NATIONAL HARBOR – "Pawn Stars” host Rick Harrison injected some humor into his CPAC speech on Thursday afternoon.
Harrison, the star of the History channel show and an outspoken conservative, delivered his speech on ‘the stupidity of socialism’ at one of the largest annual gatherings of conservatives just outside Washington, D.C.
“The majority [of] people in this room know that socialism is just stupid,” he said.
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“It’s literally like heroin. The first shot is great. For a little bit it’s wonderful, but then the rest of your life is a living hell. And that’s literally what the socialists are doing.”
He continued later in the speech: “Once you give someone something it’s hard to take it away… then you get Venezuela.”
The rise of socialism has been a hot topic at CPAC, with two prominent GOP House Oversight Committee members warning of “radicals” in the Democratic Party and saying they believe congressional Democrats are laying the foundation for Trump impeachment efforts.
AT CPAC, CONSERVATIVES WARN OF 'RADICAL' DEMS EMBRACING SOCIALISM, TRUMP IMPEACHMENT
The Conservative Political Action Conference (Feb. 27 - March 2) began its day Thursday with Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the Oversight Committee, and North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, a day after ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s testimony before the committee. Discussing the Cohen hearing, where Democrats pressed the former Trump lawyer for dirt on the president, Jordan said: “This is step one in the Democrats’ crazy efforts to impeach the president of the United States.”
“And the best they could come up with is this guy who is going to prison in two months for lying to Congress,” Jordan said of Cohen. “That’s their star witness. That’s their first big hearing.”
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Meadows told the crowd he believes Democrats are “trying to lay the foundation” for impeachment by calling Cohen to testify.
“It’s not just impeachment,” the North Carolina Republican said. “It’s taking away everything that is foundational of who we are.”
Fox News' Alex Pappas contributed to this report.