Former President Donald Trump sparked a possible run in 2024 and criticized the Biden government at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Sunday, when he made his first public speech since leaving the White House less than six weeks ago.
Trump was greeted with a standing ovation when he took the stage in Orlando to declare that “our movement … is just beginning”.
“I stand before you today to declare that the incredible journey we started together four years ago is far from over,” Trump told the enthusiastic crowd.
“Our movement of proud, hard-working American patriots is just beginning,” he said. “And in the end we will win!”
In making it clear that he intends to remain a force in the Republican Party, Trump suggested a possible candidacy for the presidency in 2024.
Referring to the Democrats, he said, “I can even decide to beat them a third time,” attracting deafening applause from the participants.
Trump spread rumors that he planned to found a new political party as “fake news”.
“We have the Republican Party,” said Trump. “It will come together and be stronger than ever.”
“We are not starting new parties. You know, they kept saying, ‘he’s going to start a whole new party.’ We have the Republican Party, it will come together and be stronger than ever. I am not starting a new party. That was false news. Fake news. No. Wouldn’t it be brilliant? We will start a new party and we will split our vote, so you can never win. No, we are not interested in that. “
He also hit on his successor, claiming that President Biden had “the first month more disastrous than any president in modern history”.
“We all knew the Biden government would be bad, but nobody knew how bad they would be,” said Trump.
“There is no better example than the horrible new crisis on our southern border,” he continued. “In just a month, we went from America first to America last.”
Trump argued that Biden’s immigration policy would cost Democrats the next two federal elections.
“We are one country. We cannot endure the world’s problems, ”he said. “As much as we would love to – we would love to help. We can not do that. So, they are all coming because of promises and silly words. “
The former president also called for the reopening of schools in the country, claiming that Biden had “sold students from America to teachers’ unions”.
“Joe Biden shamefully betrayed America’s youth and is cruelly keeping our children locked up in their homes, for no reason, they want to leave,” said Trump.
“They are stealing the next generation of Americans from the future that they deserve and they deserve that future,” he continued. “They will grow up and they will be scarred … the mental and physical health of these young people is reaching its limit.”
“On behalf of America’s mothers, fathers and children, I ask Joe Biden to open schools and make them open now,” said Trump, to applause.
He also praised his government’s work on preparing a coronavirus vaccine, saying: “Never let them take the credit, they are just following our plan”.
Trump criticized the Biden government on the grounds that he was “starting from scratch” developing a national vaccine distribution plan because the former president had left them with nothing.
“Biden said that we didn’t have the vaccine. Now, I really think he said that because he didn’t know what the hell was going on, ”Trump joked.
Trump is returning to the national spotlight to crown the annual four-day conference in Orlando, while Republicans hope to regain a majority in the House and Senate in the 2022 midterm elections and win the White House in 2024.
Before Trump’s anxiously awaited comments, a parade of possible Republican presidential candidates – including Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz – served as opening acts over the weekend to set the CPAC crowd on fire for the former commander in chief.
Since leaving office on January 20, Trump has been at his resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, meeting with former campaign officials and Republican lawmakers while laying the groundwork for a political return for him and the Republican party.