In 2011, Donald Trump addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference as a reality television star making his first real foray into political speechmaking. On Friday, he will return to the conference as President Trump.
Like most of his speeches and appearances on the campaign trail, Trump’s addresses to CPAC have been wild and unpredictable. Looking back at them, one begins to see how he fed off of the audience and used the conference to try to develop his political persona. Here are some of his top moments since he first addressed CPAC in 2011:
2011
Trump hinted that he would run for the Republican nomination and insulted a room full of Ron Paul supporters in the process.
Walking on stage to the song “For the Love of Money” by The O’Jays, Trump told the 2,400 person crowd in Washington D.C. that he felt has a track record of “great victories” and that he “may be ready to put that to work.”
He added, “Frankly, I wish there was a candidate that I saw that would be fantastic because I love what I’m doing.”
At this point the audience started cheering “Ron Paul! Ron Paul!” The libertarian candidate was expected to speak in the same room around the time of Trump’s speech, and it quickly became apparent that Trump had entered unfriendly territory.
“By the way Ron Paul cannot get elected,” Trump responded as the crowd booed.
“I like Ron Paul, he’s a good guy, but honestly he has zero chance of getting elected you have to win an election. And I tell you if I run and if I win this country will be respected again.”
At the time Trump was better known as a reality television star than a politician, and he spent much of his speech focusing on his own self-promotion and telling the crowd about his business deals and projects.
“America is missing quality leadership,” Trump said. “I am well acquainted with winning.”
Trump told the room that although he was not yet a candidate he would decide by June whether or not he would enter the race because “the United States has become a whipping post for the rest of the world.”
2013
During Trump’s appearance at CPAC in 2013, which came only months after President Obama won his second term, Trump argued that Mitt Romney should have talked more about his business success during his campaign.
While intermittently talking about his own success, Trump told attendees that people “want a leader who’s successful,” before saying that Romney’s campaign was on the “defensive” the entire time about his career in business, something he deemed a mistake.
“I like Mitt Romney a lot, but if he made one mistake, it’s that he didn’t talk enough about his success, because honestly, people really want success. They want a leader who’s successful, and Mitt has done a great job. I just feel that the Republicans and Mitt — and I told him this — didn’t speak enough about the things he did, the great things. They were on the defensive instead of taking that offensive.
In typical Trump fashion, he also made fun of Obama and the White House for holding a state dinner in a tent on the White House lawn. Not just any tent, Trump said, “a bad tent.”
“Here’s China in a tent,” Trump mocked. “And I offered — I called up the White House, somebody I know very well, very high-positioned. And I said, look, I will offer free of charge to build the most beautiful ballroom there is in the country, anywhere. I will do it. It will cost anywhere from $50-$100 million. I will do it. You can get the greatest architects. You can make it perfectly sympathetic with the White House and the architecture. It’ll be fabulous.”
“They said ‘thank you very much. Wow, what an offer!’ We never heard from them. That’s the problem with the country. That’s a small thing, but that’s the problem from the country. And that’s what happens — you don’t hear from people.”
2014
In his 2014 speech at the conference, Trump gave an early, early preview of his 2016 run, by taking aim at Hillary Clinton.
“I think in 2016, you’ll probably be running against Hillary. I think it’s going to be a tough race, but I think that it’s going to be a race that by that time will be so bad, that the Republicans will likewise take that and then you can actually end Obamacare, which is a total catastrophe.”
“The problem is that in 2016, if you look and you study it like I do, all of the problems are being deferred to the year 2016 — after the election. And I don’t know how the Republican leadership has let that happen.
He told the crowd that the U.S. will be “drifting,” and that 2016-18 will be an economic disaster.
“Whoever’s president, good luck. You’re going to have to be very smart, you’re going to have to be very, very sharp. But that’s the way it is.”
Arguably, Trump was talking about himself in that statement.
Trump also predicted correctly that the GOP would take over the U.S. Senate in the 2014 midterm elections.
The real estate mogul also talked at length about Russian President Vladimir Putin, particularly about how he sent him a present when he was there for the Miss Universe pageant. That relationship has come under increased scrutiny since Trump moved into the White House.
“I was in Moscow a couple of months ago — I own the Miss Universe pageant — and they treated me so great,” Trump said back in 2014. “Putin even sent me a present, a beautiful present with a beautiful note.”
He went on to bash Obama for how Putin toyed with him at the time, especially after he annexed Crimea.
2015
Trump’s appearance at the 2015 CPAC showcased a billionaire businessman on the cusp of running for the nation’s highest office.
Trump floated his “Make America Great Again” slogan while also pledging to “make America rich again.” But his February 2015 speech is perhaps best remembered for his biting criticism of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, whom Trump had already selected as his archenemy.
“Jeb Bush — he’s in favor of Common Core, he’s weak on immigration,” Trump said. “I don’t see him winning; I don’t see there’s any way, [but] you people are going to have to make your own choice, who knows.”
Trump also slammed former GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s failed effort to dethrone President Obama in 2012.
“That was an easy election to win,” he said. “I actually think probably easier than the next one coming up.”
Trump took dead aim at the Republican establishment and has yet to let up.
