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- Donald trump said he had no plans to form a new party.
- He spoke at CPAC, promising to unite the Republican Party.
- Trump hinted at a presidential race in 2024.
Former US President Donald Trump has said he has no plans to form a new political party, instead vowing to unite a Republican Party that has split after his supporters invaded the US Capitol in a deadly riot.
In his first major speech since leaving the White House last month, Trump said the Republican Party “will come together and be stronger than ever.”
“I am not going to start a new game. That was fake news,” he told the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Sunday afternoon.
“We will be united and strong like never before. We will save and strengthen America and fight the onslaught of radicalism, socialism, and indeed everything leads to communism,” said Trump, who spent much of his speech attacking the United States. . President Joe Biden.
READ | Mitch McConnell will support Donald Trump if the party selects him as its nominee for 2024
Trump repeated his false claims that he was robbed of the November presidential election and also hinted at another possible presidential race.
“They just lost the White House,” Trump said.
“But who knows, who knows, he might even decide to beat them a third time.”
Commitment to Trump
His supporters have dominated this year’s conference, held in Florida due to the state’s flexible restrictions on meetings during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the nation’s largest annual gathering of Republicans and Conservatives, CPAC generally shows the direction of the Republican Party and its supporters.
While past meetings have served as a forum for discussion among a broad coalition of American conservatives, attendees at this year’s meeting spent the weekend expressing their commitment to Trump and affirming their continued dominance in the party.
The event comes as deep divisions have emerged within the Republican Party after the Capitol uprising on January 6 and weeks of false claims by Trump and his supporters that the election was marred by widespread electoral fraud.
Trump was indicted in the US House of Representatives for “inciting insurrection” in connection with the riot, but was later acquitted in the US Senate.
Al Jazeera’s John Hendren, reporting from Orlando on Sunday, said the conference has brought together “the pro-Trump side of the Republican Party,” which he said is currently “at war with itself.”
Pro-Trump Republicans defended Trump amid accusations that he incited crowds of his supporters invading the Capitol building, while others publicly criticized him and some even voted for his impeachment.
Republican lawmakers who have criticized Trump, including Congresswoman Liz Cheney and former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, were not welcome at the conference, Hendren said.
“This is his effort to control that match,” Hendren wrote.
Trump supporters traveled from across the country to see the former president’s first comments since he left office in January.
‘A big mistake’
Hats, shirts and other pro-Trump paraphernalia were on display at the conference, where attendees took photos next to a gilded statue of the former president.
Vickie Froehlich, who served as a delegate at the Republican National Convention when Trump was first nominated in 2016, came to CPAC from Minneapolis, Minnesota. If Republicans abandon Trump, he said, “it would be a big mistake.”
“I think it has been great for our country. It is still very popular,” Froehlich said.
Speakers who took the stage over the weekend, including Senators Rick Scott of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri, announced their support for Trump’s continuing political mission.
At roundtables, lawmakers and activists also argued against the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election results and warned of left-wing conspiracies to silence conservative discourse.
“I’m not backing down,” said Hawley, one of the Republican senators who voted to overturn the US election results, earning him a wide standing ovation at the conference. “This is not an opportunity! It is not an opportunity!”
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