Like Pence’s speech yesterday, Trump’s CPAC appearance covered a lot of territory. From the school shooting in Florida to MS-13, to DACA and ObamaCare, his freeform address was part victory lap, part promise, and part …just a guywho seems to be enjoying himself.
Considering the Trump/NeverTrump divide at the conference, I’d say it was fairly strong and certainly well received.
If there was any actual news here, it’s that North Korea is about to be facing a new round of sanctions – “the heaviest ever imposed.”
Some of the speech highlights are covered below:
It’s fake, phony, fake. A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people. And they are.
They are the enemy of the people.
Because they have no sources, they just make ’em up when there are none. I saw one story recently where they said, “Nine people have confirmed.” There’re no nine people. I don’t believe there was one or two people. Nine people. And I said, “Give me a break.” Because I know the people, I know
who they talk to. There were no nine people. But they say “nine people.” And somebody reads it and they
think, “Oh, nine people. They have nine sources.” They make up sources. They’re very dishonest people. In fact, in covering my comments, The dishonest media did not explain that I called the fake news the enemy of the people. The fake news. They dropped off the word “fake.” And all of a sudden the story became the media is the enemy.
And remember this — and in not — in all cases. I mean, I had a story written yesterday about me in Reuters by a very honorable man. It was a very fair story. There are some great reporters around. They’re talented, they’re honest as the day is long. They’re great. But there are some terrible dishonest people and they do a tremendous disservice to our country and to our people. A tremendous disservice. They are very dishonest people. And they shouldn’t use sources. They should put the name of the person. You will see stories dry up like you’ve never seen before. So you have no idea how bad it is, because if you are not part of the story — and I put myself in your position sometimes. Because many of you, you’re not part of the story. And if you’re not part of the story, you know, then you, sort of, know — if you are part of the story, you know what they’re saying is true or not.
I’m here fighting for you and I will continue to fight for you. The victory and the win were something that really was dedicated to a country and people that believe in freedom, security and the rule of law. Our victory… was a victory and the win for conservative values. And our victory was a win for everyone who believes it’s time to stand up for America, to stand up for the American worker and to stand up for the American flag.
Yeah, there we should stand up. Come on. There we should stand up. OK. And by the way, we love our flag. By the way, you folks are in here — this place is packed, there are lines that go back six blocks and I tell you that because you won’t read about it, OK. But there are lines that go back six blocks, there is such love in this country for everything we stand for, you saw that on Election Day.
And you’re going to see it more and more. So we’re all part of this very historic movement, a movement the likes of which, actually, the world has never seen before. There’s never been anything like this. There’s been some movements, but there’s never been anything like this.
But I’m here today to tell you what this movement means for the future of the Republican party and for the future of America. First we need to define what this great, great unprecedented movement is and what it actually represents. The core conviction of our movement is that we are a nation that put and will put its own citizens first.
It will be one of the greatest military build-ups in American history. No one will dare question as they have been because we’re very depleted, very, very depleted. Sequester. Sequester. Nobody will dare question our military might again. We believe in peace through strength and that’s what we will have. As part of my pledge to restore safety for the American people, I have also directed the defense community to develop a plan to totally obliterate ISIS.
Working with our allies, we will eradicate this evil from the face of the Earth. At the same time, we fully understand that national security begins with border security; foreign terrorists will not be able to strike
America if they cannot get into our country. By the way, take a look at what’s happening in Europe, folks, take a look at what’s happening in Europe. I took a lot of heat on Sweden. And then a day later, I said has anybody reported what’s going on? And it turned out that they didn’t — not too many of them did. Take a look at what happened in Sweden. I love Sweden, great country, great people, I love Sweden. But they understand. The people over there understand I’m right. Take a look at what’s happening in Sweden. Take a look at what’s happening in Germany.
Take a look at what’s happened in France. Take a look at Nice and Paris.
The forgotten men and women of America will be forgotten no longer. That is the heart of this new movement and the future of the Republican Party. People came to vote, and these people, the media, they said where are they coming from? What’s going on here? These are hard-working, great, great Americans.
These are unbelievable people who have not been treated fairly. Hillary called them deplorable. They’re not deplorable.
And I want to thank, by the way, the Evangelical community, the Christian community.
Communities of faith, rabbis and priests and pastors, ministers, because the support for me was a record, as you know, not only in terms of numbers of people, but percentage of those numbers that voted for Trump. So I want to thank you folks, that was amazing — an amazing outpour…
… and I will not disappoint you. As long as we have faith in each other and trust in God, then there is no goal at all beyond our reach. There is no dream too large, no task too great, we are Americans and the future belongs to us.
The future belongs to all of you. And America is coming about, and it’s coming back, and it’s roaring and you can hear it. It’s going to be bigger and better. It is going to be — it is going to be — remember and it’s roaring. It’s going to be bigger and better and stronger than ever before.
The future belongs to all of you. And America is coming about, and it’s coming back, and it’s roaring and you can hear it. It’s going to be bigger and better. It is going to be — it is going to be — remember and it’s roaring. It’s going to be bigger and better and stronger than ever before.