Donald Trump’s presidency is over and his Twitter feed is muted, but at the first major Conservative meeting of the year, the message is clear: Mr. Trump is here to stay.
Elected officials and activists who spoke on the first day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held in Florida this year, focused on COVID-19 restrictions, the so-called culture of cancellation. how the 2020 elections were administered and the threats to be seen from democratic policies. Although little mention was made of the attack on the Capitol last month, speakers made a joke against the “liberal mafia” and riots over the summer.
The conference has no open criticism of the former president, so praising Trump, who still has the support of the majority of Republican Party voters, was a topic of the inaugural day.
“There are a lot of voices in Washington that just want to erase the last four years,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told the crowd. “Let me tell you right now: Donald J. Trump is not going anywhere.”
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton told a story about an immigrant who attributed his economic success to the former president and celebrated Trump’s ability to attract Latino voters in the 2020 election.
And Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley received a standing ovation when he informed the crowd of his objection to the Jan. 6 election results. He attacked Twitter for banning Trump and ended his speech with, “America now, America first, America forever.”
Many speakers urged the Republican Party not to return to its pre-Trump origins and criticized some of the policies that have pushed Republican Party leaders.
“We won’t win the future by trying to get back to where the Republican Party was,” said Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who also chairs the Senate Republican campaign operation. “If we do, we will lose the work base that President Trump encouraged so much. We will lose elections across the country and eventually we will lose our nation.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is poised for re-election in 2022, left his own mark on conservatives in the future, saying the party rejects open borders, “weakness” against China and “l ‘military adventurism’.
“We will not go back to the times of the failed Republican establishment of yesteryear,” he said. “Hold the line, hold the ground and never back down.”
Hawley told people attending the CPAC that they “represented what will come next.”
“To people who tell us,‘ Oh, you’re the past. Your moment is over, it’s over. Now it’s Joe Biden’s America, “he said.” I just want to say, ‘We’re not the past. We’re the future,’ “he said.
At the ceremony, Hawley made a general critique of his objection to the Electoral College’s vote count on January 6 as a badge of honor.
“They called me a traitor, they called me a seditionist,” he said of the reaction to his vote. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here. I’m going to defend you, because if we can’t have a free and open debate in this country, we won’t be left with any country.” His phrase echoed an observation. made by Trump to his followers that day: “If you don’t fight like hell, you won’t have a country anymore.”
About a dozen speakers from the event have been mentioned as possible candidates for the 2024 presidency. “For a second, I thought we were in Des Moines,” Cruz joked about the formation speaking.
Cotton, among potential White House contenders, suggested Republicans might not compete against Biden in four years. “They want to grant amnesty to between 15 and 20 million illegal aliens. Without a rope, with the right to vote, presumably in time for what they expect to be Kamala Harris’ re-election campaign,” he said.
But as a list of Republicans competes to improve their profiles, it is Mr. Trump who is the speaker of the tent, who will make his first public statements since he left office at Sunday’s conference.
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., joked when it was said that the conference was called “TPAC” because of the support the former president has among the public. He offered a brief preview of his father’s speech, telling the crowd, “I imagine it won’t be what we call a low-energy speech.” And I assure you it will solidify Donald Trump and all your feelings about the MAGA as the future of the Republican Party. “
Polls show Mr. Trump still has firm control over the Republican Party base. A Suffolk University / USA Today poll released earlier this week found that nearly 6 in 10 Trump supporters said they would like to run for president again in 2024 and 76% said they would. they would vote for him if he sought Republican candidacy.
Saturday’s keynote speakers include Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who have been elected as possible candidates for the 2024 presidency.