For about 90 minutes, Trump chastised a “top-established Republican,” “RINOs” “and other Republicans who criticized him. He was banned from Twitter and said that Big Tech companies “should be punished with large sanctions when they silence conservative voices.” And in a wide critique of Biden’s first month in office, he addressed the Democratic president for his handling of everything from the spread of the coronavirus vaccine to immigration, education and protection for transgender people.
“None of us even thought how bad they would be and how far left they would go,” Trump said, calling the Biden government “anti-work, anti-family, anti-borders, anti-energy,” anti-women and anti-science. ”
“In just one short month, we went from ‘America First’ to ‘America Last,'” Trump said.
The own achievements, the twice accused president said, were better than the government and politics. Trump attributed himself to his party’s successes in November, despite the fact that many Republicans did not surpass him in their districts.
He predicted that the Democratic Party would suffer ‘dwindling losses’ during the midterm elections and that a Republican president would make a triumphant return to the White House in four years’ time. ‘
He added, “And I wonder who it will be?”
If Trump teases another run in 2024, he is far from over his last defeat. In an extensive riff on the November election, he maintained the false claim – rejected by experts and administrators of elections and by courts across the country – that the election was stolen.
When he said, ‘This election has been hampered,’ the crowd said, ‘You have won!’
Trump’s comparison of his own presidency with Biden’s has attracted his successor’s relatively high public approval ratings – and Trump’s poor. But CPAC is a welcoming crowd.
In the annual CPAC presidential poll delivered shortly before Trump, 95 percent of conference attendees said the IDP should continue with Trump’s issues and policy ideas, and 68 percent of attendees said Trump should run again in 2024.
In an overcrowded field of potential primary rivals, Trump crushed the field with 55 percent support, followed by the Florida government, Ron DeSantis, with 21 percent. Every other IDP politician is registered in single digits.
Already before Sunday, Trump acted on the midterm elections in 2022 and – whether he is eligible for re-election or not – the presidential by-elections in 2024. He is preparing to draft a super-PAC, and on Friday he endorses Max Miller, a former White House assistant. , in his campaign to oust Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, one of the ten Republicans from the House who voted for Trump’s accusation.
Trump’s aides urged him before speaking on Sunday to focus his anger on Biden and the Democratic Party, while mentioning his disputes with Republican lawmakers who criticized him is limited. Instead, he blows up the Republicans who support his second accusation, namely ‘grandstanders’ like Sens. Mitt Romney and ‘Little Ben Sasse’ and the ‘warmer’ rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming.
“Get rid of everyone,” Trump said.
Yet Trump described the Republican Party’s dispute as a limited description: “The only division is between a handful of political hacks in Washington, DC and everyone across the country,” he said, adding: “I think we The great unity. ”
Trump also ruled out starting a third party and calling an idea he had ‘fake news’ once driven himself.
Trump’s re-emergence in public life was never in doubt for the celebrity president. But it was another breach of tradition for Trump, as presidents who leave office usually retire from partisan politics for a period immediately thereafter.
The former president was banned from Twitter and ousted from the White House and reveled in the praise bestowed on him by CPAC.
On stage at CPAC, he said, “Do you still miss me?”
The audience erupted, sometimes singing, ‘USA! USA! Later it broke out in a constant call of ‘We love you! We love you!”
It was a fitting finale for an event that included a gilded statue of Trump and a roster of Republicans who all promoted him. Senator Ted Cruz, himself a potential candidate in 2024, said during the conference that “Donald J. Trump is not going anywhere.” Larry Kudlow, Trump’s leading White House economic adviser, announced Trump’s “extremely consequential” presidency, referring to him as “the boss.” And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis promised: “We can not, we do not want to, go back to the days of the failed Republican founding of yesteryear.”
The straw was in line with the sentiment of the broader Republican voters, of whom a majority, 53 percent, would prefer Trump over any other Republican than the primary 2024 would be held today. Rep. Jim Jordan said Sunday he hopes Trump will run again in 2024 and: “If he does, he will win.”