I haven’t had the opportunity to read the verbatim text of Trump’s speech at CPAC which concluded recently. I expect it will take some hours for that transcript to appear online.
I have, however, read a variety of quotes from his speech, in the reactions of various pundits who watched it live, something to which I didn’t have access. It appears that while he didn’t totally avoid mentioning his claim of having won last year’s election, he made a throwaway wisecrack out of it.
Trump mostly focused on his continued leadership of the GOP, the mess Biden has proven to be and what crap Biden’s program is. Looks like Trump has his vision back, is focused “down range” as shooters say, and not dwelling overmuch on the past.
The millions who have gotten the Covid vaccine are in his debt and know it, even if they wish it weren’t so. And Trump‘s energy and grasp of what’s happening provides a vivid contrast to Biden’s whiny, fumbling public appearances.
Like him or hate him, Trump will be a force in Republican politics for several more years. Whether he chooses to run again perhaps not even he knows yet. He does love performing at the rallies, which argues he will opt to run.
After I have the opportunity to read his CPAC remarks, I will likely have more to add.
Later ... Okay, I started to read it and, frankly, got tired and quit. He stood there and did a total memory dump sans teleprompter. I don’t love stream-of-consciousness speeches, particularly extra-long ones like this. They said of Mozart that he used too many notes; today Trump used too many words.
It was probably fun if you were there in a hyped-up crowd but as something to read? It felt underprepared, meandering and insufficiently linear.
