ORLANDO, Fla. — Donald Trump blamed President Joe Biden and the “radical left” for America’s woes and vowed that conservatives would “take our country” back during a speech before CPAC on Saturday night in Orlando.
The former president also defended his description of Russian President Vladimir Putin as “smart” while again strongly hinting he’d run again in 2024 while continuing to falsely claim he beat Biden in 2020.
Trump spoke to a standing-room-only crowd on the third day of the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort.
His remarks were in keeping with an ongoing theme at the convention. Speaker after speaker slammed “woke” Democrats and corporations, saying they are trying to dictate how Americans live.
“The socialists, globalists, Marxists and communists who are attacking our civilization have no idea of the sleeping giant they have awoken,” Trump said. “They cannot even begin to imagine the brave and righteous spirit they’ve unleashed in men and women, like all of you here today.”
Trump called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “appalling, and outrage an atrocity that never should have been allowed to occur.” Despite his praise of Putin just days before the attack, calling him “savvy” and a “genius,” Trump claimed the attack wouldn’t have happened on his watch.
“Reporters asked me if I thought President Putin was smart,” Trump said. “I said, ‘Of course, he’s smart,’ which I was greeted with, ‘Oh, that’s such a terrible thing to say.’ ... Yes, he’s smart. The NATO nations, and indeed the world ... they’re not so smart.”
Under his administration, Trump claimed, “Russia respected America, just like every other country respected America, and they really respected us a lot,” he said. “But now Joe Biden is seen as weak. ... It would be so easy for me to stop this from happening. (Putin) understood me.”
He praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “a brave man,” then defended his phone call with him in 2019 that led to his impeachment on charges of extorting him over military aid. He took credit for eventually giving Ukraine the missiles “that everyone is now talking about.”
Trump, who has praised the vaccines developed on his watch, also said all COVID-19 measures must cease despite continued heightened risk in many areas, including Florida.
“It’s past time to declare independence from every last COVID mandate,” he said. “The emergency is over, and we will submit to this left-wing tyranny no longer.”
Trump seemingly endorsed Florida’s proposed “Don’t Say Gay” law, saying parents should have “a veto over anyone teaching far-left gender ideologies to their children without parental consent.”
Trump also gave a shout-out to incendiary U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who “likes speaking her mind.”
Greene, R-Ga., appeared on the CPAC stage Saturday the morning after she spoke at AFPAC, a conference in Orlando created by white nationalist Nick Fuentes. She later said she did not know who Fuentes was.
Before his speech, many souvenir tents and hangers-on were outside the gates of the resort. “Let’s Go Brandon” flags were flown, a reference to a vulgar insult against Biden. Flags containing the direct expletive were waved as well.
Inside the resort, security was amped up by the presence of the Secret Service, which led to long lines at metal detectors.
Outside the hotel, a man wearing a flag as a cape grabbed magnets, flags and cooling towels to restock his vendor booth from a pickup truck plastered in magnets supporting Trump and insulting Biden.
David Duffy of the Doctor Phillips neighborhood said the “DeSantisland” flag he was wearing – written in Disney font and featuring a red, white and blue Florida in place of the castle – is his top seller.
“I’ve got unique items that nobody else has,” he said. “... My stuff is all fun.”
He said he thinks Gov. Ron DeSantis won’t run for president in 2024, since he has “too much going on” and is a “great governor.”
“Trump has my vote anytime he runs for anything,” he said.
He’s been selling similar merchandise for 15 years but has his sights set on running for Orange County’s District 4 school board next term hoping to unseat incumbent Pam Gould.
Duffy said he’s unhappy with the all-female school board and that the schools “force critical race theory.” The subject is not commonly taught in public schools and was banned by the state Board of Education in June.
A few booths down, Ana Villalobos and Steve Merczynski sold red, white and blue MAGA hammocks and chairs made from U.S. materials but assembled in El Salvador, Villalobos’ home country.
“It’s a way to give back to both,” she said.
She showcased one hammock, a prototype of a gift for Trump himself, featuring his name on “regal” colors of red and yellow and 25 ropes on each side representing the 50 states.
Earlier Saturday, Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida took the stage to declare, “great civilizations that collapsed ... were first hollowed out from the inside.”
“Today we face the greatest danger,” Scott said. “The militant left-wing within our country has become the enemy within.”
He said the American people would defeat “socialism” in the election this fall.
CPAC will close on Sunday with the release of a straw poll about the 2024 presidential race.
DeSantis finished second to Trump in that poll at the conference in Orlando last year, but he led if Trump wasn’t included in the list of potential Republican candidates.
At the convention in 2021, Trump hinted for the first time that he might seek the White House again and called for Republican unity. He has yet to make any public decision about 2024, despite his hints.
———
