Donald Trump made an appearance at the Texas CPAC conference on Saturday and laid out an ambitious agenda for Republicans to enact if they win control of Congress in November, as well as dropping the usual hints about whether he will run for president in 2024.
The CPAC straw poll was no contest. Trump actually increased his margin of victory from the straw poll taken in Orlando’s CPAC conference in February from 59% to 69%. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis finished a distant second at 24% after finishing with 28% in Orlando.
Trump is fresh off a victorious primary season that saw most of the candidates he backed winning their primaries. Whether that will translate into success at the ballot box is unknown.
Trump said in his speech that the November midterm elections would be a “national referendum” on Joe Biden and the Democratic control of Congress, and Republicans must deal the opposition a “crippling defeat.”
He said GOP candidates should campaign on holding the Biden administration accountable and working to “shut down” the southern border, reduce crime and beat inflation. He said restoring “public safety” is the first job for the next Congress, and he knows the Republicans who are running are “not going to play games.”
Trump reiterated his call for instituting a death penalty for drug dealers. He said China does not have any drug issues because it executes drug dealers following swift trials.
He said the process “sounds horrible” but would be effective in bringing down drug dealing.
Trump wants a lot more agents to police the border and says the government should crack down on repeat illegal alien offenders.
Republicans have sharply criticized the Biden administration for increases in the number of undocumented immigrants since he took office. Biden lifted several Trump-era policies after becoming president, most recently Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that allowed the federal government to quickly expel undocumented immigrants and prevent them from seeking asylum.
Trump said the country needs a “record” increase in the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to deport undocumented immigrants, and the government should implement tougher penalties for repeat offenders.
But the issues that get the Republican right’s blood racing and heart pumping are cultural issues.
Trump said teaching any inappropriate “racial, sexual and political material” to schoolchildren “in any form whatsoever” should be banned, and if federal officials push this “radicalism,” the Department of Education should be abolished.
He backed several other cultural issues that have become key parts of many Republicans’ platforms, like banning transgender individuals from playing a sport with the gender they identify with and ending a “censorship regime” to protect free speech.
The Department of Justice is trying to make a case against Trump, charging him with crimes related to the January 6 riot at the Capitol. It’s an effort being driven by the hard left, who continues to howl for Trump’s blood. The question at this point isn’t whether Trump will be charged. The odds are very good that he will be. The question is, what crimes will the DOJ say he committed? The Justice Department ordinarily wouldn’t bring charges unless they are reasonably sure they could get a conviction.
But there’s no hard evidence — nothing that would stand up in a real court of law — that Trump is guilty of much of anything regarding his actions immediately before, during, and after that day.
Even if they found any evidence, it’s doubtful his supporters would believe it and certain that they would still back him for the nomination.
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