Trump vows to ‘finish’ mission, cements dominance over CPAC

Donald Trump vowed the Republican Party would never return to what it was before he transformed it in his image and to “finish what we started” in another term — even if he’s indicted and despite polls showing many GOP voters want an alternative.

Trump said in the keynote speech to close the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in suburban Washington the GOP will never go back to a party of “globalists” and “RINOs” or Republicans in Name Only ruled by “freaks, neocons, globalists, open border zealots and fools”.

The former president is facing multiple investigations, including for his handling of classified documents and his role in the January 6 insurrection, but he told reporters before the speech “absolutely I wouldn’t even think about leaving” the race if he’s indicted.

“We are going to finish what we started,” Trump said to an enthusiastic crowd in a ballroom that was about two-thirds full. “We’re going complete the mission, we’re going to see this battle through to ultimate victory. We’re going to make America great again.”

Trump made his biggest public appearance since announcing his third White House bid in November, serving as the main attraction at CPAC after many of his potential 2024 rivals including Florida governor Ron DeSantis and former vice-president Mike Pence skipped it.

The only other declared or potential candidates who spoke at the four-day event were former ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, anti-ESG crusader Vivek Ramaswamy, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Michigan businessman Perry Johnson.

Trump has dominated recent CPAC events and its presidential preference straw polls, with many attendees wearing his red “Make America Great Again” hats and vendors hawking a variety of Trump-themed T-shirts, flags and other gear.

Political observers and Trump’s potential rivals were watching to see whether his reception at a diminished CPAC had slipped at all with polls showing a majority of Republican voters looking for an alternative nominee like DeSantis who supports Trump’s policies without his political baggage and is better positioned to defeat President Joe Biden.

But Trump once again dominated the CPAC straw poll. He was the choice of 62% of the 2,028 CPAC attendees who participated, compared with 20% for DeSantis, 5% for Johnson, 3% for Haley and everyone else at 1% or less. That was higher than the 59% support Trump drew in a CPAC straw poll held in Orlando, Florida last February.

The former president didn’t draw direct contrasts with DeSantis and other rivals in his speech, instead emphasising the achievements of his first term and promising to fight for his aggrieved supporters if voters put him back in the White House.

“In 2016, I declared: I am your voice,” Trump said. “Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution.”

DeSantis, Pence and others considering a White House bid who skipped CPAC attended a Club For Growth donor retreat in Florida where Trump wasn’t invited. The conservative group has signalled it’s moving on from Trump. 

In his speech at CPAC on Friday, Donald Trump Jr, the president’s son, referenced that retreat when he announced that some CPAC attendees could attend a reception with his father before his speech while his rivals were soliciting “billionaire Chinese sympathists”.

“That’s our message, that we need a president that is not owned by other people, right?” he said.

In his CPAC speech, Trump recited the “witch hunt” investigations he faces and his familiar grievances and false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. He said the first reconciliation bill he’ll sign if elected will be “a massive increase” in the border patrol and number of immigration agents.

Trump also touched on many of the policy proposals he’s outlined in campaign videos in recent weeks, including plans to “protect children from left-wing insanity,” to “stop the America last warmongers and globalists” and “a new trade plan to protect American workers” that calls for ending imports of essential goods from China over four years and stopping US companies from investing there.

He also highlighted a plan released on Friday touting “a quantum leap in the American standard of living” that calls for using federal land to build up to 10 new “freedom cities” and to ensure the US leads in the development of flying vehicles.

Haley got a warm welcome from the CPAC crowd but mostly polite applause throughout her speech and was heckled by chants of “we love Trump” after exiting. She made no direct contrasts with Trump, focusing instead on Biden, “socialist Democrats” and the threat from China.

Pompeo also avoided mentioning Trump besides criticising the $8-trillion (R145.14-trillion) added to US debt during the Trump administration. He took some veiled jabs at the former president, including saying, “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.”

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