Former President Donald Trump delivered a blistering rebuke of President Biden, Big Tech, critical race theory, the media and other targets during a fiery keynote speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Sunday.
From the stage in Dallas, he called Texas conservatives some of his “staunchest and fiercest supporters,” and vowed to continue fighting for the GOP.
“I’m thrilled to be back in the heart of Texas,” Trump told the crowd. “For a year before the election, the fake news media said Texas was in play. It’s in play. You know what in play means like it’s close.
“And they were right, except it was only in play for me,” he said. “For me and you, actually.”
Trump was interrupted at the start by chants of “USA” from the packed conference, which was titled “America Uncanceled 2021.”
He wasted no time jumping on the key themes of his post-presidency — immigration, the media and the election he deems fraudulent.
“This is a very, very special place and we’re going to keep it the way it is,” he said. “With the help of everyone here today we will defeat the radical left, the socialist, Marxist and the critical race theorists.
“We will secure our borders, we will stop left-wing cancel culture, we will restore free speech and fair elections, and we will make American great again,” he said. “Very simple.”
Trump lambasted the “fake news” media and tech companies, saying they conspired to stifle him while ignoring stories critical of Biden.
“Look at all these stories that came up and they were wiped out,” he said. “Anything negative for Biden or the radical left Democrats they just suppress.”
“The most horrendous example, the oldest newspaper in American and one of my favorites, it’s a great one,” he said.
“The New York Post wrote one of the biggest scandals ever to emerge in a presidential election, providing extraordinary, detailed evidence of the corruption of Joe Biden and, where’s Hunter?”
In October, The Post reported on emails linked to Hunter Biden that were found on a laptop left at a Delaware repair shop.
“Then, without any basis whatsoever, Twitter and Facebook banned the New York Post account of this terrible story,” Trump said. “After the election, one poll showed that at least 10 percent of Joe Biden’s voters would have switched their vote if they had known about Joe and Hunter Biden’s scandal.”
The speech at the CPAC event is the former president’s second address to the group since he left office — he spoke at CPAC in Orlando in February after leaving the White House.
Trump has remained a potent force in the GOP since exiting the White House and has repeatedly railed against the 2020 election results as fraudulent.
Last week, the former president also took aim at tech companies, filing a class-action lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for what he called the “illegal and shameful censorship of the American people.”
The tech giants shut down Trump’s accounts, including on Twitter, once his main digital pulpit with 88.6 million followers and nearly 60,000 tweets.
Trump has also stressed the importance of the 2022 midterm elections, touting favorable candidates and vowing to oust GOP candidates he deems disloyal.
He has also not ruled out another run for the White House in 2024.
And he has also continued to slam President Joe Biden, particularly regarding the immigration crisis at the US border with Mexico, where Bide halted his predecessor’s highly touted project to build a new border wall.
The ex-president’s speech at CPAC’s Dallas gathering comes two days after his son, Donald Trump Jr., addressed the gathering on Friday.
Other noteworthy speakers at the three-day conference were Florida Sen. Rich Scott, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.