Trump Rocks CPAC, Going Forward
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| Gary Bauer |
Yes.
Trump Rocks CPAC The former president's CPAC address yesterday was vintage Donald Trump. The thousands of conservative activists gathered in Orlando loved every word. Millions watched at home on Fox News.
Predictably, MSNBC and CNN did not televise the president's speech, as part of their ongoing efforts to prevent conservatives from talking to anyone other than ourselves. If you missed Trump's speech, you can watch it here.
It is not traditional for a former president to speak up so soon after leaving office. But while Obama may not have been vocal, he was working feverishly behind the scenes in the early weeks of Trump's presidency to bring him down.
Meanwhile, a lot of damage has been done in five weeks, and Trump laid it all out.
A nation that had secured its border is now reopening the border. A nation that had secured energy independence is now rewarding its enemies, Russia and OPEC.
A nation that was fighting the cultural left is now led by a president who amplifies the left's message. Often when Biden talks about America, he says we have never lived up to our founding values.
But to the delight of the CPAC crowd, Donald Trump gave a full-throated defense of America and our founding heroes.
Trump continued to assert, as he should in my view, that he was robbed on Election Day, and that means we were robbed on Election Day. He suggested that he might run in 2024, adding, "I may even decide to beat them a third time," which is another way of saying he won in November.
He zeroed in on the importance of conservatives fighting at the state level to clean up election laws, such as returning to an Election Day, instead of an election month. We need voter ID laws, along with citizenship and signature verification.
By the way, all the bad things that Biden has already done and will continue to do rest squarely on the back of the Never Trump crowd, which is led by a number of neo-cons and financed by Hollywood and the left. They own the disaster that is the Biden/Harris/Sanders agenda. Thanks for nothing!
To School Or Not To School
Donald Trump once again did what Joe Biden refuses to do. He demanded that schools all across America follow the science and open up now. But Trump noted that Biden won't do that because he is controlled by the teachers' unions, and it's harming our children. Trump added that the Biden Administration "is actually bragging about the classroom education they are providing to migrant children on the border," while it refuses to open the schools so your children can get an education. He also said that illegal aliens are walking across the border more easily than Americans can walk into restaurants. (Two lines the president may have read in this daily report in recent weeks.)
Iran
When Donald Trump and Mike Pence left the White House, we had Iran on the ropes. We, along with Israel, the Saudis and other nations that signed on to the Abraham Accords, were isolating Iran in the Middle East.
But in five weeks, Joe Biden and his appeasement crew have done their best to undermine all of that. Now Iran is making demands. It attacked an Israeli ship. One of their proxies killed a U.S. military contractor recently, forcing Biden to respond with an airstrike in Syria.
Trump said that if the election had not been stolen, Iran would have returned to the negotiating table because the regime could not survive another four years of crippling sanctions.
Warmonger Liz
A lot of people were hoping that the former president would not go after Liz Cheney because the party needs to be unified. (Well, someone needs to tell Liz Cheney that!)
Trump did go after Cheney because of her constant attacks against him, which is what separates Trump from so many milquetoast Republicans. He fights back!
And in going after Cheney, Trump did something very important. In my view, Cheney and other prominent neo-cons never liked Trump, and did their best to help the Democrats defeat him, because he has no inclination to get America into protracted foreign wars we can't win because we don't fight to win. That's why we're still in Afghanistan 20 years after 9/11.
So, Trump referred to Cheney as "the warmonger Liz Cheney." The Republican Party, under Bush and McCain, was well on its way to becoming known as "the War Party" when Donald Trump and Mike Pence took office.
In this regard, Donald Trump is much closer to President Ronald Reagan than any Republican leader has been since the Reagan years. Both Reagan and Trump rebuilt our military. They took a tough stance against our adversaries.
But Ronald Reagan was very reluctant to put boots on the ground in quagmires, just as Trump is reluctant to do so now. On the horrible day our Marines were attacked in Lebanon, Reagan didn't send 15,000 more Marines into the country. He got our Marines out of Lebanon.
Going forward, the Republican Party needs to be tough on national defense, and tough on countries like communist China and Iran. But it must also resist the temptation to fight ground wars in places where it is virtually impossible to determine who our friends are, who our enemies are, who is a civilian and who is a jihadist.
Speaking of Going Forward. . .
President Trump also made it clear how important 2022 will be. He vowed to help conservatives prevail in the primaries against weak Republicans, and in the general election against left-wing Democrats. And Trump again insisted that he is not starting a new party, calling such rumors "fake news."
By the way, the only people talking about third parties are the same Never Trumpers who guaranteed our loss last time. They seem determined to help guarantee Democrat victories in 2022 and 2024.
Trump On Top CPAC held a straw poll and asked attendees a series of questions about the GOP and the 2024 contest. Their responses made it clear that Donald Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. For example:
- 97% approved of Trump's job performance as president.
- 95% said the Republican Party should continue to embrace Trump's agenda.
- 68% said Trump should run for president again.
- If the 2024 primary were held today, 55% indicated they would vote for President Trump, while 21% chose Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
- Without Trump in the race, DeSantis finished first with 43%, followed by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem at 11%.
My staff and I have been licking our wounds, just as I know you have. But there are only two choices: Surrender or fight back.
We have a lot of strengths, but our greatest weakness is finances. The left has been able to tap tremendous resources, which is the lifeblood of American politics and public policy.
I know we don't have to match the left dollar-for-dollar, but we do have to make sure that our message is heard.
Please let me know that you are still in this battle for faith, family and freedom. Stand with me now!
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Gary Bauer (@GaryLBauer) is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families
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