of awkwardness toward the presidential election. U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, CO-4, after reading scripted remarks, said he felt compelled to speak off the cuff when asked about his views on Trump, building tension and ending with a crescendo of humor. “I don’t think I mentioned the Broncos to you,” he joked as the audience chortled.

When asked by The Colorado Statesman what precisely he meant by his Trump comments, Buck merely stated, “Donald Trump is our Republican candidate for President, he is much better than Hillary Clinton, and I am supporting Donald Trump, and I hope other Republicans do also.”

Buck was the Colorado state chairman for Ted Cruz’s presidential primary bid up until the Texas Senator saw the electoral writing on the wall and dropped his bid the beginning of May – seemingly a lifetime ago for many Republican activists, and apparently water at least partway under the bridge for Buck.

“One of the most conservative members of Congress,” was how Buck was introduced to the right-leaning stalwarts at the event. RedState organizers recognized Buck as a true conservative commodity, highlighting several right leaning scorecards giving the Windsor, Colorado Republican 100 percent and “A” grades along with other high marks.

Bennet disavowed for votes

Colorado’s newly-minted GOP darling, U.S. Senate nominee Darryl Glenn, too was on hand for the conservative festivities. Despite trailing Democrat incumbent Michael Bennet with an ever-growing margin based on the most recent polling – and in a purple state to boot – Glenn was unabashedly right-of-center. But unlike Glenn’s appearance at the much larger and similar Western Conservative Summit several weeks ago, the El Paso county commissioner kept his support for Trump largely to himself.

Glenn was introduced by Ken Cuccinelli, the president of the Senate Conservatives Fund, the independent expenditure group that helped fuel Glenn’s primary takeoff. “The biggest race for conservatives in America is Darryl Glenn’s Senate race,” Cuccinelli suggested. A former attorney general from Virginia, Cuccinelli delivered a speech on criminal justice reform prior to Glenn’s taking the stage.

“I am not going to stand behind the podium; it is as tall as I am,” Glenn joked at the beginning of his address. “You are looking at the human equivalent of a unicorn!” Amongst the laughter, Glenn launched into a catchphrase well-recognized by anyone following his campaign, “Now what do I mean by that? I am an unapologetic Christian, constitutional conservative, pro-life, second-amendment loving American, and I happen to be black.”

Colorado’s head Republican

On the second day of the event, U.S. Senator Cory Gardner, Colorado’s most recent Republican hero who ousted Democrat Sen. Mark Udall in 2014, also made an appearance, taking the stage to fevered applause. Gardner said he blames Trump’s woes in Colorado, and across the country on the media for not pressing Democrats, particularly Hillary Clinton, as hard as the Republican nominee.

“I think this state is very winnable for our Republican Senate candidate. I think this is a state that is very winnable for our Republican presidential candidate,” Gardner said in regards to Glenn and Trump, “But I do think some of the issues in Colorado need to be addressed – whether it’s energy, whether it’s economic development. Those issues have to be at the forefront of any campaign for us to win Colorado.”

Gardner capped his speech with the presentation of a doomsday scenario, warning what will happen in Washington, D.C. if the Republican ticket is lost this November. He hinted at a Bernie Sanders chairmanship of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, a thought that had the conservative crowd adjusting their seats.

Conservative superstars

A RedState Gathering alum, having spoken at the group’s Georgia event last year, former presidential candidate and short-lived Cruz running mate Carly Fiorina returned to the stage this year. Clearly shifted into general election gear, Fiorina said Hillary Clinton is not a true role model for feminists, voicing her female support instead for conservative causes. Fiorina told the crowd she was there to help, having traveled to Colorado to campaign for Glenn and Republican U.S. Congressman Mike Coffman, who has a tough challenge against Democrat state Sen. Morgan Carroll in the 6th Congressional District.

Other big name conservatives who made an appearance included U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, radio host Hugh Hewitt, and conservative commentator Erick Erickson who was the original force behind RedState.

What the attendees thought

The event was sponsored by numerous conservative and libertarian groups. FreedomWorks, a D.C.-based free market advocacy group known to draw its lifeblood from the rise of the Tea Party Movement, served as the event’s “gold sponsor.”

Jason Pye, the director of Communications for FreedomWorks, told The Statesman he felt very good about the event, “I think it has been a fantastic weekend,” Pye stated, “I think people are learning a lot. Especially, as [the gathering] relates to a lot of the newer issues that people don’t know a whole lot about.”

Pye, who appeared on several of the “messaging” panels over the weekend was also adamant that RedState stay positive while expanding its message to the masses. He said FreedomWorks is looking at setting up advocacy operations in Colorado, fighting for coal mining towns and other conservative issues in the state. “I think this weekend showed us that FreedomWorks needs to be more active in Colorado politics,” said Pye, “Especially for an organization like us. We bill ourselves as having the largest network of grassroots in the country … We train them, we educate them, we mobilize them on the issues of limited government, personal freedom and economic liberty … It is a great idea for us to be here.”

Millennials were notable among a wide-ranging age group of attendees. One sponsor, Generation Opportunity, demonstrated that younger presence.

“The Millennial turnout at RedState Gathering was expectable,” said Albert Downs, a policy analyst for Generation Opportunity. “Traditional pro-freedom events like this don’t meet our generation where they live and aren’t supposed to. My generation doesn’t want a government that acts like a helicopter parent, telling us where to work, how to speak and monitoring our every move. Young people share the desire for economic freedom that has been the focus of this event, but our relationship to these issues are different.”

Downs highlighted that as a millennial, his group advocates for limited government and wants to correct the past mistakes of the baby boomers.

The opinions from attendees were as wide ranging as the various generations represented there, but a common theme was a displeasure with the condition of the country and with the nominee the Republicans have put forward to try to fix that.

One woman in attendance, a Jefferson County baby boomer named Kathy Peterson, said, “I think there is an overall theme of not being interested in supporting our current nominee at this conference, but, it’s giving that option to Coloradans.”

“I will be a conservative regardless,” Peterson added. “If my party is in minority, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t still conservatives out there.”

Another younger attendee at the event shared similar thoughts. “With the candidate of Trump, my feeling is that he is not conservative, said Derek Easdon of Denver. “I think we need to have a nominee to know what the Constitution does and what it even is. I am not sure Trump knows what it is.”

The three-day event ended Sunday with a speech from RedState brainchild Erickson as the final keynote and a 45-minute tribute to the late Nancy Reagan that had an otherwise restless crowd unified in somber remembrance.