Mr Trump said it would take him ‘no longer than one day’ to settle the war between Russia and Ukraine
By Nick Allen IN MARYLAND 5 March 2023 •
Donald Trump on Saturday night said he must be elected US President again in 2024 if a Third World War was to be avoided.
Mr Trump also vowed that he and his supporters would “never go back” to a Republican Party run by “freaks and fools” who had engaged in “endless foreign wars”.
The former president said America should stop spending billions of dollars on defending Ukraine, that he would end the war in “one day” if elected, and demanded that Nato allies pay more toward the cost of the conflict.
Mr Trump also told supporters that if any of them felt wronged then, in a second term, “I am your retribution”.
He said Joe Biden was leading the US into “oblivion” and 2024 would be the “final battle”.
In a marathon speech lasting one hour and 45 minutes at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Mr Trump avoided repeating his previous claims that the 2020 election was “stolen”.
He did not attack, or even name, rivals for the Republican nomination in 2024, including Florida governor Ron DeSantis, instead laying out some of what he would do if elected.
Mr Trump said: “We’re going to have World War III if something doesn’t happen fast. I am the only candidate who can make this promise – I will prevent World War III.”
He added: “We had a Republican Party that was ruled by freaks, neo-cons, globalists, open borders zealots and fools. But we are never going back to the party of Paul Ryan, Karl Rove and Jeb Bush.”
Mr Trump spoke to a packed auditorium at a conference centre in Maryland, just outside Washington.
He received a rapturous reception and was interrupted by chants of “Four more years”.
CPAC has traditionally been an event where all senior Republican figures, including potential presidential nominees, would speak.
However, it has become dominated by Mr Trump and his supporters, and this year was nicknamed “MAGApalooza” or “TPAC”.
Mr DeSantis and former vice president Mike Pence chose to speak at another event in Florida instead.
Mr Trump told the crowd: “We are going to finish what we started. We’re going to complete the mission. We’re going to see this battle through to ultimate victory.
“This [2024] is the final battle. I know it, you know it, they know it, everybody knows it. This is it. And if they win, we don’t have a country.”
He added: “In 2016, I declared ‘I am your voice’. Today, I add: ‘I am your warrior. I am your justice’. And, for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.
“I will totally obliterate the deep state. I will fire the unelected bureaucrats and shadow forces who have weaponised our justice system. And I will put the people back in charge of this country again.”
Mr Trump said “top of my list” if elected would be “stopping the slide into costly and never-ending wars.”
He said: “You can’t keep spending hundreds of billions of dollars protecting people that don’t even like us.
“In business, if you did that, what you do is put up the money and then you say ‘We want half the country in case you win’.”
He added: “Before I even arrive in the Oval Office I will have the disastrous war between Russia and Ukraine settled. It will be settled quickly.
“I will get the problem solved, it will take me no longer than one day.
“We are never going to go back to a party that wants to give unlimited money to fight foreign wars, that are endless wars.
“Our soldiers [veterans], we do nothing for them, they sleep out in the cold and freeze.”
Mr Trump added: “You look at Ukraine, and we all feel very bad, but why isn’t Nato putting up dollar for dollar with us?”
He also accused Mr Biden of being a “criminal” and said that, if elected, he would “drive out the globalists, and cast out the communists,” and “expel the warmongers”.
The former president went on to say that he would “keep men out of women’s sports”.
He added: “I will revoke every Biden policy promoting the chemical castration and sexual mutualisation of our youth.
“And I will ask Congress to send me a bill prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states.”
In a short reference to elections he called for them to be held on a single day with only paper ballots.
But he said Republicans had to “change our thinking” from 2020 and use all methods to vote that were available.
He said: “Republicans must compete using every lawful means to win. That means swamping the left with mail-in votes, early votes and election day votes.”
Mr Trump easily won the annual CPAC straw poll, which in the past has been seen as a measure of support among party activists. More than 2,000 people at CPAC took part in the survey.
Asked who the 2024 Republican nominee should be, 62 per cent said Mr Trump, and 20 per cent said Mr DeSantis.
The survey showed 95 per cent approved of the job Mr Trump did when he was president.
When asked who his running mate should be in 2024 the top choice was Kari Lake, the former TV anchor and Arizona gubernatorial candidate, on 20 per cent. She was followed by Mr DeSantis on 14 per cent.
The poll also showed that 79 per cent disapproved of “giving billions to Ukraine,” and of those 61 per cent “strongly disapproved”.
During the three-day conference supporters of the former president donned “Trumpinator” T-shirts and “Trump Won” hats.
Nikki Haley, the only major candidate to have declared her run against Mr Trump in 2024, faced chants of “Trump, Trump” as she walked through the venue.
One merchandise seller said Trump hats were outselling DeSantis caps by 50-to-one.
Also on sale were giant edible Trump gingerbread men, Trump cowboy hats, Trump purses, and T-shirts depicting Mr Trump as Superman.
Supporters lined up to have their photographs taken in a mocked up Oval Office, behind a replica of the Resolute Desk.
Among the issues being discussed at this year’s event was climate change. Morgan Chrisman, 24, representing Young Conservatives for Carbon Dividends, said China should be held accountable.
She said: “The environmental cause has been very much driven by the left for pretty much the entire time, and that has alienated a lot of young people, and made them think that the GOP doesn’t have solutions for that.
“We think that there are capitalism-first, market-based solutions that are far more effective than the solutions being put forth by the left, but do not compromise on conservative values.”
Meanwhile, Mr Trump put forward a plan to hold a contest to create up to 10 new “Freedom Cities,” which would be built on government land.
It would include investment in “vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicles” – flying cars – for families.
Some compared the idea to The Jetsons, the fictional cartoon family who lived in Orbit City.
The plan would also include “baby bonuses” to encourage a new baby boom, and the cities would become “hives of industry” as the US became less reliant on Chinese imports.
Mr Trump said it would “reopen the frontier” and lead to a “quantum leap in American living standards”.
Fuckin idiot
What a buffoon!
Selected Comments from DT readers:
Chris Panton:
“By settle he means give Putin everything he wants.”
andrew MCCALLUM:
“So Putin now knows if he can hang on until the US elections he can achieve his objectives and save face too.”
Glen Hirchfield: “Trump would definitely end the war in 24 hours….. by deserting Ukraine and siding with Russia …. After all, he backed Putin ahead of the American secret service.”
Philip Livingstone: “On the GOP side there is a problem, a trump problem, because of the way Primaries are run.
In order to win the GOP nomination with a plurality of States’ Delegates, you don’t need a majority of the primary in each state, you just need to be the frontrunner in each state.
As trump has 35-40% of likely GOP Primary voters, in a crowded Primary field, no one will manage to overcome trump, so he wins, never mind Desantis being “DeFUTURE”, never mind Gov. Chris Sununu, Haley, Pompeo, Hogan, Youngkin, he WINS…”
Geoffrey Marshall:
“Let’s hope DeSantis is the Republican choice and Trump stands as an independent, thus splitting the loony right vote.”
ian ap tomas:
“Great to see Trump, back again and on form. Four more years for the Democrats then.”
Another Reader:
“This man is beyond dangerous.
Appeasement never works. The isolationist approach of some Americans didn’t work in 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. It was shameful that the USA did nothing about the atrocities in Europe until they were attacked themselves.
Putin’s desire to conquer a peaceful neighbour was encouraged by Biden running away from the Taliban, which has also encouraged China’s ambitions regarding Taiwan.
Trump dismisses helping Ukraine to defend itself against an evil aggressor with the remark “You can’t keep spending hundreds of billions of dollars protecting people that don’t even like us”.
What he clearly doesn’t get is that Ukraine is not only defending itself, but also deterring Putin’s much wider ambitions.”
Stuart Anderson
Reply to Another Reader :
“It’s campaign rhetoric AR and if elected Trump will make the Europeans nervous enough to step up their support for the Ukraine. That will be the practical effect of Trump’s rhetoric. There is no support in the US for abandoning the Ukraine. Rather the wets want Zelensky to be more amenable to negotiate. Give the Russians the Crimea and the ethnic Russian portions of eastern Ukraine in exchange for Russian acquiescence to Ukraine joining the EU and NATO giving some guarantee of Ukrainian independence and territorial integrity for example.”
Si Low:
“Putin now has a reason to try and influence the election.”
Stephen Rees
“Interesting (almost) arbitrage on oddschecker at time of writing. Republicans favourite to win at 7/10 but Biden next US President favourite at 11/4 (but with Trump and De Santis very close, each around 3/1).
Bet on Biden and Republicans and almost get a free bet.
Anyway, obviously could go either way at the moment.”
Stuart Anderson Reply to Stephen Rees
“BTW Stephen, Larry Hogan has just dropped out of the race. Not that he had much of a chance but I like more and more centrists like Hogan and nothingists like Nikki Hakey to be in the race to split the centrist votes making it easier for a conservative like DeSantis to win.” Bobby Heenan Reply to Stuart Anderson “DeSantis is not a conservative. He’s a caudillo.”
Trump has announced his running mate: putler.
Trump: “We can’t keep spending hundreds of billions of dollars protecting people that don’t even like us. In business if you did that, what you do is put up the money and then say, we own half your country in case you win. Take a piece of the upside.”
Despicable bastard.
Since the big mouthed orange orangutan hasn’t mentioned how he would end the war in a day, we must assume that he’ll suck the runt’s dick for an entire day. I’m not sure if the runt will be satisfied with the President of the United States sucking his dick for only one day. Maybe two days would be required.
imagine having voted for this
if that would end the war in Ukraine’s favour, why not?
Mr Trump added: “You look at Ukraine, and we all feel very bad, but why isn’t Nato putting up dollar for dollar with us?”
Estonia have committed 1.07% of their GDP to aid Ukraine. The US are a lowly 5th, committing 0.37% of their GDP. Maybe the orange idiot should research before opening his stupid mouth.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1303450/bilateral-aid-to-ukraine-in-a-percent-of-donor-gdp/
Putler has an added incentive to continue his Holocaust until late 2024. At the moment he’s got maybe a 50-50 chance of a Trumpkov govt in 2025.
Should that nightmare occur, would the U.K., Poland, Germany, Canada and others help Ukraine continue the fight? I don’t know the answer.
The Trumpkov “solution” might well be to give putler all the illegally annexed land in return for an armistice, which will no doubt involve immunity for the putler murder gang and no reparations.
Another factor putler will weigh up is the expected Ukrainian presidential election of 2024. Opportunities for interference there as well as in the US.
All in all, Ukraine’s best chance is to win in the spring. Thanks to its recalcitrant supporters, it has to do it without modern jets, with insufficient artillery and insufficient MBT’s.
The only other variable is long range ballistic missiles, which have been promised by the U.K. (when?) and hinted at by the US.
Ukrainian commanders are being forced to eat a shit sandwich.
You would think a quick victory for Ukraine would improve Biden’s chances of re-election, and remove any doubt that russia could attack Ukraine again. This war could be stopped in a few weeks, if the West wanted it to. All they need to do is arm Ukraine with every conceivable weapon, and watch russia get destroyed.
A win for Ukraine this year would be a win for Biden, a chance to position himself as a great statesman and put him in Pole position for 2024.
So why the fuck doesn’t he do as you suggest? Fuck knows.
Maybe he knows something we don’t?
Just some thoughts:
– fear of nukes
– fear of alienating allies by sending stuff the EU countries don’t like. Germany and France are pivotal for sanctions, as American sanctions aren’t as effective as the U.S. did not trade a lot with Russia to begin with.
– advice from from the military: no general likes to give away its equipment, in particular scarse stuff such as ATACMS.
– Gradually increasing arms supplies not to create a shock effect among the Russians to avoid unpredictable situations.
– Not caring at all about popularity: he might not even go for a second term because of his old age
I think the first 2 reasons are most likely.
In case of the ATACMS I do think the military doesn’t want to give them away because of low numbers: that is why Boeing developed an alternative.
I do think Biden intends to give F-16’s but still waiting for some information and coordination with allies, as shown by
1) Ukrainians being tested in the U.S. to see if Ukraine can adopt the aircraft quickly enough
2) His softening stance from “No” to “Not now”
3) Difference in tone from the Dutch and Polish government, that pushed for the delivery of jets and now are being quiet or denying, pending negotiations.
It could be that in fact Biden even spoke the truth to some degree: coordination of sending tanks (which various European nations try to delay) and requires a lot of work such as refurbishment s / training) takes so much energy that they want to have this issue sorted out before proceeding to the next stage.
Indeed tanks and artillery are more important in the short term.
By focussing on too much with resisting allies it could mean nothing gets done.
Btw, I am not defending him, I think it is too little, too late, but if I also add all my counterarguments this comment becomes way too long.
I honestly somewhat agree with Trump on this, as major European countries donated shit.
France, Italy and Germany could have done so much more.
Becoming a province of Russia and let Ukraine pay for all the destruction on the Russian Army. According The Genius.
bUt He GaVe JaVeLiNS !!1!!1!!
Here’s a hopeful thought. I heard through the DC grapevine that CPAC where the orange idiot spoke was attended by about 50% of previous years with a larger attendance at a meeting organized by another conservative pac. So even though the SHITHEAD may have received 60%of the straw poll at CPAC it’s irrelevant. Everyone thinks Trump is still a strong contender but people are believing an alternative will come through. Perhaps the shithead will drop dead giving Putin a blow job. All I can do is hope!!!!
Lots of people jumping to conclusions. Trump absolutely could end the war in one day, but not by the means everyone is assuming. I’ve not heard him state a clear, concrete policy on Ukraine. All he’s said is that the war needs to stop. There’s only one person keeping this war going. Trump has no concern for political correctness. He leads. He does what needs to be done. And what did he do with Qasem Soleimani?