Former President Donald Trump stepped out onto the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” and a standing ovation and chants of “U-S-A” from the convention’s attendees who waited more than an hour after he was scheduled to speak.

At a Conservative Political Action Conference filled with 2024 presidential hopefuls, the 45th President of the United States had the last word.


What You Need To Know

  • Former President Donald J. Trump espoused multiple false election claims in his first post-presidential speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference Sunday

  • Trump committed to remain in the Republican party, promising that he is "not starting a new party"

  • There is no evidence of widespread election fraud in the 2020 election, a statement which has been backed up by a number of officials, including Trump's former attorney general William Barr

  • President Biden does not plan to respond to Trump's speech; Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that "our focus is certainly not on what President Trump is saying" at CPAC

“Hello, CPAC, do you miss me yet?” Trump asked the crowd, before talking about the “journey” he and his supporters forged after his 2016 win. “We began it together four years ago, and it is far from over."

“There's never been a journey so successful,” Trump added, despite Republican losses in November’s election in the Senate and the White House.

Trump, as previously reported, made a pledge that he is “not starting a new party” — calling reports that he was contemplating such an action “fake news” — instead promising Republicans that “we will be united and strong like never before.”

“Wouldn’t that be brilliant?” Trump asked, sarcastically. “Let’s divide our vote.”

Turning his attention to his successor, President Joe Biden, Trump claimed, without evidence, that his “campaign was all lies.”

The former president alleged that Biden “has had the most disastrous first month of any president in modern history,” before claiming, without evidence, that “the Biden Administration has proven that they are anti-jobs, anti-family, anti-borders, anti-energy, anti-women and anti-science.”

"In just one month,” Trump said, “We have gone from ‘America First’ to ‘America last,’” echoing one of the themes of his administration.

Trump zeroed-in on Biden’s immigration policy, claiming that "Biden has triggered a massive flood of illegal immigration into our country. the likes of which we have never seen before.” — in truth, there were 78,000 border apprehensions in Jan. 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced, up 6% from Dec. 2020.

"This alone should be reason enough for Democrats to suffer withering losses in the midterms and to lose the White House decisively four years from now,” Trump said of Biden’s immigration policies.

Trump predicted that Biden would lose the White House in 2020, before espousing the false claim that he won the 2020 election. Teasing a run again in 2024, Trump said, “I may even decide to beat them for a third time” to thunderous applause and cheers from the crowd. 

Trump lost the 2020 election to Biden — 306-232 — and there is no evidence of widespread election fraud in the 2020 election, a statement which has been backed up by a number of officials, including Trump's former attorney general William Barr and former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Christopher Krebs.

The former president continued to spout misleading statements about winning the election, at one point claiming falsely that “had we had a fair election, the results would’ve been much different and we would’ve had a deal with Iran within the first week.”

The crowd, at one point, chanted “you won!” loudly when Trump talked about a need for “election integrity and election reform,” falsely claiming that “this election was rigged and the Supreme Court and other courts didn't want to do anything about it."

More than 60 lawsuits brought by the former president and his allies in multiple state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court, failed because they were unable to prove allegations of voter fraud.

Trump also took credit for the three COVID-19 vaccines authorized by the FDA to combat the coronavirus, and claimed that if he wasn’t president, “hundreds of millions” would have died of the disease.

“I pushed the FDA like they have never been pushed before,” Trump said. “They have never been pushed like I pushed them. I didn't like them at all, but once we got it done, I said ‘I now love you very much.’”

“Never let them take the credit,” Trump said. “Joe Biden is only implementing the plan we put in place,” before blaming the media for not reporting that the Trump administration began drafting vaccination plans.

It has been widely reported that claims from Vice President Kamala Harris that the Biden administration was “starting from scratch” on vaccine distribution and Chief of Staff Ron Klain’s similar statement that such a plan “did not really exist when we came into the White House” is somewhat overstated, via fact checks from The Washington Post and Politifact, respectively.

However, it has been confirmed that while the Trump administration’s plan for vaccine distribution left much of it up to the states, whereas Biden’s plan implemented a "comprehensive National Strategy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic."

The crowd reacted to much of Trump’s speech in real time, chanting “we love you” loudly at one point, or booing loudly when Trump mentioned Biden rejoining the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement.

The 45th president railed against some of his usual favorite topics to deride — including breaking up big tech companies that have blocked him from their platforms, and “socialism” — and also laid out what “Trumpism” means, including “no riots in the streets,” less than two months after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol that killed 5, including Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick. 

Trump was impeached for a second time, accused by House Impeachment Managers of "incitement of insurrection" for his rhetoric leading up to the riot, including a speech he delivered immediately prior, but he was acquitted by the Senate.

The former president also listed the Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach Trump in the House and Senate by name, including Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Rep. Liz Cheney, and publicly declared that he will be “actively working to elect strong, tough and smart Republican leaders” — declaring that he will endorse primary opponents who opposed him. 

“Get rid of them all,” Trump said.

Trump ended his speech by again teasing a run in 2024: “With your help we will take back the house, we will win the Senate, and then a Republican president will make a triumphant return to the White House. And I wonder who that will be? I wonder who that will be? Who who who will that be? I wonder.”

Trump thanked the crowd and walked off stage to a standing ovation set to one of his campaign’s staple songs: “Y-M-C-A” by the Village People.

The former president has kept a relatively low profile since leaving the White House and moving to Palm Beach, Florida, last month. The 45th president's speech came nearly two months after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was meeting to certify the results of the November election, which Trump and his supporters claimed was stolen – a topic that was pervasive throughout CPAC weekend. Trump was impeached for a second time, accused by House Impeachment Managers of "incitement of insurrection" for his rhetoric leading up to the Jan. 6 riot, including a speech he delivered immediately prior, but he was acquitted by the Senate.

Trump has a long history with CPAC – he was a speaker in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015, where he made a name for himself in conservative political circles, before eventually announcing his run for president.

At this year's CPAC, many 2024 hopefuls took the stage ("The race for 2024 will start at CPAC," said organizer Matt Schlapp.), including Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Rick Scott (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Tom Cotton (R-AK), as well as former Trump officials such as Mike Pompeo, but Trump was a pervasive presence throughout the weekend before ever taking the stage.

"Let me tell you right now, Donald J. Trump ain't going anywhere," Cruz said Friday, who spoke at CPAC instead of attending President Biden's tour of winter storm devastation in his home state of Texas.

The convention featured "Make America Great Again" hats by the thousands, Trump flags and other merchandise abound, and even a gold-painted six-foot-tall statue of the former president entitled "Trump and His Magic Wand."

Other speakers included staunch Trump allies such as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, North Carolina Reps. Ted Budd and Madison Cawthorn, and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz. 

A number of lawmakers sparked controversy for skipping Friday's votes on the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, voting by proxy instead, to attend CPAC instead, including Reps. Budd, Cawthorn, and Gaetz.

DId President Biden pay attention to his predecessor's speech? Not so much, the White House said. Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that "our focus is certainly not on what President Trump is saying" at the convention.