Former President Donald Trump took to the podium at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington DC on Saturday with a figurative broom in his hands, taking sweeping shots at establishment Democrats, as well as Republicans.."We had a Republican Party that was ruled by freaks, neocons, globalists, open border zealots, and fools," said Trump. .Trump talked about “the battle for our lives" telling the crowd Democrats and Republicans have been engaged "in an epic struggle to rescue our country from the people who hated it and want to absolutely destroy it.".He said the Republican Party "is never going back to the party of Paul Ryan, Karl Rove, and Jeb Bush."."We're not going back to people that want to destroy our great Social Security system, even some in our own party, I wonder who that might be that wants to raise the minimum age of Social Security to 70, 75, or even 80 in some cases, and are out to cut Medicare to a level that it will no longer be recognizable.".He said the US was in “a Marxism state of mind, a Communism state of mind."."The sinister forces trying to stop me, silence you, and turn this nation into a Socialist dumping ground for criminals, junkies, Marxist thugs, radicals, and dangerous refugees that no other country wants," he said. "I said it once at the State of the Union address, and people didn't understand what I was saying." ."But I'd shout it out loud and I was right because that train has passed the station long ago of socialism. It never even came close to stopping." .Trump added that with his returning to office, "we are going to finish what we started. We're going to complete the mission. We're going to see this battle through to ultimate victory. We're going to make America great again."."We will demolish the deep state," he promised. "We will expel the warmongers. They are people that don't get it, Although, in some cases they get it. They get it for their wallets. But we can't do that. We can't let that happen. We will drive out the globalists. We will cast out the Communists. We will throw off the political class that hates our country.".And, he promised, "we will beat the Democrats. We will rout the fake news media. We will expose and appropriately deal with the [Republicans in name only] RINOs," he said. We will evict Joe Biden from the White House. And we will liberate America from these villains and scoundrels once and for all.".Republicans, he added, will not be going back to a party that wants to give "unlimited money to fight foreign wars" but demands to cut veterans' and retirement benefits. ."Our soldiers will no longer live in the streets of our city," he promised. "Legal immigrants come in, and we house them in the Waldorf Astoria and many of the greatest hotels anywhere in the world. But our soldiers, we do nothing for them. They sleep out at night, and they freeze in the cold and they die in the heat.".Further, the administration and lawmakers are taking care of the problems of the rest of the world rather than at home, such as in East Palestine, Ohio, after the train derailment, said Trump..Trump promised, though, that "we are never going to be a country ruled by entrenched political dynasties in both parties," including "rotten special interests, China-loving politicians, of which there are many. You're listening to this. Mitch McConnell, you're listening?".He also slammed what he called the "militant left-wing news media" who is "frightened of telling the truth or is truly evil in bed. I don't know. I think, I think in many ways they're frightened. But you never really know which we are not going back to this mindset, not now, not ever..Attendees at the CPAC picked their choice for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination Saturday, while weighing in on other issues..Former President Donald Trump received 62% support for the Republican nomination among those who voted in the straw poll CPAC Chairman Matt Schlepp and pollster John McLaughlin announced, with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida coming in a distant second with 20%. Perry Johnson, former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and former biotech executive Vivek Ramaswamy rounded out the top five..CPAC respondents were more divided about who should be Trump’s running mate in 2024, with 20% favoring former Republican Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake of Arizona, with DeSantis receiving 14% of the vote and Haley getting 10%. Ramaswamy and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tied for fourth with 6% each..Less than 40% of respondents expected President Joe Biden to be the Democratic nominee, with 21% believing Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California would be the Dem pick, while former First Lady Michelle Obama was third. Only 6% believed Vice President Kamala Harris would be the Democratic nominee in 2024.
