Trump at CPAC: ‘I Alone Will Never Retreat’

Plus: Marianne Williamson launches a second presidential campaign, and Ohio’s GOP secretary of state mulls a U.S. Senate bid.

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to address the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Saturday in National Harbor, Maryland. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Happy Monday! When not playing golf, former President Donald Trump reportedly spends much of his time brainstorming nicknames for his biggest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Bloomberg’s Nancy Cook has the scoop: “Trump, allies say, seems set on ‘Ron DeSanctimonious,’ even though others around him don’t think it’s a bullseye. Some of the new ideas the former president has entertained: ‘Ron DisHonest.’ ‘Ron DeEstablishment.’ Or even, ‘Tiny D.’”

Up to Speed

  • Speaking of DeSantis, the Florida governor walked back his prior support for privatizing Social Security and Medicare, telling Fox News on Thursday: “We’re not going to mess with Social Security as Republicans. I think that that’s pretty clear.” While in Congress, DeSantis voted in multiple nonbinding budget resolutions to raise the minimum age for retirement benefits to 70.
  • After teasing a prospective presidential bid, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Sunday he will not seek the Republican nomination in 2024. He said it’s time for the party to “move on from Donald Trump” but warned too many GOP candidates could split the primary vote in the 45th president’s favor. “There are several competent Republican leaders who have the potential to step up and lead,” Hogan said. “But the stakes are too high for me to risk being part of another multicar pileup that could potentially help Mr. Trump recapture the nomination.”

Trump/DeSantis Weekend Speeches

OXON HILL, Maryland—Many likely GOP presidential contenders are testing messages these days positioning themselves as heirs, not antidotes, to former President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement. But at the Conservative Political Action Conference Saturday, Trump took direct aim at those nascent campaign messages: Accept no substitutes.

“Our enemies are lunatics and maniacs,” Trump said during his marathon speech. “They cannot steer me. They cannot shake me. And they will never ever control me. And they will never ever therefore control you. At the end of the day, anyone else will be intimidated, bought off, blackmailed, or ripped to shreds. I alone will never retreat.”

For nearly two hours, Trump cast himself as the sole hope for a nation on one side beset by Democrats—who, since President Joe Biden took office, have driven America into “a Marxism state of mind, a communism state of mind”—and on the other side “a Republican Party that was ruled by freaks, neocons, globalists, open-border zealots, and fools.”

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  1. Avatar photo
    Mister D

    Had a dog that would never retreat. Tended to get a lot of porcupine quills in his face.

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  2. CatoTheElder

    One thing about Trump that has always gotten under my skin—and, I suspect, under that of many others, too—is the supercilious smirk nearly always playing about on his face like a ferret squirreling around on an overstuffed chair. I’d almost be willing to give a C-note to the person who slaps him so silly he can’t smirk at all any more. This whole thing makes me dislike the word supercilious, even. Probably because I suspect that Trump would think it a compliment: “See, even my enemies think I’m a superhero. They’re always calling me super-this and super-that. I’m like the owner and the super of the building, only the building is really the USA, this great, great nation, that I’m so pleased to be the leader of, and ya know, I think they’re right. I am super. I’m your super-hero, folks! And I’m not retreating, I’m not going back on my word, I’m your super-hero of justice, and that frightens everyone who stands against us.”

    Oy.

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  3. Avatar photo
    Barry Alexander

    “Our enemies are lunatics and maniacs...”
    Today's winner of the Alexander Award for lack of self-awareness.

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  4. Matthew.Whinery

    Reading this just reminds me how I am no long a republican. These leaders in the party have such foreign values to what I want in a leader. Seems to be the same for Mitt. Looks like more losses ahead for the party

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  5. Bobby D

    Retreat from what? Retribution for what? For what cause is Trump a warrior?

    These are the questions I’ve had since Trump came down the elevator. Trump casts himself as some messianic figure, but can’t begin to tell us any details about the salvation he offers. I’m a lifelong conservative. And I agree that we need to take China more seriously and develop a saner immigration policy. But is Trump the most competent person to craft a better policy on these issues? Hardly.

    It strikes me that Trump supporters are just people without hobbies who’ve decided that watching a buffoon like Trump perform on the political stage is the kind of entertainment they’d like to watch. They’re nihilists who are prioritizing their own desire to be entertained over and against a commitment to the best interests of the country.

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  6. Jaybrown

    The cognitive test is part of every Medicare participant's Annual Wellness Visit to his/her doctor. If Biden hasn't taken it, it means he refused a routine test under Medicare. Trump boasted (insanely) at having passed it (I've taken it six times and passed with only one wrong answer once ( I was looking at the nurse's legs )

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    1. Avatar photo
      Mudskipper

      It's not clear that the Medicare test is the same as the test Haley is proposing.

      I've never taken the test that Trump says he took as part of my Annual Wellness Visit. I've only been asked to name as many animals as I can within 30 seconds. Since I am a birder and all-around nature buff, I can rattle off species at good pace. The nurse cut me short long before the time limit was reached. Too bad--I was about to switch to fishes and had "sarcastic fringehead" lined up.

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      1. Jaybrown

        My Medicare cognitive tests were considerably different than that. It seems different doctors use different assessment tools, some sanctioned by mental health organizations. Mine included hearing five random words and having to repeat them back after a few minutes of other questions.

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        1. Emjayvee9

          I had to do that as well as a clock face indicating 11:10.

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  7. DTruitt

    Trump as always comes off as a clearly insane narcissistic megalomaniac. Not a leader.

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  8. Avatar photo
    Gibby

    I"m still optimistic that Ron Desantis can get it done

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  9. Avatar photo
    Anne W (Raw5254)

    The entire thing is depressing.

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  10. Avatar photo
    Aylene Wright

    I think that perhaps there should have been a tad more emphatic put on how CPAC isn't what it used to be. It wasn't just Desantis who stayed away. So did Pence. So did McConnell. Don't think Tim Scott showed up either. Not even Ronna McDaniel did. They lost a lot of sponsors including FoxNation. They sold far fewer tickets and had a lot of empty seats.

    It's not just left leaning media such as Axios or the Atlantic reporting that this year's CPAC was a squib compared to prior years (although they are). There was even a RedState blogger explaining why the "grassroots conservatives" now see CPAC as just a boring overpriced conference of DC swampsters.

    So although the "RDS stayed away because he was afraid of a 1:1 matchup with Trump in a Trump friendly venue that could blunt his momentum" hypothesis may have some validity to it, I think Trump's performance at CPAC really doesn't say much about his overall electability, even within the GOP.

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    1. DTruitt

      CPAC has been a joke for many years if not decades. The average registered attendee is a very earnest immature diletente barely out of his teens on Spring Break, getting pumped up on a political sugar high instead of getting drunk and chasing young women at a beach resort like normal barely out of their teens college students do this time of year. Completely unrepresentative of rank and file conservative Republicans.

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      1. Hikingguy

        We disagree about most things but that's an excellent description of a prototypical CPAC attendee. You've been around a while-do you remember when it was earnest-o so earnest!-Clean for Gene types that were the coming thing? Those people would rather canvass than party. Live long enough and everything repeats-just with opposite polarity.

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    2. Avatar photo
      Anne W (Raw5254)

      Thanks, Aylene. We’ve got two more years of this, and I’m already sick of it. I think I’m reaching a point where I’m truly disgusted with the Republican Party.

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