“A vote for Trump is your ticket back to freedom, it’s your passport out of tyranny and it’s your only escape from Joe Biden and his gang’s fast track to hell,” Donald Trump said.
“And in many ways, we’re living in hell right now because the fact is, Joe Biden is a threat to democracy, really is a threat to democracy,” Trump continued.
“I stand before you today not only as your past and hopefully future president, but as a proud political dissident. I am a dissident,” he said.
Donald Trump has concluded his approximately 90-minute speech at CPAC in National Harbor, Maryland. Here are the key takeaways:
If Joe Biden wins, “the worst is yet to come”, Trump warned the audience in his opening remarks. He went call Biden the “crookedest, most incompetent president in the history of our country”.
Trump also mocked Biden and his mental capabilities and called the current president “a threat to democracy”. He went on to call himself a “proud political dissident”, adding: “A vote for Trump is your ticket back to freedom.”
On his legal troubles, Trump compared himself to American gangster Al Capone, saying: “I’ve been indicted more than Alphonse Capone.” He also accused the Biden administration and Democrats of “weaponizing” the justice department and FBI.
Trump, who previously compared his criminal indictments to the persecution of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who suddenly died last week, described his court cases as “Stalinist show trials”. He then accused the Biden administration of replacing “law, precedent, and due process with a rabid mob of radical left Democrat partisans masquerading as judges and juries and prosecutors”.
On foreign policy, Trump said that if he had been president, Hamas’s attack on Israel and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would have never happened. He then descended into a lengthy ramble on how he attempted to strong-arm Mexico over his border security measures – while veering into stories of his flight to Iraq, pilots who were “better looking than Tom Cruise” and his attempt to award himself the congressional Medal of Honor.
On border security, Trump vowed that his first order of business as president would be “sealing the border, stopping the invasion” and sending “Joe Biden’s illegal aliens back home”. He then said there are languages in the US that nobody has ever heard of, calling it a “horrible thing”.
On law enforcement and crime, Trump vowed that he could solve crime rates “in one day, in one hour, in one minute” if he was president. He then said: “We have the greatest law enforcement people in the world but they’re not allowed to do their job.”
Trump closed his speech by calling on voters to vote for him in South Carolina, where the state’s Republican primary is being held today. “We’re going to win the election. We’re going to win it big and we’re going to win it bigger than ever before,” he said.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for following along.
“Our country is run by people that are destroying it. We’re not going to let it happen. We’re going to have a great military … our country is going to function properly,” Donald Trump said in his closing remarks.
“I’m going to leave you with this one final message. We’re going to win the election. We’re going to win it big and we’re going to win it bigger than ever before … We are going to make America great again,” he said.
Expressing his support for law enforcement, Donald Trump said: “We have the greatest law enforcement people in the world but they’re not allowed to do their job.”
“Chicago could be solved in one day. New York could be solved in half a day … New York police, I grew up with them. They’re the greatest people … You have great people and they can do their job if they’re allowed to do their job but they don’t want to lose their pension, they don’t want to lose everything.
“I could solve that problem in one day, in one hour, in one minute,” he added.
Donald Trump went on to recall how he asked his staff if he could give himself the congressional Medal of Honor following his flight into Iraq.
“I see my staff … and I said, ‘Let me ask you a question. Is the president of the United States allowed to give himself the congressional Medal of Honor because I did a very brave thing? I was so brave. Am I allowed to do it? And they said, ‘Sir, it would not be a good thing to do.’”
He went on to say: “Now here’s the problem with that story. The fake news media will lead tomorrow, ‘Donald Trump wanted to give himself the congressional [Medal of Honor].”
Donald Trump has descended into a story of his experience flying into Iraq when he was president.
Describing the pilots, Trump said: “I sat with the pilots … the best-looking human beings I’ve ever seen. Not my thing … but they are handsome. Central casting. Better looking than Tom Cruise and taller.”
Describing his border plans, Donald Trump said, “It will be the largest deportation in the history of our country and we have no choice.”
“It’s not a nice thing to say and I hate to say it and those clowns in the media will say, ‘Oh he’s so mean,’” Trump said.
He went on to attack languages, saying, “We have languages coming into our country…they have languages that nobody in this country has ever heard of. It’s a horrible thing.”
Donald Trump vowed that his “first and most urgent action” as president will be the “sealing of the border, stopping the invasion … send Joe Biden’s illegal aliens back home”.
“We’re going to have to do them fast because no country can sustain what’s happening in our country,” he said, adding: “It’s a new category of crime and I wanted to call it ‘Biden migrant crime’ but it’s too long so we just call it ‘migrant crime’.”
Donald Trump described his legal woes and court appearances as “Stalinist show trials”.
“The Stalinist show trials being carried out at Joe Biden’s orders set fire not only to our system of government but to hundreds of years of western legal tradition,” he said.
“They’ve replaced law, precedent, and due process with a rabid mob of radical left Democrat partisans masquerading as judges and juries and prosecutors,” he added.
“For years, you watched the entire Washington cesspool … feeding on the wealth and hopes and dreams of hardworking Americans,” Donald Trump told the crowd.
“November 5 will be our new liberation day, but for the liars and cheaters and fraudsters and censors and impostors who have commandeered our government, it will be their judgment day,” he added.
“Your victory will be our ultimate vindication, your liberty will be our ultimate reward and the unprecedented success of the United States of America will be my ultimate and absolute revenge,” he continued.
Donald Trump pivoted to foreign policy by saying that numerous ongoing conflicts would have been avoided had he been president.
“The attack on Israel would have never happened. Iran was broke. They were broke. Ukraine would have never happened,” he said.
He went on to tell a cheering crowd: “Crooked Joe Biden, you are fired. Get out of here. Get that you’re just destroying our country. You’re fired. Get the hell out of here.”
“We can break out of this Biden nightmare,” Donald Trump said.
He went on to attack migrants, saying: “They’re coming from Asia, they’re coming from the Middle East, coming from all over the world, coming from Africa, and we’re not going to stand for it … They’re destroying our country.”
Donald Trump also went on to compare himself to American gangster Al Capone, saying: “Remember, I’ve been indicted more than Alphonse Capone.”
“It’s very dangerous. What’s going on? They’ve weaponized government. They’ve weaponized the DOJ, the FBI. We’ve never had anything like this in this country,” he continued.
“They are indeed a threat to democracy and I’m here to unleash this captive nation from Joe Biden and his gang of very bad people, very sick people, smart people, intelligent people, but they are hellbent on the destruction of American freedom,” Trump added.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
