Trump heralds himself as savior in CPAC talk
Ex-president wins 62% in 2024 straw poll
In a speech meant to declare a strategy if he were to return to the White House, former President Donald Trump painted a bleak picture of the nation under Democrats and himself as a savior.
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, Trump reveled in his strong showing in the annual confab’s 2024 presidential straw poll, winning 62% of the vote among the attendees, a slight increase from last year. The result was widely predicted, as the conservative event that had once represented a varied slate of young Republicans has become a Trump affair. The former president spent his wide-ranging, nearly two hours of remarks rehashing the “America First” agenda that has played well with his base.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a leading alternative to Trump, won 20%, followed by businessman Perry Johnson with 5% and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley with 3%. Trump beat DeSantis in last year’s straw poll 59% to 28%, and slightly widened his advantage at a CPAC event in Texas last August, winning 64% to 24%.
The secret ballot offers a glimpse of the potential conservative movement’s donors, influencers, elected officials and others who attend the fourday event and who they might back in a potential 2024 race. In the past, CPAC straw polls have had mixed results: In 2016, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, won the poll, while Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, have each dominated in several past years.
The evolution of CPAC was evident in Trump’s remarks, as he distanced himself from Bush-era Republicans and underscored the idea that he would restore law and order in cities and abroad after he said conflict has broken out during the current and prior administrations.
“In 2016, I declared I am your voice,” he said. “Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution.”
Speaking with reporters before the speech, Trump said he would stay in the race even if he is indicted in ongoing criminal investigations of his handling of presidential documents and his role in instigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
He also responded to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s veiled jab in his CPAC speech that the party should leave behind “celebrity leaders” with “fragile egos who refuse to acknowledge reality.”
Trump said it was too early to pick a running mate, sidestepping questions about DeSantis by crediting his endorsement with the governor’s last election win in Florida after he had previously name-called DeSantis.
After months of attacking Fox News, which aired his Saturday remarks, he said in his speech that television personalities Sean Hannity, Jesse Watters and Tucker Carlson should be awarded Pulitzer Prizes.
Before Trump, the Young Conservatives for Carbon Dividends table at CPAC featured cutouts of former presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. They have since been retired because they don’t appeal to the Trump base in attendance, said the group’s managing director, Chris Johnson. Instead, the group placed a “Make American Energy Great Again” red cap at the center of their table and have adjusted their message to fit a “populist” perspective.
“The way you get people on the right to care about climate change is not convincing them on the science or whatever,” Johnson said. “It’s giving them solutions that are aligned with the things they already care about.”
Andrew Nau, a college student from Yorktown, Va., picked out a DeSantis cap, looking to represent his preference for the Republican nominee. Nau said he didn’t believe Trump could do as well as DeSantis in 2024, so he favored the Florida governor because he stood a better chance in the broader base outside of CPAC.
“Right now, Donald Trump is still commanding Republican politics,” said Hogan Gidley, Trump’s former deputy press secretary and the director of the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute’s Center for Election Integrity. Gidley said attendees feel like they were given a voice when Trump was in office and remain loyal to that. His presence could also overshadow others, Gidley said, asserting why some like DeSantis stayed away.
Before Trump’s speech, Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing leader who was dubbed the Tropical Trump, roused crowds in the afternoon in a wide-ranging speech that touched on his efforts to expand gun rights in the country and to protect the freedom to refuse vaccinations.
“I did not force anyone to get vaccinated in Brazil,” Bolsonaro said, according to an interpreter, prompting cheers from the crowd. “They keep saying ‘science, science, science.’ But what I say is ‘freedom, freedom, freedom.’”
He echoed many rightwing talking points, talking about his record liberalizing gun laws in the country and claiming it was linked to a drop in crime, and talking about abortion restrictions and saying “we don’t want gender ideology.”
Bolsonaro was a fitting opener for Trump, given his numerous ties to the former president’s administration. He has been counseled by Trump advisers Stephen Bannon and Stephen Miller, and, like Trump, stoked anger among his base after he lost the election, suggested the win by his left-wing opponent, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was fraudulent. Critics say his comments helped foment a Jan. 6-style riot in Brasilia on Jan. 8 of this year.
“In 2016, I declared I am your voice. Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution.”
— Former President Donald Trump