Former President Donald Trump plans to reaffirm his leadership of the Republican Party and sharply criticize President Biden for an early focus on immigration policy and “identity politics” in his speech Sunday, the first major speech of his life after the White House.
While the former president is expected to summon some of his most outspoken critics, including Congressman Liz Cheney, he has no plans to announce a campaign in 2024 to reclaim the presidency, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump tells CBS News.
Mr. Trump long awaited speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida will serve as the formal launch of an unprecedented moment in modern American history: Since Grover Cleveland lost his reelection bid in 1889, a president has left office for one term in order to cultivate and encourage such a large political following.
“We are in uncharted territory because no other former president of a tenure in modern times has ever had so many followers after the election,” said the senior adviser, asking for anonymity to be fair.
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Mr. Trump’s comments in Orlando are expected to focus on two main pillars: first, vigorous attacks on Mr. Biden and concerns that the Democratic Party’s far left is controlling the White House and governance policies. Second, Trump will focus on his hopes for the future of the Republican Party and the Conservative movement.
The former president, who used to rely on social media to voice his grievances and attack alleged rivals, is expected to use his comments Sunday to settle a number of bills.
“There is a very high probability that some of those Beltway elites will be checked by name,” said the senior adviser. But “Kevin McCarthy is not one of them.”
The senior adviser on Saturday strongly contested a Politico report that McCarthy, the House’s minority leader, is once again in the crosshairs of the former president for continuing to support Cheney, the Wyoming congressman and House Republican’s third rank. . Cheney is just one of the few national GOP leaders who strongly condemned the former president’s words and actions on and before the January 6 uprising in the Capitol. In the weeks that followed, she continued to express her hope that the party would move away from Mr. Trump.
While the former president and McCarthy are on good terms, the senior adviser said, “There is a 99.99% chance that Liz Cheney will be raised.”
As for Mr. Trump’s view of Mr. Biden, “Immigration will be like issues one, two and three: amnesty, ending wall narrowing and expanding access for refugees from dangerous countries,” said the senior adviser.
But the former president is also expected to attack the failure of the Biden administration to enforce a national reopening of schools and will vigorously defend the work of the Trump administration to help develop and distribute COVID-19 vaccines to help finance.
“He will defend his vaccination work and be about as subtle as a quarter of it,” said the senior adviser.
In recent weeks, Mr. Biden has falsely stated that there was “no real plan to vaccinate most of the country” from the outgoing Trump administration, a claim he has withdrawn from in recent public comments on the development of vaccines. Mr Trump is likely to tout his administration’s “Operation Warp Speed” on Sunday, which provided government funding for the private sector development of COVID-19 vaccines that are now being manufactured and distributed around the world.
Mr Trump is also expected to train his anger at the Biden administration’s early use of executive authorities to halt the multi-billion dollar construction of a new wall along the US-Mexico border; remove historically low limits on the number of refugees that can be admitted into the United States each year and plans to extend protection to tens of thousands of people with temporary protected status from countries such as El Salvador, Haiti and Syria.
The senior adviser said the former president is also concerned about the Biden government’s early focus on diversity and tackling systemic racism in society.
“The efforts they’ve made, such as social engineering nonsense, is what the former president is very concerned about,” the adviser said.
Mr. Biden took early steps to deliver on the campaign’s promises to promote racial equality, diversity and gay and transgender rights. On his first day of office, he signed an executive order imposing an “ambitious agenda for government-wide stocks” designed to address concerns about systemic racism and a lack of diversity in federal policy-making and recruitment. The administration is also taking steps to rewrite federal application forms and documents to offer or list gender-neutral options. Mr. Biden has also overturned a Pentagon ban on transgender military personnel.
The White House also commends the historic diversity of the Biden cabinet and senior government officials, including Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the first African American man to lead the Pentagon; Xavier Becerra, poised to be the first Latino to lead the Department of Health and Human Services; and Rachel Levine, nominated to serve as Becerra’s deputy, who would be the first openly transgender person ever confirmed by the Senate.
In his comments, Mr Trump is expected to dismiss his concerns about a possible Republican civil war and express his belief that the party’s base is firmly in his corner, with only a handful of party leaders opposed to his continued oversight of the party.
Trump is also expected to devote his time to the party’s need to reclaim congressional seats next year. He has already joined the fray, backing one of his former aides, Max Miller, who launched a primary challenge Friday against Ohio Republican Congressman Anthony Gonzalez. Gonzalez is one of 10 House Republicans who voted in January to impeach Trump.
Part of the reason Mr. Trump has no plans to announce a rematch with Mr. Biden is that he is launching multiple political entities for the time being designed to help select GOP congressional and governmental candidates next year. – and keep its own options open.
His 2020 campaign committee has been converted and renamed Make American Great Again PAC and is now linked to the Save America PAC, from where the former president has sent statements and political approvals. They are linked by a joint fundraising committee that will raise funds to fund both entities that can, among other things, donate to GOP candidates and pay for the former president’s political journey.
Trump is also preparing to launch a super-PAC that will be overseen by longtime political assistant Corey Lewandowski and other associates who would lead a board of directors, including possibly former Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon, according to the senior. counselor.
“It is abundantly clear that he is in the best position to lead the party forward,” said the senior adviser. “He’s the one with the vision, he’s the one in control of the issues and can provide the sharpest contrast to the Democrats. The speech will show that he is best prepared for that.”