Trump hints at return
NEW YORK: Donald Trump thrust himself back into the centre of US conservative politics on Sunday and pledged a “triumphant return” to the White House during his first public address since leaving office.
Declaring the Supreme Court should be “ashamed” for not awarding him the election through his numerous legal challenges, Mr Trump also unleashed on his successor.
“Do you miss me yet? Do you miss me,” he asked the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida.
“We went through a journey like nobody else … We began it together four years ago and it is far from being over.”
Mr Trump also put to rest the question of starting a new political party, something he had reportedly considered as several prominent Republicans turned on him in the fallout from the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.
“That was fake news,” he said. “Wouldn’t that be brilliant? Let’s start a new party, let’s divide our vote so that you can never win. No we’re not interested in that.”
Mr Trump stopped short of confirming he was going to run again for president. “Actually, as you know they (Democrats) just lost the White House,” he claimed to cheers. “Who knows, I may even decide to beat them for a third time. OK?”
Mr Trump slammed the performance of his successor, declaring Joe Biden’s first five weeks a “disaster”.
“We all knew that the Biden administration was going to be bad but none of us imagined just how bad they would be.”
Mr Trump waited until the final day of CPAC to appear but his presence had loomed large over the three-day event, during which he and several speakers repeated his claims of election fraud.
Attendees gave him a 97 per cent job approval rating and 68 per cent said he should run again in 2024, in straw polling at the event, ahead of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, South Dakota Governor Kristy Noem and Donald Trump Jr.
Mr Trump was acquitted last month after a short impeachment trial in which he was accused of “incitement of insurrection” for encouraging supporters to protest at Congress where Mr Biden’s election win was being certified.
Sunday’s address touched on familiar themes, with Mr Trump boasting about his foreign policy victories and claiming he had won the election.
He also warned Mr Biden’s immigration reforms had prompted a wave of illegal immigrants who would soon be at the nation’s southern borders.
“We protected vulnerable people from ... dangerous predators, but the Biden administration has put the vile coyotes back in business,” he said.