In his keynote address Saturday night, Trump indicated he planned to run for president a third time, in 2024.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. – Leading Republicans spent much of three days avoiding Donald Trump's chief grievances or ignoring him altogether as they unified behind a midterm message designed to win back the voters the polarizing former president alienated while in office.
“Of course he’s smart,” Trump said in his remarks Saturday, doubling down on praise of the Russian leader that many other Republicans have avoided after the invasion. “But the real problem is our leaders are dumb. Dumb. So dumb.” And in the straw poll of 2,574 conference attendees, Trump earned 59%, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with 28%. No one else had more than 2%.
And while Trump's most controversial supporters were generally given lower-profile speaking slots over the four-day program, they were not excluded. Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., appeared on a Saturday morning panel hours after being featured at a conference of pro-Trump white nationalists. “There are people that perhaps have never voted the same way any of you have in a presidential race and they're really angry,” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Friday. “And that’s why I believe that for all the negative we’ve heard, the pendulum is swinging.”
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