Back in the political arena, Donald Trump presents himself as the future of the Republican Party
Donald Trump said on Sunday to a crowd of enthusiastic conservatives that the survival of the United States depended on them, flirting with the idea of running for president in 2024.
Former US President Donald Trump hinted at a possible new White House candidacy in 2024 on Sunday February 28 and attacked his Democratic successor Joe Biden head-on, while repeating his baseless accusations that the election of November was "stolen" from him.
Making his first major public appearance since leaving the White House nearly six weeks earlier, Donald Trump presented himself as the future of the Republican Party in a speech at a Conservative conference in Florida, where he now resides.
"Our movement of proud, hard-working American patriots is just beginning, and in the end we will win. We will win," he told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando.
Once again refusing to admit his defeat to Joe Biden in the November 3 ballot, Donald Trump lambasted the first weeks of his successor's mandate and hinted that he could stand as a candidate again.
"They just lost the White House," said the former Republican president after criticizing Joe Biden's handling of border security. "But who knows, who knows, I might even decide to beat them a third time," he added.
Donald Trump's tumultuous final weeks in power were marked by the invasion of Capitol Hill on January 6 by his supporters who refused to have Congress confirm the victory of Joe Biden, whom Trump falsely denounced as fraudulent.
No new party for Trump
An internal war has broken out in the Republican Party between figures such as Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, keen to make Donald Trump a thing of old history, and those like Senator Lindsey Graham - close to Donald Trump - believing that the future of the party depends on the energy of the pro-Trump conservative base.
Donald Trump said on Sunday that the Republican Party was united and assured it had no intention of trying to start a new party, an idea the former president had discussed for the past two months with advisers.
"We are not starting new parties. We have the Republican Party. It is going to be united and stronger than ever. I am not starting a new party," he said.
According to a poll of conference attendees, 55% of people say they would vote for Donald Trump in the race for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is second with 21%. Without Trump, DeSantis leads with 43%. When asked whether Donald Trump should run again in 2024, 68% of those polled say they are in favor and 32% are against it or have no opinion.
The pro-Trump fervor was nonetheless palpable in Orlando, where a golden statue of the former president has even been erected.
After an hour of speech, Donald Trump again spread his accusations without proof of electoral fraud to his detriment, going against the recommendations of his relatives who believe it is time to look to the future.
“We have a very sick and corrupt electoral process that needs to be immediately fixed. This election was rigged,” he told the crowd, who shouted “You won!”.
Biden's policy criticized
"The Supreme Court and other courts did not want to know anything," added the former president, as dozens of appeals launched by his campaign and his supporters in the hope of reversing the results of the November ballot have failed.
Donald Trump, who started his speech more than an hour late, said he wanted to save American culture and identity.
Seeking to establish himself as Joe Biden's first opponent, he criticized the current White House tenant's policy on immigration and security at the border with Mexico, also blaming his successor for the slow reopening of the schools closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
"Joe Biden has had the most disastrous first month of any president in modern history," said Donald Trump, despite the latest opinion polls tending to favor the new president.
The Biden administration had made it clear before Donald Trump's appearance that it planned to ignore his speech. "We are certainly not focusing on what President Trump says" at the Convention, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters last week.
