On Trump’s return, NRA pledges to spend ‘significantly more’ to defeat Clinton

“If I run, and people are going to be very surprised, and if I win, America will be great again,” he said to cheers after a seven-minute address.

“I promise you one thing,” he added. “The Second Amendment will be totally protected, that I can tell you.”

It was during that remarkably brief address in April 2015 that he introduced many of his themes and positions, including his condemnation of illegal immigration, his criticism of the Iran nuclear arms agreement, and his opposition to trade deals signed by President Obama.

He called Obama, for example, “incompetent, doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

At Friday’s speech inside the enormous Kentucky Exposition Center, he will headline the 145th National Rifle Association Annual Convention where the NRA’s leaders are also expected to lay out their plans to spend tens of millions campaigning Hillary Rodham Clinton and anti-gun Democrats in the fall elections.

NRA President Allan Cors recently told Secrets that Clinton’s possible election should scare gun owners, the reason he plans to spend more than the $20 million spent in the last presidential election.

He noted that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, implemented the assault weapons ban, and pushed other gun control. And he said that Hillary Clinton will be even more aggressive on the issue, possibly banning AR-15 type rifles and pistols that dominate the shooting sports.

Cors also said that NRA donors are line up to help and he promised to spend a record amount in the election. He added that donors and the NRA are driven by the likelihood Clinton will pick anti-gun Supreme Court justices.

“We’re going spend more, significantly more,” pledged Cors.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]