ORLANDO, Florida — Former President Donald Trump sounded every bit the White House contender during an address to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference as he assailed President Joe Biden and promised to restore the Republican Party to power in Washington in November and in 2024.
“The socialists, globalists, Marxists, and communists who are attacking our civilization have no idea of the sleeping giant they have awoken,” Trump said Saturday evening. “But they’re going to find out the hard way, starting on Nov. 8, and then again, even more so in November 2024, they will find out like never before. We did it twice and we’ll do it again. We’re going to be doing it again a third time.”
Trump, over the course of 90 minutes, covered the litany of his greatest rhetorical hits to a raucous and enthusiastic hotel ballroom of approximately 6,000 conservative activists, who showered their political hero with chants of “USA!” and “four more years!”
The former president dished unsupported claims that the 2020 election was stolen, complained about top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, grumbled about the Russia investigation that dogged his first years in office, asserted the United States has turned into a global laughingstock since he left the White House, accused the “fake news” national press corps of colluding with the Democrats, and vowed to finish building the wall along the southern border halted by the Biden administration.
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But amid those and the other boasts, potshots, and mockery typical for a Trump rally speech, the former president devoted considerable attention to Republican bids to win congressional majorities in the 2022 midterm elections and recapture White House two years later. Trump framed the forthcoming campaigns as all-hands-on-deck Republican efforts. But crucially, the 45th president placed himself out front and in charge — both of the party’s agenda and its political activity, stopping short only of declaring himself a 2024 candidate.
“The radical Left has tried to replace American democracy with woke tyranny,” Trump said. “Our mission in 2022 and in 2024 is to take on this radical and power-hungry ruling class and to deliver them an electoral defeat.”
Several Republicans are eyeing a 2024 bid, and many journeyed to Central Florida this weekend to speak at CPAC and mingle with the conservative activists who could be valuable to their presidential ambitions. But a third consecutive Trump White House bid could swamp the GOP primary field — and the former president appeared to send the strongest signal yet with his remarks to the gathering here that campaign is in the offing.
Meanwhile, Trump could not bring himself to condemn Vladimir Putin during his first speech — one highly anticipated domestically and internationally — since the Russian strongman commenced with an invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
The former president expressed sympathy for Kyiv and praised the courage of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinsky, who has rebuffed offers to evacuate him amid the brutal and unprovoked Russian attack. Trump even offered that he would have convinced Putin to stay out of Ukraine, strongarming him if necessary, and succeeded where Biden failed.
But contrary to the vast majority of prominent conservatives to take the main stage at CPAC since Thursday — Trump administration alumni and supporters of the former president among them — Trump stopped short of criticizing Putin directly. Instead, just as he did during his term in the White House, the former president complimented the Russian strongman for being a competent and capable leader, defending comments praise he offered days ago.
And, naturally, Trump found a way to tie the war to his claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
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“We are praying for the proud people of Ukraine; God bless them all. They are indeed brave,” Trump said. “This horrific disaster would never have happened if our election was not rigged and I was president.”
“I have no doubt that President Putin made his decision to ruthlessly attack Ukraine only after watching the pathetic [United States military] withdrawal from Afghanistan,” Trump added. “Yesterday, reporters asked me if I thought President Putin was smart. I said: ‘Of course he’s smart.’ … “The problem is not that Putin is smart, which of course he’s smart. But the real problem is that our leaders are dumb.”
