Donald Trump will make his first address to the Conservative Political Action Conference as president of the United States Friday. It’s not Trump’s first time speaking at the conservative confab—that would be his 2011 appearance, where the Apprentice star said he would be deciding soon if he would run for president the next year. He didn’t, but there were more than a few hints of what would become Candidate and then President Trump just a few years later.
“The United States has become a whipping post for the rest of the world,” Trump said in that first address, after entering to the sound of the O’Jay’s “For the Love of Money.” “The world is treating us without respect. They are not treating us properly.”
Five years later, as the 2016 presidential primaries were in full swing, conservatives were arguing among each other whether Trump deserved to be invited to CPAC. At the last minute, Trump backed out of his speaking slot, choosing instead to attend a rally in Kansas. But in a statement Trump promised to return “next year, hopefully as President of the United States.”
Trump’s hopes came true, and instead of entering to the theme song of his reality show, he’ll come into the hall at CPAC Friday to “Hail to the Chief.” And he’ll be more than just a Republican president speaking at a gathering of party activists. Trump will be there as the new leader of the conservative movement—or, perhaps, as the leader of the new conservative movement. As Kellyanne Conway joked (proclaimed?) at her Thursday appearance at CPAC, “Tomorrow, this will be TPAC.”
The ‘Renewal of the American Spirit’
His CPAC speech isn’t the only major one for President Trump in the next few days. On Tuesday, he will address a joint session of Congress—as presidents often do during the first year of their term, in lieu of a State of the Union speech.
According to White House press secretary Sean Spicer, the theme of Trump’s speech next week will be the “renewal of the American spirit.”
“The address will particularly focus on public safety, including defense, increased border security, and taking care of our veterans,” Spicer said Thursday. “And then, economic opportunity, including education, job training, health-care reform, jobs, tax and regulatory reform.” Don’t expect details, the White House says. The focus of Trump’s speech will be broad, more of a public case than a laundry list of items for Congress to take up.
Trump’s Syria Policy: Assad or No Assad?
The Trump administration is staying quiet on whether the president believes the murderous dictator of Syria should stay or go.
Barack Obama said over and over during his presidency that Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, could not remain in power if the civil war in that country were to come to a peaceful end. Obama’s rhetoric on Assad was consistent, though none of his actions—the failure to enforce his own “red line” ultimatum chief among them—suggested the Democratic president was serious about using American power or influence to make it so.
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump was far less harsh about Assad, whose regime has used chemical and biological weapons on its own people in a civil war that has killed thousands. But according to Trump, Assad represents a lesser evil than the terrorist group ISIS, which has taken over parts of Syrian territory. “I don’t like Assad at all, but Assad is killing ISIS,” he said during a presidential debate last fall. Assad himself said in December, during Trump’s presidential transition, that the incoming U.S. president would be a “natural ally” against ISIS and terrorism if he stuck to his campaign rhetoric about “nonintervention against states in order to depose governments.”
So what is the Trump administration’s policy on whether Assad should stay or go? Sean Spicer effectively dodged this question at Thursday’s briefing,
“I would refer you to the State Department on that,” Spicer said in response to a question about what the administration thought should be the future of Assad’s regime. When I asked State what the United States’s policy is on Assad, a senior official replied via email: “The United States remains committed to a political resolution to the Syrian crisis, which can bring about a more representative, peaceful, and united Syria, free of terrorism.”
Does that “political resolution” necessarily end with Assad out of power? The official did not respond to a follow-up, nor has the White House responded to multiple inquiries about the president’s view.
All the President’s Generals
Vivian Salama and Julie Pace of the Associated Press have an interesting piece out about the “growing influence” of military officers in the Trump administration—singling out specifically Defense secretary Jim Mattis, Homeland Security secretary John Kelly, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph Dunford.
“At working dinners and meetings with President Donald Trump, the men—all retired or current generals—have sought to guide the new leader and foreign policy novice,” write Salama and Pace. “And they have increasingly represented Trump around the world, seeking to allay concerns about the new president and his nascent foreign policy.”
Add the new national security advisor, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, to the mix, and it’s clear Trump has a preference for advisers currently or formerly in uniform. Read the whole AP story, and then read Thomas Donnelly’s recent blog post at THE WEEKLY STANDARD about the consequences, for good and for ill, of this development in the Trump administration.
Song of the Day
“Today,” the Smashing Pumpkins
