Making his entrance to “God Bless the USA,” former President and current Republican front-runner Donald J. Trump took to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) main stage, and the excitement, fervor, and energy was as high, if not higher, as it was at his previous year’s speeches. Where the CPAC main hall looked sparse and almost empty on Day One Thursday, for Trump’s Day Three, Saturday speech, it was standing room only, with more than a few overflow rooms with video monitors. In the main hall, the organizers had to move people to the back of the media center in order to accommodate those who came early to hear one speech, and one speech only.
CPAC is just a microcosm of the nation, but MAGA is here in full force, and they are unapologetic about it. What that portends for the election is yet to be seen, but President Joe Biden may be screaming into his ice cream.
There was much speculation on what new bon mots Trump might drop. Would he discuss what great buddies he and Milei are, and what they will do when he becomes president? Some at the conference even speculated that Trump could announce his Vice Presidential pick. While Trump did mention the Argentinian president, he did not use the time to announce his vice president. Trump was comfortable and loose, and had a great time ribbing the audience as a warm-up.
A lot dignitaries here, one whose gotten a lot of publicity, he’s gotten a lot of publicity! He’s MAGA—he’s MAGA—Make Argentina Great Again. Javier Milei!
“Big election going on today, did anybody know that?” Trump joked, as this is the same day as the South Carolina Republican Primary. Trump then acknowledged CPAC Chairman Matt and Senior Fellow Mercedes Schlapp, and the people in the VIP section of the room.
Trump mentioned Moms for America president and founder Kimberly Fletcher, and the award the organization gave to him. “Donald Trump is the man of the year, can you believe that?!” he said. “Have I made progress or what?”
Trump dived right into the meat of his speech, rattling off all the things he warned about if Joe Biden was elected president.
We were right about everything. So believe me when I offer you another warning. If Crooked Joe Biden and his thugs win in 2024, the worse is yet to come.
Trump then catalogued the plague of horrors to come if Biden wins reelection. More unchecked immigration. Bankrupted entitlement systems. The demise of the energy sector. Rampant crime. World War III.
These are the stakes of this election. Our country is being destroyed, and the only thing coming between you and its obliteration is me.
Trump deemed himself the anti-war president.
It turned out that I was able to stop wars from happening and bring our troops back home. Crooked Joe and his henchman have you trapped, and it’s an express train driving you from servitude into ruin.
Trump declared that 2024 would be “your only escape from Joe Biden and his gangs fast track into hell, and in a lot of ways we’re living in hell right now.” He also talked about his “plans” for energy and the border crisis:
That’s our mission. My plans are very simple: Make America Great Again! The first and most urgent action when I am president: sealing of the border, stopping the invasion, drill, baby, drill, send Joe Biden’s illegal aliens back!
Trump then moved on to his indictments and the degradation of criminal justice under Biden.
I stand before you as a proud political dissident. I’ve been indicted more than Al “Scarface” Capone.
America is now seeing firsthand the weaponization of government. The weaponization of the DOJ and the FBI against political opponents, and the prosecutors and judges who have personal animus against him. He said:
The level of hatred from these judges, there’s no way you get fair trials. The only crime I’ve ever committed is defending America and fight those who want to destroy it.
Trump didn’t fail to mention the J6 prisoners and how this weaponization was being waged against them. But he affirmed his promise to bring them relief.
I am here to unleash this captive nation from Joe Biden and his gang. They’re hellbent on the destruction of American freedom.
If we don’t stop it, this is our last train, but if we don’t stop it we won’t have a country, it’s breaking up.
The mockery of President Joe Biden also continued apace. Trump mocked Biden’s stumbling, his mumbling, his mannerisms, and Biden’s “two-minute speeches.”
He makes a two-minute speech because he couldn’t get more fuel than that. Whatever happened to the cocaine at the White House? What happened to that?
Trump said that after the first indictment, he has now taken the gloves off and he is unleashed. He proclaimed that he will win the election and give Biden his signature line from “The Apprentice”: “You’re fired, get out of here—you’re destroying our country. You’re fired Biden, get the hell outta here!” This received a standing ovation and wild applause.
Trump spent a lengthy amount of time on the signature achievement of his presidency: Securing the border, and how in three years, the Biden administration has all but destroyed it. “Three years ago we had the safest border in the history of the world.”
Trump alluded to illegals committing crimes and making attacks on law enforcement, and how brazen these acts are, creating a new category of crime.
They know that in their country they would be dead as a doornail within minutes. It’s a new category of crime: Migrant crime, and it’s going to be more severe than violent crime and crime as we knew it.
[…]
They are being dumped at our border. Then there’s the terrorist, and the trafficking. It’s Silence of the Lambs—Hannibal Lecter! Three years ago we had the safest and most secure border. We built 570 miles of border wall.
Trump called out then-House Speaker Paul Ryan for blocking further border wall funding, “But they gave millions of dollars to the Democrats for the Green New Scam!” he said. Trump proclaimed that for the Swamp and their enablers, November 5 will be a day of reckoning. “The liars cheaters and profiteers who have commandeered our government, it will be their Judgment Day!”
Trump promised again to resecure the border and that,
[i]t will be the largest deportation in the history of our country. It’s not a nice thing to say, and I hate to say it. They’re killing our people, they’re killing our country. […] I believe it’s our last chance. We had a big border problem and I solved it. Who would think that two years later, we’d have a border problem 20 times worse than it’s been before.
Trump then prognosticated what it could portend for the election. He declared:
Who the hell can win when you have 16 million people pouring into our country from places unknown? They’re coming from Asia, they’re coming from the Middle East. They’re coming from Africa. But we’re not going to stand for it.
Through anecdotes and stories, he laid out his foreign policy acumen and negotiations with Mexico, against Iran, and how he negotiated an exit strategy for Afghanistan that was botched by Joe Biden.
No Trump speech would be complete without his skewering the Fake News. Trump deemed the press, the “most corrupt.” This elicited loud boos from the crowd. Trump then qualified, “Not all of them. Maybe 92 percent.”
Trump took a shot at California Governor Gavin Newsom and his shadow presidential campaign. “A lot of people say Gavin Newsom is going to run. In a certain way, I hope so. Because he’s destroyed California.” Trump discussed the water issues, and how Newsom refused Trump’s offer to facilitate water storage, but is willingly giving $36 million worth of aid to illegals.
Then Trump joked, “I will tell you, if God came down and God was the vote-checker, I believe we would win California. They send out 36 million dollars to people unknown! I think I would do very well in California, actually.”
Trump was winding down, and apologized for veering off his usual speech and telling anecdotes, but affirmed that, “Some of these stories are instructive.” He gave a shout-out to the people from South Carolina, and said if they were in the audience to hurry back to vote. Just as Trump entered on his signature song, he exited with his signature line.
We’re going to win the election, we’re gonna win it big. It’s going to be more important than 2016. We’re going to make America Great Again!
This is a developing story. Also, stay tuned to RedState Saturday evening for the results of the South Carolina presidential primary.
