Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
ORLANDO – Former President Donald J. Trump’s speech Saturday night at CPAC had all the trappings of a rock concert.
From the raucous crowd to a preshow replete with a mishmash of hit singles like Elton John’s Saturday Night’s Alright,” Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” and “Macho Man” by the Village people, everything smacked of the raw energy that occurs when fans see their hero.
Much like legendary bands that embark on reunion tours while plugging a new record, Trump revisited his greatest hits while still saving time for a few deep cuts and new tracks.
And, while the former president did not officially announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential race, he spoke as a man convinced that 2022 and 2024 would be years in which the momentum in the United States swung squarely toward him and his supporters.
The final bars of Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” had hardly finished playing before Trump made allusions to World War II America and promised to see Democrats voted into “political oblivion.”
“All those communists and Marxists who are attacking our country have no idea of the sleeping giant that they have awakened,” Trump said. He added, “They are going to find out the hard way, first on Nov. 8 and again [in] November 2024 … We did it twice. We will do it again.”
During a speech that lasted slightly under an hour-and-a-half President Trump left no insult unstated, nor any shortcoming of the Biden administration unexploited. He revisited his grievances with the results of the 2020 presidential election, inflation, the cost of living, immigration, COVID-19 response, critical race theory, the defund ofnpolice, the U.S. exit from Afghanistan, and more.
However, a major portion of his speech was dedicated to the crisis in Ukraine.
“The Russian attack on Ukraine is appalling, it’s an outrage, and an atrocity that should have never been allowed to occur,” Trump said. He added, “We are praying for the proud people of Ukraine. God bless them.”
On multiple occasions, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have attempted an invasion from 2017 through early 2021. He offered as proof the fact that Russia had invaded a neighbor under three of the four presidents who have served the U.S. since 2001.
“Under Bush, Russia invaded Georgia,” the former president said. “Under Obama, Russia took Crimea. Under Biden, Russia invaded Ukraine. I stand as the only president of the 21st Century on whose watch Russia did not invade.”
Later in the speech, Trump questioned why he’d been recently criticized for calling Putin smart and offered an assessment of why Putin had chosen to invade now.
“The problem is not that Putin is smart, which of course he’s smart, but the real problem is that our leaders are dumb,” Trump said, later adding, “Sanction, well that’s a pretty weak statement. Putin is saying: ‘Oh they’re going to sanction me, they’ve sanctioned me for the last 25 years. You mean I can take over a whole country and they’re going to sanction me? You mean they’re not going to blow us to pieces, at least psychologically?’”
Trump said his foreign policy was to be friendly but unflinching in his dealings with foreign leaders.
“I was proud to be the first president in decades that did not get our country into any wars,” Trump said. “Under our administration, Russia respected America just like every other country respected America … But now Joe Biden is a weak – and I hate to say it because I want him to do a good job … politically I don’t care, I would much rather have him do a great job than a poor job … when you have a president who is not respected, you have a chaotic world.”
When he shifted to the topic of energy independence, Trump slammed former Senator John Kerry, who now serves as President Biden’s special envoy on the climate and drew heavy criticism last week for saying the Ukraine crisis might distract from climate change initiatives.
“We have a world that’s ready to blow up and disintegrate over energy, and he’s talking about global warming,” Trump said. “The oceans may rise over the next 300 years one-100th of an inch, giving you slightly more seafront property.”
Trump also found time to blast Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has been a recurring target of speakers throughout CPAC. The former president, though, channeled a uniquely fierce venom when discussing the Freedom Convoy and Trudeau’s subsequent crackdown.
“The tyranny we have witnessed in Canada over the last few weeks should shock and dismay people all over the world,” Trump said. “In an advanced democracy, the peaceful movement of patriotic truckers, workers, and families … They have been slandered as Nazis, racists, and terrorists. These are the names they’ve been called. They’ve been arrested and charged with phony crimes. They’ve been falsely accused of loyalty to foreign powers … They’re being hunted down like enemies of their own government and treated worse than drug dealers and burglars, rapists.”
The former president drew one of his loudest and most sustained ovations when he concluded, “A line has been crossed. You are either with the peaceful truckers or you are with the leftwing fascists … We stand with the truckers, and we stand with the Canadian people.”
As his speech crept into its second hour, Trump showed no signs of running out of complaints about American society in 2022. He attacked Hillary Clinton, transgenderism, cancel culture, the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and rules that prevent presidents from firing select federal employees.
Unsurprisingly, the speech ended with what for Trump has become the equivalent of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Freebird,” a crowd-pleasing call to “Make American Great Again.” He then, having never declared himself a candidate for president in 2024, exited the stage to the sounds of the conveniently worded Motown classic “Hold On, I’m Coming” by Sam and Dave.