Trump to proclaim himself the future of the Republican Party in speech

By Steve Holland and Jarrett Renshaw

 

FILE PHOTO: Memorabilia are shown for sale outside the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, U.S. February 27, 2021. REUTERS/Octavio Jones/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former President Donald Trump on Sunday will declare himself the dominant figure in the fractured Republican Party and attack President Joe Biden in his first major appearance since leaving the White House nearly six weeks ago.

 

"I stand before you today to declare that the incredible journey we began together four years ago is far from over," Trump will tell the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, according to speech excerpts released by his team.

 

"We are gathered this afternoon to talk about the future --the future of our movement, the future of our party, and the future of our beloved country," he will add.

 

Trump’s tumultuous final weeks in office saw his supporters launch a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in an attempt to block Congress from certifying Biden’s election victory, a win that Trump falsely claimed was tainted by widespread fraud.

 

A civil war has erupted within the Republican Party with establishment figures like Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell eager to put Trump in the rear-view mirror and others, like Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham, believing the party's future depends on the energy of the pro-Trump conservative base.

 

"The Republican Party is united. The only division is between a handful of Washington D.C. establishment political hacks, and everybody else all over the country," Trump will say.

 

The results of a straw poll conducted of CPAC conference participants gave Trump a strong show of support with 55 percent saying they would vote for him in the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came in second place with 21 percent.

 

Without Trump, DeSantis led the field with 43 percent, other potential Republican candidates had single digits.

 

But not everyone supported Trump. A separate question on the poll asked whether Trump should run again in 2024 and it led to a mixed result, with 68 percent saying he should run and 32 percent saying opposed or having no opinion.

 

"It's tough to get 7 out of 10 to agree on anything," pollster Jim McLaughlin told CPAC in explaining away the results.

 

Still, Trump fervor at the four-day CPAC event has been so strong that Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. declared it "T-PAC" and participants rolled out a golden statue of the former president.

 

Trump has discussed privately running again for president in 2024, according to advisers, but the speech excerpts gave no hint of what he might do.

 

"That's going to be a decision he makes down the road," Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel told CBS's "Face the Nation."

 

In the short term, he is making plans to set up a superPAC political organization to support candidates who mirror his policies, an adviser said.

 

Trump's speech will include attacks against Biden to try to position himself as the lead critic of the new president, including on immigration and security along the U.S. border with Mexico, and the slow reopening of schools closed due to the pandemic.

 

"We all knew that the Biden administration was going to be bad--but none of us imagined just how bad they would be, and how far left they would go," Trump will say. "Joe Biden has had the most disastrous first month of any president in modern history."

 

The Biden White House has made it clear it plans to ignore Trump's speech.

 

“Our focus is certainly not on what President Trump is saying” at CPAC, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters last week.

 

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Mary Milliken, Lisa Shumaker, Heather Timmons and Diane Craft)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-01

 

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Yesterdays man just do one and for the sake of humanity shut it this boil has been squeezed ????

Sad I used to vote republican not now 

Same old white grievance politics, misinformation and lies for consumption by the base - nothing new - boring. Destiny for trumpism - dustbin...

It's sad that many millions of idiots continue to believe all these lies.

What must happen before these people accept reality?

56 minutes ago, webfact said:

“Our focus is certainly not on what President Trump is saying” at CPAC, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters last week.

Good advice for everyone else!

 

Of course, the angry white people will focus on what he says.  Hopefully, Trump doesn't send them on a mission to disrupt anything.

Turned it on just before. Entertaining for about 10 seconds then he just kept carping on about how he won the election. On and on.. The crowd gave a smattering of applause. No doubt they still love him.

Imagine being someone close to him who has to hear this stuff day after day.. 

Turned off. Boring.

As a former staunch republican, this is a sad commentary. But seeing what the party has become today, I  love it. One more nail in their coffin.

 

Change is desperately needed politically in the US. One big area is to take the money out of re-elections. It's gotten ridiculous.

 

RIP GOP

Delusional and still able to divide a once great country.  All politicians are horrible in my book.  You need to be able to get along on both sides of the fence to stimulate growth and prosperity.  Unfortunately there is a major implosion coming.

He [Trump] is truly a winner and as each day goes by millions upon millions of Americans will see the light! I for one only hope we can make it to 2022 without speaking Chinese.

While ever Trump can hoodwink his not so smart followers, the Reps will follow him like sheep to keep those numbers. Enough people were smart enough to get out and vote him out of office, Joe Bidens performance over the next 4 years will determine where Trump and his sheep will end up!

The worst American president in the history

1 minute ago, PatOngo said:

While ever Trump can hoodwink his not so smart followers, the Reps will follow him like sheep to keep those numbers. Enough people were smart enough to get out and vote him out of office, Joe Bidens performance over the next 4 years will determine where Trump and his sheep will end up!

Indeed Biden just needs to do well and Trump will disappear. Its amazing how many people support this person with all his lies. I guess they are used to lying themselves. So many damaging things and they still folow him. Lies about the election, inciting a riot, protecting the murder of the Saudi journalist just because it was an ally. There has been nobody as bad as Trump for the credibility of the US ever before.

3 minutes ago, vandeventer said:

He is truly a winner and as each day goes by millions upon millions of Americans will see the light! I for one only hope we can make it to 2022 without speaking Chinese.

Nihao Ma, I share your sentiment about the Chinese but not about Trump, he missed the boat in 2020.

2 minutes ago, TheFishman1 said:

The worst American president in the history

Yes, I think he edged out Nixon and Bush!

Rick Scott: GOP is ‘voters' party,’ not Trump's

Wait, what's this?  The man who usually uses his tongue as his better's shoe-shine brush is making a show of spine?  Surely will have brown stains on his nose soon enough.

 

Meanwhile at Cpac

Trump falsely claims in CPAC speech that he could beat Democrats 'for a third time' in 2024

DT bashing is no fun, it's like mocking the senile.  The kids should keep him sedated.

 

 

Of course most people would prefer that the US stays world leader and China does not get too strong. However given the damage done by Trump to the US image it will be hard to find allies. Then again Trump did protect a murderer just because it was a good ally. Seems like a Chinese thing to do. 

 

Does not wanting China to be more powerful mean that the US has to stoop to its level of supporting murderess and dictators just because they are allies. I think the US power in the past was in its credibility and moral high ground. Things that seem to have disappeared.

 

Now Asians get attacked in the US racism against Asians is rising and Trump played a large part in that. Is that claiming the moral high ground ?

 

1 minute ago, robblok said:

Of course most people would prefer that the US stays world leader and China does not get too strong.

The sad part is that Chinese are gaining strength and aggressively expanding while the world sits back and cops it! It would be great to see some decisive action to clip their wings!

1 hour ago, simple1 said:

Same old white grievance politics,

It works because the base is the same old whites

13 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

While ever Trump can hoodwink his not so smart followers, the Reps will follow him like sheep to keep those numbers. Enough people were smart enough to get out and vote him out of office, Joe Bidens performance over the next 4 years will determine where Trump and his sheep will end up!

You really got to stop watching CNN.

2 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

The sad part is that Chinese are gaining strength and aggressively expanding while the world sits back and cops it! It would be great to see some decisive action to clip their wings!

Sure but what kind of action do you have in mind ? I don't have an answer for that Trump was anti China and he did not succeed at all. So do we need someone even more extreme ?

3 minutes ago, vandeventer said:

You really got to stop watching CNN.

There are plenty of other news sources than CNN! You should give Fox News a break! But then again, if you listen to and believe Trump, enough said!

 

 

I doubt he’s the future of the Republican Party but he is certainly what the Republican Party has become.

 

Trump standing on a stage styled after Nazi symbology, spewing his narcissism driven hate, fear, and lies, while in the background his gold plated (made in Mexico) effigy.

 

What a disgraceful mess the once proud GOP have become, led into the sewer of rightwing extremism by their idolatry of this clearly very disturbed man.

 

 

 

 

Why is Jen calling him President Trump?

7 minutes ago, wombat said:

Why is Jen calling him President Trump?

All former presidents whether or not they were good, bad, or terrible are still afforded the Title of President in front of their names even though many do disagree as it should be former President so and so.. 

 

Mr. President (title) - Wikipedia

“In past years, some guidebooks on manners maintained that in the U.S., the title should be reserved for the incumbent president only, and should not be used for former presidents, holding that it was not proper to use the title as a courtesy title when addressing a former president. [12] [13] [14] Despite that, all living former U.S. Presidents continue to be addressed as "Mr. President", [15] both formally and informally, and contemporary experts on etiquette now maintain that it is entirely appropriate. [16]”

1 minute ago, ThailandRyan said:

All former presidents whether or not they were good, bad, or terrible are still afforded the Title of President in front of their names even though many do disagree as it should be former President so and so.. 

 

Mr. President (title) - Wikipedia

“In past years, some guidebooks on manners maintained that in the U.S., the title should be reserved for the incumbent president only, and should not be used for former presidents, holding that it was not proper to use the title as a courtesy title when addressing a former president. [12] [13] [14] Despite that, all living former U.S. Presidents continue to be addressed as "Mr. President", [15] both formally and informally, and contemporary experts on etiquette now maintain that it is entirely appropriate. [16]”

It is indeed a matter of informal etiquette, which of course is not compulsory and may change.

 

Trump is certainly giving cause for this to be changed.

He's going to perform very well in 2022; from a jail cell of course.  

We've already seen his performance from 2016, where did it get him, ditched by a landslide! Good riddance!

Very pleased to hear this......a positive step forward......for the Democrats.

To paraphrase Bill Clinton, "it's depends on what the meaning of 'winner' is".

 

The loser in 2020 not only lost the White House, but he lost the House and the Senate. If he represents the future of the (R) Party, we can safely assume that Party goes the way of the Know Nothings, the Whigs, and other extinct American political Parties.

 

The guy might be able to hold on to his brain addled base, which thinks he will take power again on 4 March and that Q is real, but that is not a large enough demographic to win elections. Where his base is even more damaging is that it is large enough to win primaries, beating sane and rational candidates under the (R) umbrella, so when the general election comes, the choice will be between a (D) candidate who is rational, and a fringe candidate who espouses bizarre conspiracy theories like Q or 'stolen election'.

 

Some (R)s know the damage the guy is doing to their Party's hopes for future governance, so they are trying to distance themselves from him. I suspect these same (R)s are hoping the DoJ, State of GA, and State of NY successfully prosecute the guy's crimes and sentence him to jail. Chances are good for that.

 

As for (D)s, the guy is likely the best thing that ever happened to them, because it makes it more likely (D)s will control the WH, House and Senate for a generation.