Leading Republicans spent much of three days avoiding Donald Trump's chief grievances or ignoring him altogether as they unified behind a midterm message designed to win back the voters the polarising former president alienated while in office. That changed Saturday night.
Facing thousands of cheering activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference's annual meeting, Trump blamed his 2020 election loss on widespread voter fraud, for which there is no evidence. As Russian troops advanced on the Ukrainian capital in an invasion widely condemned by Western leaders, Trump described Russian President Vladimir Putin as “smart.”
“Of course he's smart,” Trump said, doubling down on praise of the Russian leader that many other Republicans have avoided in the wake of the invasion. “But the real problem is our leaders are dumb. Dumb. So dumb.”
While Trump expressed support for the Ukrainian people and called the country's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a “brave man,” he also noted his ties with other leading autocrats. He specifically pointed to his friendly relationships with Xi Jinping of China and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump then left no doubt he is the most powerful voice in Republican politics by indicating he will run for president a third time in 2024. “We did it twice, and we'll do it again,” Trump said. “We're going to be doing it again, a third time.”
Up until Trump's appearance, lies about election fraud, the focus of last year's conference, had been an afterthought among the top speakers. No one parroted Trump's approving rhetoric toward Putin. And some leading Republicans didn't even mention Trump's name.
