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    All eyes on Trump as former president to address Maga Republicans at CPAC – live

    It’s the last day of CPAC, and the day’s schedule is lined up with speakers including former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and Colorado representative Lauren Boebert. But the largest spectacle has been saved for last – Donald Trump.With Trump due to address the conservative conference later this afternoon, fringe crowds have gathered to watch him promise to “Make America great again”, despite an overall thinning crowd this year compared to previous conferences.Over the past few days, several of Trump’s competitors of the 2024 presidential election made appearances at CPAC, including former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, as well as Trump’s former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.Nevertheless, Trump remains the most popular person in the room, with numerous supporters parading Maga merchandise across the conference as they await his appearance.As former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka said yesterday at the conference, CPAC is a gathering of the “hardcore Maga”.It’s been a lively day at CPAC so far and soon the right-wing carnival in Maryland will play host to Donald Trump as the former president gives the closing keynote speech at the multi-day event. We’ll have a live stream of his appearance, so stay with the blog.Here’s where things stand:
    Beyond CPAC, self-help author Marianne Williamson officially became the first Democrat to run for the presidency in 2024 in a challenge to US president Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination. She kicked off another long-shot campaign in Washington, DC, earlier today. Leading Democrats, meanwhile, are lining up behind a Biden for a second term.
    Far right Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert threw around words like “woke” (a bad thing in her view, when it’s schools teaching America’s racial history) and “defund” (good in her view when it’s Republicans taking money away from what she considers sketchy federal agencies) when she took to the stage at CPAC.
    Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who was defeated by his comeback challenger from the left Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in recent elections, spoke at CPAC and condemned poverty, discrimination and environmental destruction – kidding, he condemned self-determination in gender identity, and gun safety laws.
    Donald Trump is last but not least of the speakers at CPAC today.
    The Texas Republican party has voted to censure House representative Tony Gonzales over his recent party-splitting votes in Congress.On Saturday, the State Republican Executive Committee voted 57-5 on the censure resolution.The censure resolution “cited his support for the bipartisan gun law that passed last year, as well as his vote for a bill codifying protections for same-sex marriage. The resolution also pointed to his vote against the House rules package in January and his opposition to a border security bill being pushed by fellow Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Austin,” the Texas Tribune reports.In a news conference on Thursday, Gonzales, a moderate Republican, defended his vote for the bipartisan gun law, saying, “I would vote twice on it if I could.”“The reality is I’ve taken almost 1,400 votes, and the bulk of those have been with the Republican Party,” he added.Self-help author Marianne Williamson has become the first Democrat to challenge president Joe Biden.“I, as of today, am a candidate for the office of president of the United States,” Williamson said in a campaign kickoff in Washington DC on Saturday, the Associated Press reports..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“We need to submit to the American people an agenda of fundamental economic reform, universal healthcare, tuition-free colleges at state colleges and universities, higher education including tech schools, paternity and maternity leave, free childcare and a guaranteed living wage,” Williamson said in her campaign video.
    “What the Democratic party should do is to truly return to the principles of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, not just alleviate people’s suffering but offer them genuine economic reform,” the New York Times bestselling author added.In 2019, Williamson announced her presidential campaign for the 2020 election but went on to suspend her campaign a year later and endorsed Bernie Sanders instead.“It’s time we get real leadership back in the White House, someone who actually cares about you and puts you first,” Boebert said as she praised Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.“We have just begun winning. We took back the House and I’m excited about our slim majority because that gave us leverage,” she added.“I can’t wait to drag the ‘[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] into oversight and remind them of [separation of power],” Boebert added.She went on to call for more secure borders and said that “we are not going to fund a borderless country…we are not going to fund tyranny,” she said.“We need to get more aggressive… There are many things we must do…that you American people have entrusted with,” said Colorado representative Lauren Boebert who has taken the stage following Lindell.“We are going to make sure that all of these agencies that have been working against you…have an audit and if there is any woke program in these agencies, it is immediately defunded,” she said.“We now fund the government as intended… This is our opportunity to not just get spending under control but to ensure that we have the right policies… Every diversity, equity, inclusion program…every woke initiative in our military must be uprooted and completely defunded,” she added.“We will demand schools stop teaching our children to hate their country, hate their classmate for the color of their skin… Every one of these agencies need an audit… The federal government has become too big,” Boebert said.“We want same-day voting, paper ballots, hand-counted. That’s going to save our country!” said Lindell as the crowd cheered. “One machine, one button…just like how you send Gmails into the abyss, that’s how you send your votes into the abyss,” he said about voting machines.“We are in the greatest revival for Jesus Christ in history,” Lindell went on to say.“If we don’t get rid of the machines, we’re going to lose our country to the world,” Lindell told crowds, referring to voting machines which he previously claimed resulted in voting errors and a ‘stolen’ election.CEO of MyPillow Mike Lindell is now due to address CPAC. Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates.“I’ve always admired the American people. Brazil is important for the world. Today, more than one billion people depend on Brazil to be able to eat. We have mineral riches that few countries have in the world,” said Bolsonaro.“We have an abundant amount of drinkable water, we have an Amazon that belongs to us, Brazilians. I invite all of you to visit the Amazon forest. Please come to visit!” Bolsonaro added in his closing remarks.“Just like all of you, I will have the pleasure of watching Donald Trump come on stage. I was the last president in the world to recognize the results of the election in America two years ago… I am still faithful to our motto – God, homeland, faith and liberty,” said Bolsonaro as he ended his 15-minute address.“I don’t understand why the numbers reflected the opposite,” Bolsonaro said about Brazil’s 2022 election result which saw him lose to opponent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, despite him claiming to have far more supporters in 2022 than he did in 2018.“When we speak of conservatism, what we fight for are basic things – family. We don’t want gender ideology. We want children growing, looking up to their fathers, boys and girls looking up to their mothers,” he added.“In Brazil, private property is threatened. Private property is one of the pillars of democracy… In my government, I relaxed as much as I could regulations on gun ownership and in four years, we were able to reduce 1/3rd the amount of deaths by firearms in Brazil,” Bolsonaro continued.“I always said in Brazil, an armed people will never be enslaved. And an armed nation will never be subjugated. And it’s indispensable to tell all of you that my relationship with Donald Trump was simply exceptional. And now, we know, who is right. We are right or they are right?” he asked the crowd, to which it responded, “We are right!”“I thank God…for being the president of Brazil for one term…but I feel deep inside, this mission is not over,” Bolsonaro tells a whooping crowd at CPAC.“Populism, communism, corruption always dominated politics in Brazil,” he added as he detailed his campaign trail across Brazil, meeting supporters throughout the nation.“I always defended freedom, I did not force anyone to be vaccinated in Brazil,” Bolsonaro said about his management of the Covid-19 pandemic in his country as the crowd rose to standing ovation.“They keep saying science, science, science…but what I say is freedom, freedom, freedom,” he said, referring to medical experts in Brazil who advocated for the Covid-19 vaccine’s safety and efficacy.Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is expected to take the stage soon at CPAC. Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates of his address.The white supremacist and antisemite Nick Fuentes was removed from the conference, CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp said in an Instagram post yesterday.“We removed Nick Fuentes from his attempt to attend our conference. His hateful racist rhetoric and actions are not consistent with the mission of CPAC.”“We are pleased that our conference welcomes a wide array of conservative perspectives from people of different backgrounds, but we are concerned about the rise in antisemitic rhetoric (or Jew hatred) in our country and around the globe, whether it be in the corridors of power and academia or through the online rantings of bigots like Fuentes,” he added.Fuentes, who at point point dined with Trump and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is a notable figure among the extremist right and has previously spewed bigoted lies such as the denial of the Holocaust.I bumped into Nigel Farage, a British politician, broadcaster and demagogue, wandering the corridors and asked if he agrees with the conventional wisdom that CPAC feels flat and marginal this year.Farage, who has been coming to CPAC for a decade, suggested that the only thing missing is young people. “Trump is not new,” he observed. It’s true that student activists have been unusually thin on the ground here. Notably Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA, a fixture in past years, is not among the speakers.Instead the big beast at CPAC is 69-year-old Steve Bannon, White House chief strategist turned far right podcaster. He seems to be broadcasting constantly on the Real America’s Voice channel from a stage set up just outside the ballroom that hosts the main stage.Bannon – who is appealing his conviction and four month prison sentence for contempt of Congress – talks combatively into a microphone with a noisy “Maga” crowd gathered behind him, often blocking the corridor for people trying to get by. There is often more energy here than in the conference sessions themselves.Today Bannon reprised his criticism of Fox News, “oligarch” Ken Griffin and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, his faint praise of Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis and Mike Pompeo as “good people” and his contention that, when it comes to the 2024 Republican primary election, there is no time for “on the job training”.He said Donald Trump had given America “four years of peace and prosperity”. No doubt the former president is grateful. But it does imply that CPAC 2023 is looking more to the past than the future.It’s the last day of CPAC, and the day’s schedule is lined up with speakers including former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and Colorado representative Lauren Boebert. But the largest spectacle has been saved for last – Donald Trump.With Trump due to address the conservative conference later this afternoon, fringe crowds have gathered to watch him promise to “Make America great again”, despite an overall thinning crowd this year compared to previous conferences.Over the past few days, several of Trump’s competitors of the 2024 presidential election made appearances at CPAC, including former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, as well as Trump’s former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.Nevertheless, Trump remains the most popular person in the room, with numerous supporters parading Maga merchandise across the conference as they await his appearance.As former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka said yesterday at the conference, CPAC is a gathering of the “hardcore Maga”.Hello, US politics live blog readers, we have a special weekend edition of the blog today so we can bring you the happenings from the GOP’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on the outskirts of Washington.Here’s what’s afoot:
    Defeated former Brazilian president and arch populist Jair Bolsonaro is in self-exile in the US and has been hanging out in Florida, but this afternoon he will address the CPAC event.
    The ultra-Maga programming will then continue with the crowd being addressed by Trump zealot, conspiracy theorist, 2020 election result denier and pillow seller Mike Lindell, followed by far right Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert.
    Moderate Republican-turned-mega-Maga stan, and New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik will be next.
    Donald Trump is the star, closing speaker at CPAC, due on stage at 5.25pm ET, but could well be late. We’ll have a live stream. More

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    Rightwing Republicans rail against US aid for Ukraine: ‘We’ve done enough’

    Rightwing Republicans rail against US aid for Ukraine: ‘We’ve done enough’War emerges as a wedge issue in the forthcoming Republican primary election as far right at CPAC call for US to end supportMarjorie Taylor Greene, an influential far-right Republican in Congress, has called for the US to stop aid to Ukraine, giving added voice to a grassroots revolt in the party that threatens bipartisan support for the war against Russia’s Vladimir Putin.The Georgia congresswoman is a notorious provocateur who has made racist, antisemitic and Islamophobic statements and promoted bizarre conspiracy theories.Marjorie Taylor Greene keeps rising in Republican ranks despite ‘loony lies’Read moreYet she has emerged as a prominent voice in the House of Representatives after forging a bond with the speaker, Kevin McCarthy, who vowed that Republicans will not write a “blank cheque” for Ukraine.Greene told the Guardian that Joe Biden is “putting the entire world at risk of world war three”, a view widely held at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), America’s biggest annual gathering of conservatives.“I think the US should be pushing for peace in Ukraine instead of funding and continuing a war that seems to be escalating and putting the entire world at risk of world war three,” Greene said during CPAC at the National Harbor in Maryland on Friday.Greene called for US funding to cease immediately, insisting that, while she voted for a resolution to support the Ukrainian people and condemning Russia’s invasion, “we are actually accelerating a war there”.She added: “We should be promoting peace. Europe should have peace and the United States should do their part. Ukraine is not a Nato member nation and Joe Biden said in the beginning he would not defend Ukraine because they’re not a Nato member nation. It doesn’t make sense and the American people do not support it.”A year after Russia’s unprovoked invasion, the US has provided four rounds of aid to Ukraine, totaling about $113bn, with some of the money going toward replenishment of US military equipment that was sent to the frontlines.The two leading contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, former president Donald Trump and the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, have both expressed scepticism about the Ukraine cause. Opinion polls also show an erosion of public support.The conflict was mostly absent from speeches on the main stage at CPAC, once the home of cold warrior Ronald Reagan but now a stronghold for the isolationist “America first” wing of the Republican party. Nikki Haley, a former ambassador to the UN who is running for president, and Mike Pompeo, an ex-secretary of state weighing his own run, gave the subject a wide berth in their addresses.But outside the cavernous ballroom with its glitzy red, white and blue stage, neat rows of seats and banks of TV cameras, there was less circumspection and more crowd congestion. The rightwing podcaster and former White House strategist Steve Bannon repeatedly railed against the war in Ukraine before a noisy gathering of fans.On Friday he was joined by Matt Gaetz, a Florida congressman who recently put forward a “Ukraine Fatigue” resolution in the House. Gaetz warned of the dangers of Russia’s nuclear arsenal and the threat of a third world war and said: “Zelinskiy’s new zeal for anti-corruption efforts and oversight seems to directly align with Republicans taking over the House of Representatives.”Bannon rejoined: “Every Republican who supports this murderous war in Ukraine should be turfed out.”Interviews with more than a dozen CPAC attendees elicited similar views and, in some cases, sympathy for Putin. Theresa McManus, wearing a cowboy hat and jacket, and a riding skirt patterned with words from the US constitution, said forcefully: “I like Putin. I think he’s got balls and he’s taking care of his country.”What to expect from this year’s CPAC: Biden bashing, 2024 Republican primary chatter and lawsuit gossipRead moreRepeating a Kremlin talking point that people in the Donbas region want to be liberated from Ukraine, the 67-year-old horse trainer from rural Virginia continued: “No, we shouldn’t give them any more money. No, we should not be involved with them. They should not be part of Nato.”Paul Brintley, 50, ambassador for the North Carolina Faith & Freedom Coalition, described Putin as “not so much a dictator” and said of Ukraine: “I don’t think we should be the police of the world. I don’t think we should bankroll them. We’ve done enough.”Some at CPAC hew to conspiracy theories about the war. Jason Jisa, 41, from Dallas, Texas, said: “Show me where you’re sending the money. Show me war footage. Go look at all the previous wars: Afghanistan, Iraq, we’re flooded. We’re shown video of it every single day. You don’t see hardly any video come from Ukraine. Why? Where are the camera crews?”Jisa, owner of the “USA Trump Store”, added: “Where’s the money going? Why are we on the hook for them? Why, while we have veterans in the street, we have homeless people all over the place, we have inflation going crazy, are we going to send billions and billions and billions of dollars?”Ukraine is emerging as a wedge issue in the looming Republican primary election. Trump, who launched his campaign last November, has repeatedly called for an end to hostilities and claimed that, if he were to return to the Oval Office, he could end the war “within 24 hours”.DeSantis, another potential contender, was viewed as a foreign policy hawk who embraced tough rhetoric against Putin while he served in Congress. But he has increasingly adopted a similar tone as he courts Trump’s populist base, though he did not attend CPAC.But former vice-president Mike Pence, widely expected to launch a bid for the White House in the coming months, has called for Washington to intensify support for Ukraine and insisted that “there can be no room in the leadership of the Republican Party for apologists for Putin”. This stance is shared by the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, and others in the party establishment.Neither Pence nor McConnell came to CPAC, which some critics argue is losing relevance as it fails to shake off Trump. Hylton Phillips-Page, 67, a retired investment manager from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, described Putin as a “thug” but admitted “mixed feelings” over continued aid for Ukraine.“I don’t think our support can forever be at the expense of our own country. I would be quite OK with our Congress saying: until you finish the wall and protect our own border, you shouldn’t be protecting somebody else’s border. I’m not opposed to supporting them but I would like us to do some stuff at home.”Antwon Williams, 40, from Columbia, South Carolina, who was selling Trump merchandise, said: “America needs to worry about the troops that we have, our veterans that need our help here in America, instead of writing an unlimited cheque to these people out here,” he said.“No offence to them [Ukrainians]. It’s horrible what they’re going through. No one wants to see anyone hurting and dying out there. But we have our own veterans that fought for America and our freedom that is hurting, that is homeless, that is needing help, who have mental issues and who are starving right here in America.”TopicsCPACUS politicsUkraineRepublicansUS foreign policyfeaturesReuse this content More

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    CPAC: Nikki Haley calls out Republicans’ failure to win voters’ confidence – live

    Many, many things have changed in American politics since 2016, but one thing has stayed the same – Donald Trump’s position as the most popular man in the Republican party.He’s been in a commanding position among Republicans ever since clinching its presidential nomination more than six years ago, and that dynamic hasn’t meaningfully changed in the years since. Case in point: the latest batch of opinion polls show him essentially blowing all the other potential contenders for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination out of the water.As Sebastian Gorka made clear at the start of today’s events, CPAC is very much a convention of the “hardcore Maga”. Trump speaks tomorrow, but his most powerful presumed challenger next year, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, isn’t showing up at all. Instead, CPAC attendees will today hear from Nikki Haley, who is running next year, and Mike Pompeo, Trump’s former secretary of state who is expected to launch a campaign.CPAC attracts conservatives from across the country. We’ll try to let you know what they think of Trump’s challengers, and whether they agree that – after all that’s happened – he remains the best man to lead the GOP.Steve Bannon just got off stage after an enthusiastic, 15-minute defense of Donald Trump that was the best received speech of the day.Bannon, a former White House adviser who is appealing a federal prison sentence for ignoring a subpoena from the January 6 committee, won more applause than any speaker before him by singing the former president’s praises and attacking Fox News for ignoring Trump.“Donald J. Trump, let me repeat, in a very volatile time in American history, it was four years of peace and prosperity,” he said, to loud applause, “You know why? He puts you in the room to make decisions.”“And that’s why they hate him,” Bannon continued. “They don’t hate him because he’s Trump. They hate him because he represents you.”He then attacked Fox News for not giving the former president enough coverage. “Note to Fox senior management: when Donald J. Trump talks it’s newsworthy,” Bannon declared.“Maga, Maga, Maga. Remember, Murdoch, you deem Trump’s not going to be president, well we deem that you’re not going to have a network,” Bannon declared as he wrapped up his speech.Conservatives at CPAC today heard from one Republican presidential contender, Nikki Haley, and another potential contender, Mike Pompeo. But the convention remains very much Donald Trump’s show.“I’m still sticking with Trump,” said Gary Wolcott, a 69-year-old retiree from the Virginia suburbs near Washington DC. He acknowledged that Haley’s speech “was definitely impressive, and Pompeo’s, too”. But neither dissuaded him from the support he’s maintained for Trump since his first days as a candidate in 2015.“I just believe he’s the person who is most for America, and he gave up a lot to run for president. He’s not a career politician, and I know he’s always going to try to do what he thinks is best for America,” Wolcott said.Karen and Donald Ruthig’s sentiments were much the same.“He gets things done,” Karen, 77, said of Trump. As for the other candidates, “Maybe they’re wanting to run for vice? I don’t know, but I don’t think they can make it as president.”Her husband, Donald, called Pompeo’s speech “fabulous”, but Haley’s “predictable”. He didn’t think either could win. “I don’t think Nikki Haley is electable. I don’t think Mike Pompeo is electable, and I’m not even sure that Ron DeSantis is at this point,” he said, referring to the Florida governor who is seen as probably the second strongest contender to Trump among Republicans.Donald, a 73 year old who was attending the convention along with his wife from Virginia’s rural eastern shore, worried that if the GOP nominates anyone but Trump, many voters will stay home. “Without Trump’s complete base, we haven’t got a prayer,” he said. “So while there may be some very good candidates in the field, the electability issue (makes) him front and center.”As enduring as his support was for Trump, Wolcott called on the former president to change tactics as he navigates his second GOP primary.“His liability is, he’s got to stop bashing Republicans. He needs to explain why he’s good, not why they’re bad. So long as he can do that he will easily win the presidency. I’m not sure he can do it,” he said.The White House this afternoon decried Tennessee’s aggressive move to limit drag shows in the state.The state’s Republican governor, Bill Lee, yesterday signed a bill passed by the legislature that restricts public drag show performances – the first state to do that this year, CNN reported.The law limits “adult cabaret performances” on public property, defining such as a show “that features topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest, or similar entertainers.”At the White House press briefing on Friday afternoon, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “American people are focussed on so many issues..the economy..healthcare..safety in schools” and lamented Republicans’ targeting activities like drag shows as their priority instead.“Going after drag shows, how is that going to help people’s lives?” she asked. KJP is the first out gay White House press secretary.She added that these “ridiculous policies” are “dangerous. They vilify our fellow Americans at a time when LGBTQ Americans are facing heightened violence.”Joe Biden has the backs of LGBTQ Americans, she noted, “and will continue to be there for the community.”Earlier this month, famous Tennessee drag queens, including Eureka and Jaidynn Diore Fierce spoke up to Entertainment Weekly, with Eureka calling the bill “blatantly unconstitutional.”They talked to a competitor on this season’s Ru Paul’s Drag Race, and now fellow Tennessean, Aura Mayari, who said she was deeply upset and saddened by the push and said the law was nothing more than “a mask used to hide discrimination toward the LGBTQ+ community and the desire to erase drag.”Jaidynn Diore Fierce for all stars / lipsync assassin when? pic.twitter.com/H8XnYY7qTQ— ᴅʀᴀɢᴍᴇᴛᴏꜰɪʟᴛʜ ◡̈ (@dragmetofilth) February 8, 2023
    This feels like the year when CPAC’s centre of gravity shifted from Fox News to Newsmax – more extreme, more fringey and less relevant.Fox News personnel are thin on the ground as the network, embroiled in crisis over its part in pushing Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud, tilts away from him towards rival Ron DeSantis.Meanwhile Chris Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax, was fawningly interviewed on stage by CPAC co-organiser Mercedes Schlapp. Adverts for Newsmax are running regularly on screens here.CPAC is teeming with Trump loyalists. Donald Trump Jr, Steve Bannon, Mike Lindell and Sebastian Gorka are causing crowd congestion as the live stream and podcast loudly cluster outside the main ballroom.Such scenes might symbolise how Trump has lost Fox News but dominates the likes of Newsmax, One America News Network and far right social media. Fox no longer carries his rallies live whereas those channels do – with smaller audiences.It could be good news for DeSantis, a regular on Fox, as he seeks to command the Republican base and banish Trump to the margins.Fox News reportedly imposes ‘soft ban’ on Donald TrumpRead moreHere are some more bits and pieces from Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s interaction with reporters at CPAC.She called on everyone in the Republican party to support the eventual nominee for president in 2024 – something that former president Donald Trump seems unlikely to do.But Greene confirmed that she is endorsing Trump, saying she talks to him “every week” and “I absolutely adore him”.The Guardian asked: “Would you be his running mate?” Greene replied: “We haven’t really engaged. That’s up to President Trump who he chooses.”Questioned about her message to former ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and other potential candidates, she added: “Well, it’s nice that they’re running but they’re not going to win. President Trump is going to be the primary. I don’t know what they’re doing it for in the first place.”And Greene said of Ron DeSantis: “I think he is a fantastic governor for the state of Florida and, at the snail’s pace things get done here in Washington, if I were Florida, I’d give him a third term and beg him to stay as governor.”Rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene just held an impromptu question and answer session with a group of reporters at CPAC – who therefore paid little attention to Kimberly Guilfoyle’s speech from the nearby stage.The Guardian asked the first couple of questions. Greene, an influential figure in the House of Representative, said: “I think the US should be pushing for peace in Ukraine instead of funding and continuing a war that seems to be escalating and putting the entire world at risk of world war three.”The Republican from Georgia called for US funding to cease immediately. “Look, I voted for the resolution to support the Ukrainian people and against what Russia has done invading their country. But what the United States is doing is we are actually accelerating a war there and this war should be over.“We should be promoting peace. Europe should have peace and the United States should do their part. Ukraine is not a Nato member nation and Joe Biden said in the beginning he would not defend Ukraine because they’re not a Nato member nation. It doesn’t make sense and the American people do not support it.”Later Greene added that Biden is more interested in Ukraine’s border than America’s own or the victims of a toxic rail disaster in East Palestine, Ohio. She also floated an unfounded conspiracy theory that Biden’s son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine is likely underpinning the president’s motivations there.“Does that play a role in Joe Biden’s commitment to Zelenskiy as if Zelinskiy and Ukraine is the 51st state of the United States of America?… Is that why we’re all going to be dragged into World War three? And I’m sorry, I’m not going on that train and most Americans – pretty much everyone I talk to – is not interested in that either.”In the final days of the Trump administration, after he had lost the 2020 election, then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo declared that “there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”Pompeo seems to have acknowledged reality in the years since, and stated the grim truth about the GOP’s recent election record in his speech at CPAC today. Here’s a clip:Potential GOP presidential candidate Mike Pompeo, who declared in November 2020 that there would be a “second Trump administration” even after the election was called for Biden, seems to acknowledge Trump’s loss at CPAC:“We lost three elections in a row.” pic.twitter.com/C2AixiOdXf— The Recount (@therecount) March 3, 2023
    He later appeared to throw some shade at his former boss:Potential GOP presidential candidate Mike Pompeo signals some new distance from Donald Trump:“We can’t become the left, following celebrity leaders with their own brand of identity politics; those with fragile egos who refuse to acknowledge reality.” pic.twitter.com/maZP39yVyE— The Recount (@therecount) March 3, 2023
    Still no word yet from Pompeo on whether he plans to run for the GOP nomination next year.At the Conservative Political Action Conference today, Republicans who are not Donald Trump are trying their best to convince the audience to give them a shot in 2024. Up first was his former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, who argued that the GOP’s struggle to win the popular vote in recent elections is a sign the party needs a change in leadership. And then she walked out of the speech venue to crowds of conservatives chanting “Trump! Trump! Trump!” That’s how it goes when you’re not on his side at a conference were Maga rules supreme. We’ll see if candidate Vivek Ramaswamy or Mike Pompeo, who hasn’t announced a run for president yet but is seen as a potential candidate, have better luck with the crowd.Here’s a recap of the day’s events:
    A call to defund the police was a surprise applause line at CPAC.
    Rightwing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wants to make providing gender-affirming care to minors a felony.
    Democrats remain behind Joe Biden, if the statements of House lawmakers are any indication.
    CPAC is a tough place for Republicans who are not on Donald Trump’s side.Following her speech, Nikki Haley stepped outside the venue to greet conservative attendees – who made their preference for next year’s GOP presidential nomination clear, as this video from Bloomberg News shows:Crowd chanting “Trump!” as Nikki Haley take photos with supporters after her CPAC speech. pic.twitter.com/iI7WSKSwT9— Christian Hall (@christianjhall) March 3, 2023
    The parade of speeches by former Trump officials continues with Mike Pompeo, who served as secretary of state from 2018 to 2021.He’s thought to be considering a run for the White House next year, but hasn’t yet said one way or the other. Let’s hear what he has to say.Nikki Haley has a tall order in overcoming the former president’s popularity among Republicans.The latest polls have shown her support well below that of Trump’s. Here’s one from Yahoo News/YouGov, which shows Trump in the lead with 45% support, against Haley’s 4%.Haley, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, is surely aware of where she would end up if the Republican primary were held today. As she closed out her speech, she appealed to the audience to consider an alternative to the former president.“We’ve lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. Our cause is right, but we have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans. That ends now. If you’re tired of losing, then put your trust in a new generation. And if you want to win – not just as a party, but as a country – then stand with me,” Haley said.Nikki Haley is now on stage at CPAC, and started her stump speech off by reiterating her call for politicians over the age of 75 to take a mental competency test.“When I launched my campaign, I said every politician over 75 years old should be required to take a mental competency test. Have you seen DC lately? We should start with Joe Biden – and we shouldn’t stop there,” she said. The last part seemed to stir a murmur of disapproval from the audience, considering that Donald Trump is 76, and would also be subject to one of these tests.Many seats noticeably empty.At CPAC at National Harbor in Maryland. Nikki Haley enters to standing ovation but also many empty seats. “The liberal media’s head are exploding about me running for president… Liberals are the most sexist by far.” pic.twitter.com/u7SZOZUCqu— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) March 3, 2023
    At their retreat in Baltimore this week, House Democrats voiced enthusiasm about Joe Biden‘s likely reelection campaign, with the president expected to formally announce his 2024 bid in the next several weeks.“I think he will win. I think he’s our strongest candidate,” congressman Pete Aguilar, the House Democratic caucus chair, said Thursday at an event with Punchbowl News. Aguilar added, “I think that he can and should run, and he’s going to have the support of the House Democratic caucus.”Even House progressives, who have previously clashed with Biden over policy concerns, appear to be rallying behind the president. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Thursday that she hopes Biden will announce his reelection campaign sooner rather than later.“Nobody is surprised that Biden was not my choice in the first election for the primary,” Jayapal said. “But the CPC and the President and his administration have formed an incredibly strong partnership.”The mayor of a Maryland city has resigned after authorities arrested him on charges of possessing and distributing images of child sexual abuse, according to multiple reports.Patrick Wojahn, 47, had been the mayor of College Park since 2015 and, before that, a member of the city council there for eight years when he was arrested Thursday. He had submitted his resignation later the previous night, as the local news outlet WBAL reported, but that did little to head off the scandal that his arrest ignited, drawing headlines nationally.Charging documents cited by the local news station WTOP accused Wojahn of using an anonymous account to upload child abuse imagery to the mobile messaging application Kik in January. Kik officials then alerted the federal missing and exploited children center, which prompted police to subpoena internet service providers’ records that linked the uploads to Wojahn.Local county investigators searched Wojahn’s home in February, and they seized cell phones, a tablet, a computer and a storage device before Thursday’s arrest.Wojahn faces 40 counts of possessing child abuse imagery and 16 of distributing it.College Park has a population of about 35,000 and is just northeast of Washington DC. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wojahn’s arrest shocked the city’s residents.Local resident Drake Allen said he feared the scandal showed that College Park was “headed in the wrong direction”.“I don’t know if this is going to wake anybody up. It should, but it probably won’t,” Allen said, before describing how he wishes Wojahn’s successor is “just a regular mayor who does his job.”On stage at CPAC now is Donald Trump Jr, who came bearing gifts.“There’s a little surprise for all of you,” he told the audience. “Check under your seats. If there happens to be a gold chocolate bar underneath there … that’s a VIP ticket to my father’s reception tomorrow at CPAC,” the former president’s son said.Wonder what Roald Dahl would think of that. More

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    Nikki Haley seeks support from Republicans ‘tired of losing’ at CPAC

    00:50 Nikki Haley seeks support from Republicans ‘tired of losing’ at CPACEx-UN ambassador and 2024 contender presents herself as face of ‘new generation’ in pitch to crowd still largely wed to TrumpRepublican presidential candidate Nikki Haley ventured onto Donald Trump stomping grounds on Friday, seeking support from rank-and-file Republicans who are “tired of losing”.In remarks at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) outside of Washington DC, Haley presented herself as the face of a “new generation” of Republican leaders, making her pitch to a crowd still largely wed to Trump, her 76-year-old former boss and rival for the party’s nomination..Trump’s war with DeSantis heats up with details of 2024 battle planRead more“We’ve lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections,” Haley said. “Our cause is right, but we have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans. That ends now.”Haley, 51, highlighted her conservative victories as governor of South Carolina and UN ambassador during the Trump administration, vowing as president to “renew an America that’s strong and proud – not weak and woke”.Playing to the audience of conservative activists, Haley spent much of her speech slamming the subjects that dominate outrage on the right: Joe Biden, socialism and the liberal media.“In case you didn’t notice, the liberal media’s heads are exploding about my run for president,” she said. “We all know why. The media can’t stand that I’m a conservative. Think about it. I’m a woman – a minority – and the daughter of immigrants. I am proof that liberals are wrong about everything they say about America.”One of her loudest applause lines was when Haley, after describing herself as the “first minority female governor in history”, declared, as she has in the past: “America is not a racist country!”Haley also lashed out at Don Lemon of CNN after he suggested she was past her “prime”. He later expressed regret for the comment. (Her campaign is selling beer koozies that say “Past my prime?” and “Hold my beer”.)After finishing her speech, Haley waded into the crowd in the main hall of the venue. As she posed for photos with supporters, some attendees heckled her, shouting: “We love Trump” and “Rino”, a derogatory label for conservatives viewed as insufficiently loyal. It stands for “Republican in name only”.Haley never mentioned Trump by name, and has been careful to avoid direct criticism of him since launching her bid for president. In a recent interview, she pledged to support him if he were to win the nomination.Haley was the first major Republican candidate to challenge Trump for the Republican nomination. But she was not the only potential aspirant to speak at the conservative gathering. Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech multimillionaire and author who announced his candidacy for president, was also scheduled to speak at the conference following another 2024 hopeful, Trump’s former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.Trump will headline the event with an hour-long speech on Saturday evening.But once a magnet for Republican rising stars, CPAC will not hear from several possible 2024 hopefuls this year. The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to announce a run for president in the coming months, is skipping the conservative conference and is instead slated to appear at a dueling event hosted by the conservative Club For Growth in Florida this weekend.Also absent are potential presidential aspirants were former vice-president Mike Pence, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and South Dakota’s governor, Kristi Noem.Public opinion surveys underscore Haley’s uphill climb to winning the Republican nomination. She trails far behind Trump and DeSantis, hovering at around 5%, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average.That enduring affection for Trump was on full display at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, underscoring the challenge his rivals face as they vie for the nomination.Attendees wearing “Trump 2024” hats and “Trump was right” T-shirts posed for pictures in an Oval Office replica. “Trump’s rump” was bedazzled on the backside of one woman’s jeans. And the former president is all but certain to win the unscientific presidential straw poll of CPAC attendees, as he did last year.“I made up my mind on November 3, 2020 and haven’t changed it since,” said Donna Shannen of Pennsylvania, who was attending her first CPAC along with Dawn Bancroft. Both derided Haley as a “traitor” for condemning Trump’s role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.They saw Haley’s attempts to soften those comments later as a sign of “weakness” and hypocrisy. But Shannen said she’d give Haley more credit if she directly challenged Trump, rather than trying to have it both ways with veiled criticism and overt praise.“If she can’t even attack her own opponents in her own party, how is she going to attack Kim Jong-Un or Xi Jinping,” she said.Haley did resonate with some attendees. Leaving the ballroom after her remarks, several young women said they were inspired by her message, her foreign policy experience – and the possibility of electing the first female president.“I think she is a way better candidate than Trump would be. I don’t think he can win,” said Ashleigh Dyson, a college student at St Mary’s College of Maryland,, who said it “crazy” that the US has never elected a woman to the White House.Chiming in, Carolyn Wilson, also a student at St Mary’s College of Maryland said she believed Haley could win over independent and swing voters who recoiled from Trump during his presidency. She added that being a woman will likely help Haley navigate a bare-knuckled primary race.“She’s used to that pushback,” Wilson said, noting that there was a man in the audience who booed Haley as she spoke. “She didn’t even bat an eye!”TopicsCPACNikki HaleyRepublicansUS politicsUS elections 2024Donald TrumpnewsReuse this content More

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    Nikki Haley calls out Republicans’ failure to win voters’ confidence – video

    The Republican candidate Nikki Haley appealed to the audience to consider an alternative to the former president Donald Trump at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday. The former South Carolina governor is challenging her one-time boss for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. The 2024 contender pointed out in her speech that the party has lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections

    CPAC: Nikki Haley calls out Republicans’ failure to win voters’ confidence – live
    Nikki Haley to seek Republican nomination for 2024 presidential election More

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    Trump’s war with DeSantis heats up with details of 2024 battle plan

    Trump’s war with DeSantis heats up with details of 2024 battle planAxios reports Trump’s intention to attack Florida governor for disloyalty as he prepares for likely face-off in presidential primaryThe incipient Republican civil war between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis heated up on Friday, with news of how the former US president reportedly plans to attack the rightwing Florida governor in the coming 2024 presidential primary.‘Hardcore Maga’ on display as Republican contenders make their pitches at CPAC – liveRead moreCiting “sources and friends familiar with Trump’s thinking”, the news website Axios reported that the former president plans to attack “Ron DeSanctimonious, as he delights in branding the governor”, in areas including perceived disloyalty, support for changes to Social Security and Medicare and his response to the Covid pandemic.Trump recently denied road-testing another derogatory nickname, Meatball Ron, which he conveniently repeated in his denial.Signs of heightened tension between the two Republican powerhouses also emerged in Florida earlier this week, when a group of Trump supporters including the far-right activist Laura Loomer, were told to leave an event promoting DeSantis’s new memoir, according to a police officer on the orders of the governor’s staff.Loomer called DeSantis a “tyrant”.On Friday, Axios quoted “a Trump confidant” as saying: “There’s a pre-Trump Ron and there’s a post-Trump Ron. He used to be a Reagan Republican. That’s where he comes from. He’s now awkwardly trying to square his views up with the populist nationalist feeling of that party.”DeSantis did not comment. Axios pointed out, however, that earlier this week the governor told Fox News Trump’s attacks were “background noise”.Trump and the former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley are the only major declared candidates for the Republican nomination, though DeSantis is among others widely expected to run.Trump and DeSantis dominate polling, though Trump has recently enjoyed a boost, with healthy leads over DeSantis in multiple surveys.Many Republicans oppose a third Trump candidacy after his chaotic presidency, two impeachments, incitement of the January 6 insurrection and poor record in successive midterm elections.But many fear a split field could hand him the nomination without needing majority support, as was the case in 2016. Surveys have shown Haley and DeSantis splitting anti-Trump support.Axios said the former president planned to focus on votes DeSantis cast as a congressman to raise the eligibility aid for Medicare – a hot-button issue in Washington as Joe Biden, the likely Democratic nominee in 2024, hammers Republicans on the issue.In a related attack line, Trump reportedly wants to link DeSantis to Paul Ryan, the former vice-presidential nominee, House speaker and advocate of privatised social benefits now on the board at Fox.Covid, Axios said, “is a top Trump target, even though the governor is known for resisting mask mandates. Trump plans to attack DeSantis’ caution in the earliest days of the pandemic – and try to fight the issue to a draw”.On a similarly muddy issue, Trump reportedly wants to portray DeSantis as “wishy-washy on the war” in Ukraine, while he himself “toes the Maga line of cutting aid” to Kyiv in its war with Russia.Trump has a better shot at the Republican nomination than people realize | Osita NwanevuRead moreFinally, Axios said Trump planned to attack DeSantis for perceived disloyalty, after Trump supported his first bid for governor in 2018, and likability.Speaking to Fox News this week, DeSantis said Trump “used to say how great of a governor I was. And then I win a big victory [in the 2022 midterms] and all of a sudden he had different opinions. And so you could take that for what it’s worth.”If a Trump-DeSantis face-off seems inevitable, it will not happen this week at CPAC, the conservative convention outside Washington at which Trump will speak on Saturday. DeSantis is not scheduled to appear.Rick Wilson, a Republican strategist turned leading anti-Trump activist, accused DeSantis of having “a glass jaw”.“He chickened out of facing Trump at CPAC because his carefully curated tough-guy shtick can’t take a hit,” Wilson said.TopicsRepublicansRon DeSantisDonald TrumpUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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    After the East Palestine disaster, Congress needs to pass the Derail Act | Chris Deluzio and Rohit Khanna

    After the East Palestine disaster, Congress needs to pass the Derail ActChris Deluzio and Ro KhannaOur legislation will help to address the wrongs of what happened in OhioOn February 3, a freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed in the town of East Palestine, Ohio, just across the state line with Pennsylvania. A fire erupted, an evacuation order was issued, and the dangerous chemical being transported, vinyl chloride, was spilled. It’s a devastating tragedy and one that could have been prevented.Here’s the real reason the EPA doesn’t want to test for toxins in East Palestine | Stephen LesterRead moreOne of us represents constituents in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and the people who live, work and play just miles from the site of the Norfolk Southern derailment. The other has spent six years visiting factory towns, rural communities and working on policies to bring manufacturing and technology jobs to communities decimated by globalization. Residents are scared about their health and livelihoods. They are unsure whether the air, water and soil will be safe after this disaster. They want answers, accountability and assurance that something like this will never happen again.These are the working-class folks who feel invisible and abandoned by our nation. American communities have been hurt by decades of deindustrialization, watching as disastrous trade and economic policies sent their jobs overseas. Now, they are being displaced from their homes because of corporate greed and weak regulations that failed to keep them safe from toxic chemicals.From western Pennsylvania to Silicon Valley, political leaders from across the country have a moral duty to speak out loudly for better safety regulations and to acknowledge what the people around East Palestine and so many Americans are going through.That’s why we have come together to introduce the Derail Act, the first piece of legislation in Congress to hold the railroads accountable and protect Americans. The bill will ensure that trains carrying hazardous materials are properly classified and rail carriers are required to take proper safety precautions when carrying these materials across the country. That means investing in newer rail cars, better braking equipment, setting stricter speed limits, and more.Our legislation will also improve information sharing by requiring rail carriers to report to the National Response Center, state officials and local officials within 24 hours after a train carrying toxic chemicals derails. This is something concrete that we can do to address the wrongs of what happened.This bill is an important step forward, but there is much more that needs to be done. Under the Trump administration, the Department of Transportation repealed a train safety rule that would have required trains carrying highly hazardous material to have electronic brakes installed to help stop quickly. That rule should be immediately reinstated. The Biden administration should also work closely with DoT to establish new, commonsense rules like preventing older train cars from carrying dangerous materials and mandating two-person minimum crews to help respond in the case of an emergency.To directly help the people of East Palestine and Darlington Township, we should require Norfolk Southern, the railroad responsible for the accident, to pay for all clean up and relocation costs. The EPA has already ordered the company to offer cleaning services to those impacted and has the power to charge it $70,000 per day for failure to comply. If a company can afford to pay their CEO $4m a year and provide billions in stock buybacks to shareholders, it can afford to clean up the wreckage it has caused.What this situation comes down to is the difference between those who think that government should let companies chase profits at any cost and those, like us, who instead believe that government must protect our workers and our communities. Over the past few years, Norfolk Southern reported a rise in accidents also corresponding to a rise in profits. And just months before the derailment, the company was lobbying DoT against safety standards. These companies are not going to hold themselves responsible, and it’s putting their workers and the public at risk. It is up to us to push back against the lobbying blitz and stand with workers and regular Americans.For the past 40 years, our nation has given corporations free rein and been complicit in the hollowing out of our middle class. Our governing class watched it happen. No more. This is the moment to create a society that works for everyone. We need a patriotic economy where working conditions are safe, human needs are prioritized, and everyone is treated with dignity and respect.
    Congressman Chris Deluzio is a US representative from Pennsylvania’s 17th district
    Congressman Rohit Khanna is US representative from California’s 17th congressional district
    TopicsOhio train derailmentOpinionUS politicsUS CongressOhioHouse of RepresentativesDemocratsRepublicanscommentReuse this content More

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    Trump has a better shot at the Republican nomination than people realize | Osita Nwanevu

    Trump has a better shot at the Republican nomination than people realizeOsita NwanevuIn some ways, Trump may be even more difficult for his Republican rivals to beat next year than he was seven years agoIt’s worth remembering that most Republican voters didn’t back Donald Trump in the race for the party’s nomination in 2016. Trump came away with something like 45% of the vote in the Republican primaries; though the field had by then shrunk to just three candidates – Trump, John Kasich, and Ted Cruz – polls showed Trump struggling to hit 50% support among Republicans as late as early April of that year.Most explanations for his victory justifiably center around his political style and the rise of the rightwing populism we’ve come to call Trumpism ⁠– though it significantly predated Trump ⁠– among a growing share of Republicans. But as a practical matter, Trump won the Republican nomination in 2016 for a very simple reason: he built and kept a large minority of incredibly loyal supporters within the party, while the majority of Republican voters, who would have preferred another candidate, split their votes among too many alternatives. Had they united behind one candidate early enough in the race, Trump may well have lost. Instead, they divided themselves into defeat.Feminism taught me all I need to know about men like Trump and Putin | Rebecca SolnitRead moreOnce Trump was nominee, the vast majority of Republicans ⁠– voters, politicians, and major donors alike ⁠– dutifully set aside whatever reservations they had and backed him, even as his campaign was hit by increasingly grotesque scandals. And today, Trump, battered as he might seem, is both a former president and a demigod even to many Republicans who were wary of him in his first run. Barring dramatic, unexpected events ⁠– which, in fairness, are always a possibility with Trump ⁠– he’ll go into next year’s primary contests as an even more broadly popular and respected figure than he was in 2016, when his favorability among Republicans seldom cracked 60%.Unlike that race’s ramshackle operation, Trump will also have a large working infrastructure of competent operatives – and state and local Republican officials across the country who back him this time around. All told, Trump should, by all rights, be even more difficult for his Republican rivals to beat next year than he was seven years ago. And that makes it all the more remarkable that the Republican elites and donors who’ve soured on him ⁠– believing, correctly, that Trump is a weak and weakening general-election candidate ⁠– seem poised to make the very same mistake that delivered him the nomination last time.The non-Trump field has already split. Although Nikki Haley’s campaign announcement two weeks ago was seemingly forgotten by the political press almost as soon as it was made, she’ll do everything she can as the year wears on to eat into the support of likely candidate Ron DeSantis, who drew some rather inauspicious praise from former anti-Trump frontrunner and fellow Floridian Jeb Bush last week, and whoever else wants to grab a spot in the clown car next to her and also-rans-to-be Vivek Ramaswamy and Corey Stapleton.That’s likely to include South Carolina senator Tim Scott, who made a major address in Iowa last week, and perhaps former vice-president Mike Pence, who’s been publicly mulling a bid despite his popularity within the party taking a predictable and significant hit after his refusal to assist Trump’s coup plot on January 6.Though it might consolidate earlier than it did in 2016, Trump really ought to feel good about how crowded the field is already beginning to feel. It suggests two possibilities: either the Republican powers-that-be are inept enough to believe the field can bear another sizable slate of non-Trump candidates; or they’re ambivalent enough about Trump winning the nomination again that they don’t think lining up behind a single alternative to stop him is worth their while. Those alternatives, after all, are actively working to close the substantive gap between Trump and themselves anyhow.Take Ron DeSantis, a man lauded by conservative elites as the anti-Trump throughout the 2022 campaign season even as he stumped for Trump’s favored and fraud-alleging candidates. His crusade against critical race theory, which takes after Trump’s broadsides against political correctness and propagandistic stunts like the 1776 Project, has predictably expanded into a proposed ideological overhaul of higher education in Florida; lax Covid policies and a crackdown on undocumented immigrants ⁠have been central to establishing what a recent DeSantis ad called a “citadel of freedom” in the Sunshine State.And, on LGBT matters, DeSantis has arguably pulled Trump and the party back to the right. While Trump publicly professed support for the LGBT community during his administration ⁠– even as he dismantled federal protections for transgender people ⁠– DeSantis has helped force their open demonization and harassment back to the top of the social conservative agenda.Meanwhile, Tim Scott, supposedly one of the right’s most sensitive and sensible voices, accused Democrats last week of concocting a “blueprint to ruin America”, echoing DeSantis’ rhetoric against teachers “indoctrinating your kids with radical nonsense” as well as Trump’s tough-on-crime posturing against Democrats who “demand empathy for murderers and carjackers”, even as the state sends “SWAT teams after pro-life Christians.” ⁠(This a reference to the FBI’s non-SWAT arrest of a pro-life activist who allegedly assaulted an abortion clinic volunteer at a protest.)That mix of mendacity and vitriol is indistinguishable from Trump’s political approach ⁠– and, for that matter, from the animus behind Marjorie Taylor Greene’s case for “national divorce”. The need to compete with Trump for Trump’s voters has erased any meaningful differences between the supposedly staid establishment wing of the Republican party and Trump’s camp; those who hope to replace Trump on the ballot in the general election next year are doing all they can, whether they know it or not, to make themselves appear almost as radical and unappealing to the bulk of the general electorate – which, granted, may lose out again in the electoral college – as Trump himself does.The fact that the candidates thus far seem unwilling to run against Trump’s actual record in office doesn’t help matters. According to Scott, the Trump administration produced “the most pro-worker, pro-family economy” of his lifetime ⁠– a sentiment that makes it hard to understand what the substantive argument against another Trump term is supposed to be. The obvious knock on him is that he was defeated in 2020 ⁠– but the conservative base isn’t going to want to hear that their preferences hurt the party, and many Republicans still don’t believe Trump really lost the election in the first place. That leaves Trump’s opponents wobbling on a tricky tightrope: trying to temper their criticisms of him and glom onto his appeal without encouraging Republican voters to consider backing the original, genuine article.Trump, for his part, is sticking to the considerably simpler task of being Donald Trump. He managed to beat both President Biden and Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, to the scene of the East Palestine rail disaster, and used the free media attention he remains good at attracting to deliver a familiar message.“This is really America right here,” he told the town’s conservative white working-class residents in a brief statement. “Unfortunately, as you know, in too many cases, your goodness and perseverance were met with indifference and betrayal.”Though the political landscape has changed, that kind of rhetoric and showmanship, as empty, yet evocative, as ever, could well deliver him the nomination again ⁠– more easily than his rivals seem to appreciate.
    Osita Nwanevu is a Guardian US columnist
    TopicsUS politicsOpinionDonald TrumpRepublicanscommentReuse this content More