Conservative Political Action Conference attendees were unsure if the president was going to arrive on time for his Saturday speech after traveling to Vietnam for ongoing talks with North Korea regarding their nuclear program. But, the commander-in-chief arrived today in Oxon Hill, MD to tout his successes in immigration, foreign policy, and the economy while also lambasting liberals for their censorship and disastrous socialist policies before the largest gathering of conservatives in Maryland in CPAC’s history.
Border Security
During his hours-long rally, President Trump renewed promises for the border wall, hinting his long-promised solution to illegal immigration along the Mexican border is part of international security and will continue to be an issue until the 2020 election. On Thursday, conservative ally Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told conference goers that the GOP should have funded the wall before Democrats took over the house. Today, President Trump reminded his base that the wall is on its way to getting built.
“You know I'm building the wall. We're finishing the wall," he said.
Furthermore, The president defended his use of national emergency powers to get the wall built, saying that it's critical to not only protect citizens from gangs and drugs, but also to prevent immigrants from facing murder and rape as they cross. He criticized politicians on both sides from arguing that the Democrats will use his actions as an excuse to use emergency powers for their agendas.
Economy
Moving onto the economy, the president said that with big companies coming back into the country, it will give opportunities to tons of new workers. However, he again noted that any new worker immigrating to America for economic opportunity must do so legally.
"They have to come back in legally and they have to come in through merit. Merit. Merit," Trump said. "They're going to do that anyway," he said.
In terms of the econimic war against China, Trump remarked that in China's history, they were able to push their tariffs on American vehicles up to 40 percent. The president told attendees that he asked China President Xi Jinping how his country could get away with doing it.
He said that Xi answered, "Because nobody ever asked us to change."
"I don't blame them," Trump said. "We should have been doing the same thing to them. But we didn't."
These statements echo what the president tweeted last Sunday, saying that he was making, “substantial progress,” with China on trade policy.
I am pleased to report that the U.S. has made substantial progress in our trade talks with China on important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues. As a result of these very......
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2019
....productive talks, I will be delaying the U.S. increase in tariffs now scheduled for March 1. Assuming both sides make additional progress, we will be planning a Summit for President Xi and myself, at Mar-a-Lago, to conclude an agreement. A very good weekend for U.S. & China!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2019
....productive talks, I will be delaying the U.S. increase in tariffs now scheduled for March 1. Assuming both sides make additional progress, we will be planning a Summit for President Xi and myself, at Mar-a-Lago, to conclude an agreement. A very good weekend for U.S. & China!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2019
Liberal Bias
Trump also discussed dangers happening domestically. He invited up Hayden Williams, the field representative from The Leadership Institute who was punched by a man at UC-Berkeley in late February. After letting him speak, and suggesting that he sue the assailant as well as the university, the president announced that he would sign an executive order that will require federally-paid universities to protect free speech.
"If they want our tax dollars," Trump said. "And we give it to them by the billions, they have to allow people like Hayden and many other great young people and old people to speak."
Trump also blasted the fake news media, saying that they don't allow him to make jokes with his audience.
"If you tell a joke. If you are sarcastic, if you are having fun with the audience, if you are on live television with millions of people and 25,000 people in an arena...if you say something like, 'Russia, please, if you can get us Hillary Clinton's emails,'" then news panels like CNN will treat it like it's serious.
"They know the game and they play it dirty," Trump said. "Dirtier than its ever been played."
Socialist Policies
And it isn't just the media. Trump also roasted recent policies made by the socialist left, such as the Green New Deal.
"The Green New Deal. I encourage it. I think it's really something that they promote," he said jokingly.
"When the wind stops blowing, that is the end of your electric," Trump said. "'Let's hurry up, darling! Is the wind blowing today? I would like to watch television, darling!'"
2020 Election
But regardless of the media, and the Democratic candidates, Trump is confident that he can win the presidency again. He said that the reason he won the election in the first place was that he stood for conservative values, more so than his Republican opponents.
"I was probably more of a conservative than a Republican," Trump said. "They just didn't understand it."
The president said that none of the places he's hosted to speak, no arena and no stadium, have ever had an empty seat. He said that the conservative movement has never been bigger and never been more unified than it is now.
"It's never been done before and I think we can do it again in 2020," Trump said.
He made another promise to the attendees at CPAC, that socialists will never be able to take down America's capitalist system. Not in the 2020 election, and not in the future.
"America will never be a socialist country," Trump said. The audience stood up abruptly and chanted "USA!"
At press time, the president was still speaking.