Trump did call the House Select Committee investigating the attack — which has been holding high-profile hearings for weeks — an “unselect committee of political hacks and thugs.” He attacked by name Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, the only two Republicans on the committee, saying the committee “really wants to hurt me so I can’t go back to work for you”.
On police, Trump specifically called for a “return to stop-and-frisk policies in cities,” argued that cities should not “strip (police) of their shield of accountability in any way,” and generally he said the country should “give our police support their authority, resources, power and prestige”.
Trump mentioned 2024 in passing in the speech, nodding to his belief that the next Republican president must support his criminal justice plans, but only acknowledged his own ambitions when he lied that he won his nomination for to a second term in 2020. He also acknowledged his own ambitions. he did not mention some of the Republicans flirting with the 2024 bid, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence, who also appeared in Washington on Tuesday.
“I won a second time, I did a lot better a second time. I did a lot better. I did a lot better. Very corrupt. I always said I ran the first time and I won. And then I ran a second time , and I did it. much better,” he said, pushing the baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him. “What a shame that was. But maybe we’ll have to do it again. We’ve got to get our country right “.
In another reference to the lies surrounding the 2020 election, Trump argued that “the radical left’s anti-police narrative is a total lie.”
“Let’s call it the big lie,” he said, mimicking what Democrats have called Trump’s election lies. “Have you ever heard that expression before? The big lie.”
Trump’s trip to D.C. also underscores his dramatic split with former Vice President Mike Pence, whom Trump has publicly accused of refusing to try to override the will of voters by rejecting electoral votes in key states.
Pence has pushed back, saying earlier this year that “Trump is wrong” to claim he could overturn the results. In recent speeches, he has urged Republicans to put aside their gripes about 2020 and offer a forward-looking platform. Pence was scheduled to speak at the Heritage Foundation in DC on Monday, but that speech was postponed after his flight was diverted due to weather.
“We are a failed nation”
Much like his inaugural address in 2017, Trump struck a tough tone throughout the speech, painting a picture of a country riddled with crime, drugs and homelessness.
“We are a failed nation,” Trump said.
“The dangerously deranged roam our streets with impunity. We live in such a different country for one main reason: there is no longer any respect for the law and certainly no order. Our country is now a cesspool of crime.” Trump said. , sometimes mentioning specific high-profile crimes, many of which have been widely covered by conservative media.
At one point, Trump praised the way Chinese President Xi Jinping dealt with drug traffickers, recalling a time when the Chinese president told him about “swift trials” for drug criminals in China who he estimated that they sentenced people in “two hours”.
“Sounds horrible, doesn’t it? But these are the ones who don’t have a problem. It doesn’t take 15 years in court. It goes fast,” Trump said, before endorsing a “very strong death penalty.” for people who sell drugs,” something he has championed since he was president.
To fight crime, Trump argued that the next president must bypass governors and deploy the National Guard and “go beyond the governor,” though Republicans often argue on behalf of state’s rights.
“When governors refuse to protect their people, we have to take whatever is necessary anyway,” Trump said, arguing specifically that “the next president must send the National Guard into the most dangerous neighborhoods in Chicago until security can be restored.”
Trump also suggested that the federal government must build large tent cities outside some of the nation’s largest urban centers and clean up the current homeless encampments. He said the government should “create thousands and thousands of high-quality tents” on the “outside of the cities” and then bring in medical professionals, psychologists and psychiatrists to work with the people.
Trump echoed Republican optimism that 2022 will be a breakout year for the party, telling the audience that he believes the GOP is “on the brink of a historic midterm election” and has a “amazing opportunity” to participate in 2022.
He added: “I’m here before you to start talking about what we need to do to achieve that future when we win a landslide victory in 2022 and when a Republican president takes back the White House in 2024, which I strongly believe will happen.”
“It’s the biggest name”
Marc Lotter, the head of communications for the America First Policy Institute, told CNN over the weekend that they invited Trump to speak because “he’s still the leader of the America First movement.”
“He’s the biggest name. He’s the visionary behind many of the policies that got him elected to the White House,” Lotter said. “And when you look at what’s happening in America right now, a lot of people are clamoring for that kind of political leadership to come back. They want cheap gas, growing paychecks, growing stock markets and not what we have now.”
Trump allies told CNN they hoped the former president would use the speech to look ahead and focus on setting a Republican agenda ahead of the midterms. As Trump has publicly teased a 2024 bid, advisers and advisers have encouraged him to move on from the 2020 election and focus on policies they believe could return him to office, such as the economy, the school curriculum and crime.
Tuesday’s speech made it clear that Trump has yet to change course. In a speech that was meant to be explicitly about crime, Trump spent time on his 2020 election lies, Republicans he considers disloyal and attacking the committee investigating Jan. 6. A source close to Trump expressed frustration ahead of the speech that the former president seemed unable to stop obsessing over the past, worried it would hurt his chances in a 2024 presidential campaign.
This is not new for the former president.
Trump has used his recent speeches to continue airing these grievances in 2020. His campaign appearances ahead of November’s midterm elections have focused on endorsements of candidates who have embraced his electoral denialism and campaigned to overturn the 2020 results and do more voting. difficult for future elections.
His speech Tuesday at the America First Policy Institute summit followed appearances by a number of Trump’s Republican allies, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, as well as some of Trump’s former White House and campaign aides, including Kellyanne Conway.
McCarthy told reporters outside his office Tuesday evening that he spent time with Trump backstage before the event and that he and Trump also met with a group of about 50 lawmakers afterward.
The Republican leader praised the former president’s speech and said he doesn’t know what Trump will decide in 2024, noting that the former president has expressed concern about the cost to his family. But McCarthy told reporters he has encouraged Trump to hold off on announcing any White House bid until after the midterms, with party leaders eager to keep the next election a referendum on President Joe Biden, not Trump. .
“My pitch to him has always been, ‘We’re going to win in ’22,'” McCarthy said. “You wait and see what happens here. Focus on winning ’22. And if we win in ’22, and a lot of our policies and what we’re working on, (that) would be the case to see where it is.”
On Sunday, Lotter told CNN that “to give voice to that agenda, to lay it out in mid-sessions of Congress and beyond, I think there’s no one better than the former president to be able to do that.”
“What happens next is entirely up to the voters and the president and any other people who may be involved in the race,” he said at the time. “But the one thing we know is the policies that have worked. And so what we’re focused on is setting that stage, setting that policy framework, to get back to winning policies. And President Trump remains one of the leaders . if not the biggest name, in this movement.”
Still, not all of Trump’s former aides were excited about him speaking at the summit, further highlighting discord within the Trump movement ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“Don’t go, boss,” wrote Peter Navarro, who worked as an aide to Trump, in an op-ed published Tuesday, referring to the AFPI as a “Trojan horse” trying to “hijack the ‘political appeal of Trumpism’. but replace Trump with an AFPI-anointed RINO.”
This story was updated with additional information on Tuesday.
CNN’s Melanie Zanona and Kristen Holmes contributed to this report.