Trump Asserts Control Over the Republican Party at CPAC

Former President Donald Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, FL last month. Source.

Former President Donald Trump made his first public appearance since leaving office at the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 28th, with much of his usual bluster. The major take away, as far as he is concerned: the Republican Party is still his party. Indeed, early in his speech he sought to quash rumors that he would begin his own party saying, “we have the Republican party, it’s going to unite and be stronger than ever before. I am not starting a new party. That was fake news.” 

While he claimed unity and projected control over the party, he also lashed out at fellow Republicans who did not support his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 General Election and who voted to impeach or convict him for his role in the January 6th attack on the Capitol Building. He called out representatives and senators by name, lambasting them as “RINOs” (Republicans In Name Only) and attacking them personally to a smattering of boos from the crowd. He emphasized the need for unity, and said that Democrats were “vicious” and “smart,” with horrible policies but at least “they always stick together.” In the face of that, he said RINOs would destroy the Republican Party and the country if they prevented Republican unity and that he would actively work to get “strong, tough, smart” and, implicitly, loyal Republicans elected. A new super PAC will be formed to that end. If CPAC is any indication, however, the Republicans that oppose Trump are small in number.

The former president also suggested that he may run for the White House again in 2024, quipping that he “might even decide to beat [the Democrats] for a third time.” While that remark got a cheer from the crowd, polling at the event was less supportive of the idea. Though 95% of CPAC attendees want the Republican Party to continue following Trump’s policy agenda, and 68% of attendees said they would like to see Trump run again in 2024, only 55% of attendees said they would vote for him on a mock 2024 Republican primary ballot. While the 2024 nomination may be his to lose, the poll suggests a strong challenger with similar policy preferences, like Ron Desantis, may be able to wrest it away from him.

Beyond asserting control over the party and its future, the speech was notable for reiterating and expanding upon Trump’s well known policy positions and grievances with the court system’s unwillingness to overturn the legitimate election of President Biden. Trump particularly harped on Biden’s plans for immigration reform and his rolling back of Trump administration policies. Perhaps a result of his displeasure with being banned from a slew of social media platforms in the wake of the Capitol attack, Trump also said that technology companies, like Facebook and Twitter, should be punished for silencing “conservative voices” and that laws should be changed to open social media companies to greater legal liability. Still reeling from electoral defeat, the former president also said the Supreme Court should be ashamed because they “did not have the guts or the courage to make the right decision” to overturn the election and he called for changes to election law, saying, “we need one election day, not 45, 30” and that “we should eliminate the insanity of mass and very corrupt mail-in-voting.”

For now, the Republican Party is still the party of Trump, both the man and the ideology, and it may become more so as the former president reasserts his political will and seeks to purge the party of “RINOs.”