Trump smacks McConnell, other GOP leaders at CPAC

Former President Donald Trump returned to the Conservative Political Action Conference stage Saturday to leave no doubt that he owns the modern GOP.

‘We are never going back to the party of Paul Ryan, Karl Rove and Jeb Bush,’ Trump proclaimed less than an hour after his decisive win in the conference’s annual straw poll, which showed that 62 percent of attendees surveyed wanted him to be the GOP’s 2024 presidential nominee. 

‘I am your warrior, I am your justice, and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution,’ he told the enthusiastic crowd.

Trump knocked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, labeling him a ‘China-loving politician,’ got the crowd to boo Sen. Mitt Romney and took on Republicans in the Senate who dared hint that Social Security and Medicare be cut. 

He had plenty of negative things to say about Democrats too – including mocking President Joe Biden for falling off his bike and stumbling on Air Force One’s stairs –  but told the crowd the Republican Party was previously run by ‘freaks’ and ‘neocons.’ 

At one point, Trump’s speech was interrupted by a protester who loudly played the song FDT (F**k Donald Trump). 

Former President Donald Trump returned to the Conservative Political Action Conference stage Saturday to leave no doubt that he owns the modern GOP

‘I am your warrior, I am your justice, and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution,’ he told the enthusiastic crowd

Trump was given top billing at the three and a half day conference that returned to suburban Washington after being held for two years in Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to Trump’s arrival the crowd was entertained by the ex-president’s 2020 playlist including YMCA and Gloria. 

And his speech hit many of the same themes from both his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.

Trump hit President Joe Biden hard on illegal immigration.

‘Illegal immigrants come in and we house them in the Waldorf Astoria. But our soldiers, we did nothing for them,’ Trump complained, suggesting that illegal immigrants were watching his speech on TV from their ‘beautiful hotel suites.’ 

Trump went on a long riff about the president and his son Hunter.

‘Hunter Biden is a criminal and nothing happened to him,’ the ex-president said. ‘Joe Biden is a criminal and nothing ever seems to happen to him.’ 

Trump, again, took on Black Lives Matter and called on the preservation of Confederate monuments, saying ‘the most beautiful artwork, the most beautiful statues’ were being desecrated. 

The 2024 hopeful teased that he was going to outline his agenda for his current presidential campaign. 

‘At the top of my list, will be the slide into costly and never-ending wars,’ he then said, an idea he has long espoused. 

Trump bragged that a new war wasn’t started during his four years in office.  

‘I was also the only president where Russia didn’t take over a country during my tenure,’ he boasted. ‘Because I got along with Vladimir Putin very well. I said “Vladimir, don’t do it, you know you and I are friends, don’t take over any countries, because, you know, Moscow will be hit very hard.”‘ 

On the Ukraine war, Trump complained that NATO wasn’t paying its fair share. 

And he knocked Biden for his pull-out of Afghanistan, something that was negotiated during Trump’s tenure. 

‘No, we left the dogs behind and the Taliban doesn’t like dogs. But we left in disgrace. And it was the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country, probably.’ 

Trump then said he’d prevent World War III.