Trump calls himself a ‘political dissident’ persecuted by a ‘Biden regime’ full of ‘fascists’, ‘thugs’ and tyrants in fiery CPAC speech
Donald Trump: developer, real estate magnate, billionaire, former president, defendant, Republican front-runner and now ‘dissident’.
He gave himself the new title on Saturday as he laid out his nightmare vision of what a second Biden term would look like.
It’s part of what aides say is a pivot in the attack on President Joe Biden as Nikki Haley, his last remaining rival in the Republican nomination race, heads toward certain defeat in her home state of South Carolina later on Saturday.
‘A vote for Trump is your ticket back to freedom. It is your passport out of tyranny, and it is your only escape from the fast track to hell of Joe Biden and his gang,” he told a crowd of adoring fans at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held just outside Washington DC was held.
“I stand before you today not only as your past and hopefully future president, as a proud political dissident. I am a dissident.’
Former President Donald Trump described himself as a “dissident” as he laid out his nightmare vision of what a second Biden term would look like at a gathering of conservatives on Saturday.
Trump supporters recited the Pledge of Allegiance before the former president took the stage
Trump, who faces four criminal trials, last week compared himself to Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in a Siberian penal colony.
It may sound bizarre, but the idea has gained popularity among supporters who view people jailed for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as “political hostages” and who believe Trump is being victimized by a ‘armed’ power. ‘Department of Justice.
Attendees even got to play on a January 6-themed pinball machine, which promoted various right-wing conspiracy theories about the day.
On Saturday, Trump addressed the theme that he was the victim of a witch hunt.
“I would rather lose my freedom than surrender to this group of criminals, tyrants and fascist thugs,” he said.
And he added that a Biden victory in November would bring in millions more migrants and increase street crime.
“Four years ago I told you that if corrupt Joe Biden reached the White House, our borders would be abolished,” he said. “Our middle class would be decimated, our communities would be plagued by bloodshed, chaos and violent crime.
‘We were right about everything.
“So believe me when I give you one more warning… If corrupt Joe Biden and his thugs win in 2024. The worst is yet to come. Our country will sink to levels unimaginable.”
“So believe me when I give you one more warning… If corrupt Joe Biden and his thugs win in 2024. The worst is yet to come. Our country will sink to a level that was unimaginable’
Trump described the nightmare he sees if Joe Biden wins another four-year term
There was room to stand only at the back of the venue as Trump addressed a large crowd
On Saturday, Trump is expected to easily defeat Nikki Haley in the South Carolina primary. Aides say it will be the last time he focuses on her, focusing instead on the contest with Biden
Polls show that South Carolina voters will give a huge boost to Trump on Saturday. An average tracked by the FiveThirtyEight website suggests the former president could win by a 30-point margin in the state where Haley served as governor.
She has vowed to fight on in the race no matter what, and has continued her attacks on the frontrunner.
The 77-year-old Trump has already won convincing victories in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada and is taking a different course. He doesn’t even plan to travel to Michigan on Tuesday, when the primaries are held there.
His aides joke that if Haley wants attention, she’ll have to get a job at The View or the liberal broadcaster MSNBC.
They say Trump will now focus solely on meeting Biden and step up attacks on the president ahead of next month’s State of the Union address.
On Saturday he will tell Conservatives it is up to them to make their feelings clear and finish the job he started with his 2016 election.
“Eight years later, the Swamp has rejected your righteous pleas for reform – and at the ballot box in November you will be the people who will deliver their reckoning,” he is expected to say.
People write on a Trump-themed bus at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2024, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Maryland
“The more the corrupt establishment tries to hold us back, the more you know that the day is near when we will break free from their grasp forever.”
He will specifically ask CPAC attendees to imagine inflation after four more years of Biden. And he will ask them to imagine Biden’s fitness for office when the 81-year-old is another four years older.
“This is the stakes of these elections,” he will say. Our country is being destroyed, and the only person standing between you and its destruction is me.”
With your vote he will say to his supporters: ‘We will throw away Bidenomics, and we will restore Maganomics.’
Trump was in South Carolina on Friday evening and held his election night for voters there.
“We don’t worry so much about tomorrow,” he said. ‘We want to aim for November 5.’