Daily Verse | Deuteronomy 16:16-17
No man should appear before the Lord empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.
It’s Monday and already March. The days are long and the years are short.
President Trump addressed CPAC yesterday. He had been very quiet since retiring from the White House and there had been a lot of speculation about what he would do.
Several Republicans have turned their back on him, including Nikki Haley, Liz Cheney and Mitch McConnell:
“I don’t believe that he should be playing a role in the future of the party or the country.” — Liz Cheney
“He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again.” — Nikki Haley
“There’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of [January 6]. No question about it.” — Mitch McConnell
Trump’s speech clarified what his strategy will be over the next couple of years.
First, it put to rest the question of whether or not Trump would form a third party. He said, “I am not starting a new party.” He scoffed at the idea, calling it “fake news” and sarcastically asking, “Wouldn’t that be brilliant? Let’s start a new party and let’s divide our vote so that you can never win.”
Next, he put Republicans on notice that he’s gunning for those who sided with the Democrats and voted to impeach him, naming each one. Calling them “grandstanders,” he called out “Mitt Romney, little Ben Sasse, Richard Burr, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Pat Toomey. And in the House, Tom Rice, South Carolina, Adam Kinzinger, Dan Newhouse, Anthony Gonzalez—that’s another beauty—Fred Upton, Jaime Herrera Beutler, Peter Meijer, John Katko, David Valadao, and of course the warmonger, a person that loves seeing our troops fighting, Liz Cheney. How about that?” He finished his list with, “get rid of ’em all” in 2022.
Although he hinted a possibly running again in 2024 (“Who knows? I may even decide to beat them for a third time,” he said), late in his speech he said, “That’s why I’m announcing that I will be actively working to elect strong, tough and smart Republican leaders” in the mid-terms, to a great roar of approval from the crowd.
The roar of approval reflected a straw poll conducted at the conference. MSN.com reported that, “The conference’s straw poll showed that the former president maintains majority support within the party, with 55 percent of participants saying they would back Trump in a 2024 presidential run.”
Underscoring the strong hold Trump has on the party, only “21 percent said they’d vote for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and 4 percent said they’d go with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R).” If Trump were not running in 2024, DeSantis’s numbers rose to 43 percent.
What to take away from Trump’s speech?
- Trump is firmly in control of the GOP base. With 55 percent support, he will continue to wield tremendous influence on its agenda and elections for the immediate future. Republican politicians will need to seek his endorsement if they want to win.
- Trump’s goal is to unify the GOP around his “Trumpian” agenda. He wants to clear out the dead wood (looking at you, Mitt Romney) and will find and support strong candidates who will be standard bearers of his “America First” agenda.
- Trump is building out a political operation that will raise funds to back his preferred candidates. While he’s already established a leadership PAC, Save America, he recently met with a team to form a yet-to-be-named super PAC.
Trump isn’t going anywhere and will be a force to be reckoned with for several years. It’s too early to tell whether another run for president is in the cards for him, but if he’s a successful kingmaker in 2022, he may want to return to the White House with his allies in place.