Former U.S. President Donald Trump repeated his election promises on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida on Sunday, February 28. As was reported by CNN, he was looking to reclaim his role as the Republican Party's kingmaker in the 2022 midterm elections and positioning himself for a 2024 presidential run.
"It is far from being over," Trump said. "We will be victorious and America will be stronger and greater than ever before."
Repeating his false claims that he won the U.S. Presidential recs in November, which President Joe Biden won resoundingly with 306 to Trump's 232 electoral votes, Trump teased a White House run in four years: "I may even decide to beat them for the third time," the one-term former President said in his first public remarks since leaving the White House.
During a lengthy speech in which he claimed that the US has a "very sick and corrupt electoral process" and accused the Supreme Court of failing to "have the courage" to overturn the election on his behalf, he called for a new round of voting restrictions, claiming, falsely, that mail-in ballots and early voting were responsible for Biden's win.
After boasting that it has "been stated" that his endorsement "is the most powerful asset in politics," Trump closed out his speech by asking supporters to contribute to his political action committees as he hinted about his future plans.
"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," Trump said. "And I wonder who that will be. I wonder who that will be. Who? Who? Who will that be? I wonder."
On stage Sunday, he named all the Republican lawmakers who voted against him -- calling them "grandstanders" -- and saved special ire for Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in the House, who he referred to as a "warmonger."
He targeted Biden throughout much of his speech, attacking his immigration policies, accusing him of taking credit for the Trump administration's work on vaccines and demanding that he "get the schools open."
Without any evidence, he claimed that Biden's policy changes are triggering a new crisis at the Southern border and creating a youth migrant crisis. He touted his own efforts as president to expand the border wall and said Biden was reversing his administration's accomplishments.
To allay concerns among Republicans about the splintering within the GOP, Trump dismissed any discussion that he was contemplating starting a new political party: "We have the Republican Party," he said to applause. "It's going to unite and be stronger than ever before," Trump said at the gathering, which has served as an audition for other potential Republican presidential hopefuls.