One thing is certain after Trump’s speech at CPAC. He has no remorse for the deadly violence he incited with his lies about a stolen election in his uprising against the US Congress.
UNITED STATES (Agencies) – Donald Trump reappeared in public for the first time after leaving the White House. On Sunday afternoon, he participated in the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Once again, without any evidence, Trump reiterated that he won the 2020 presidential election and hinted that he would decide to “beat them for the third time.”
The former US president said that Joe Biden “has failed in his number one duty as commander in chief to enforce the United States laws.”
Trump once again puts the Republican Party on notice on Sunday. He intends to use his hold on its grassroots to suppress the vote heading into the presidential election in 2024. In an authoritarian speech filled with resentment, Trump lashed out at Supreme Court justices for failing to intervene to throw him the election he lost to President Joe Biden.
“They should be ashamed of themselves for what they’ve done to our country … the Supreme Court didn’t have the guts or the courage to do anything about it,”
Trump, who tried to force Georgia officials to steal elections for him, called on the Republican Party to outlaw mail-in and early voting to ensure “honest elections” and made racially motivated insinuations about Detroit and Philadelphia’s irregularities. He demanded citizen testing for ballot access, said voting should only occur on Election Day and called for independent judges to be barred from resolving election disputes.
“Republicans have to do something about this. They’d better do something about it,” he said
The former president’s warning could be so damaging because he effectively makes his support for Republican candidates in the 2022 midterm elections contingent on their backing his false claims of a corrupt election in 2020. And in the short term, he is sowing even more suspicion about his departure from the White House among conservative voters while providing more potential motivation for extremist groups that support him.
In such a way, Trump’s corrupting influence could damage faith in American elections’ fairness, the foundation of American democracy for months or years into the future.
Trump names his enemies.
In another incendiary move, Trump also called out by name Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach him in the House and condemn him in the Senate for his assault on the Constitution, including Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Senators Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Mitt Romney of Utah. Singling them out demonstrates his intention to retaliate in the upcoming primaries and could leave them vulnerable to harassment as they travel the country.
Trump’s speech, apparently intended to further radicalize supporters who have already shown they are willing to embrace violence, was carried live on Fox News and other conservative media in a stream of unfiltered falsehoods.
Trump received his biggest applause when he refreshed the lie that he won in November and then embarked on multiple blatantly false claims of fraud. His fury laid down a marker that any Republican who wants his endorsement and to prosper with the party base must now support his dangerous lies about stealing the last election.
Trump’s unhinged behavior and his attacks on his successor represent a historical aberration. However, it is no surprise. After all, they come from a cheating, vindictive, racist, and authoritarian man.
